Scotch College

Scotch’s unsung hero of TV’s early days

David Ashton reflects on Old Boy Geoff Corke’s (’50) media career from the early 1950s at radio 3DB to TV pioneer at Channel 9.

Words: David Ashton

With all the hoopla last year in celebration of the 50th anniversary of television in Australia, one name seems almost to have been forgotten – or at best only mentioned in passing.

And yet this man – an Old Scotch Boy who left in 1950 – was a well-known radio personality in pre-TV days, was the first person seen on Melbourne TV, became a household name on must-watch shows such as Graham Kennedy’s IMT, and successfully hosted a highly popular and long-running children’s afternoon show.

We are talking about Geoff Corke, who started his career in the media in the early ‘50s by successfully applying for a turntable operator’s job at radio 3DB, then the most listened-to station in Melbourne.

Earlier, Geoff had made his mark at Scotch, first as a Junior School Prefect, and later as a drummer in the pipe band, a form captain, and an enthusiastic footballer.

The 193cm (six feet four inch) Corke, with his deep, mellifluous voice, obviously made a good impression at 3DB, because he soon had a program of his own. When TV arrived in 1956, he was offered a position at GTV9, and was the first person seen on Melbourne TV in a test transmission on 27 September 1956.

He went on to work with stars such as the legendary Graham Kennedy, and later became ‘King Corky’ on the children’s program, ‘The Tarax Show’. ‘King Corky’, accompanied by personalities such as Joff Ellen, Bernard the Magician and ventriloquist Ron Blaskett with Gerry Gee, was known and loved by the children of the ’60s.

Health problems forced Geoff to retire prematurely from TV, and he died in 1993 at the age of 58 after a 20-year battle with a degenerative disease.

Geoff Corke, Old Scotch Boy and TV pioneer, certainly deserves more than just a passing mention when the history of Australian television is told.