Talk:Mary Parker (Australian actress)

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The first woman to appear on Melbourne television?[edit]

To support the statement that she was "the first woman to appear on Melbourne television", two source citations were added. ~~The first one simply does not seem to contain any relevant statement to support the claim.~~ The second one quotes Paul Fitzgerald in the newsletter of the local Catholic archdiocese as saying "she was the first woman on television in Australia". Although it may be the case that he said that, it does not mean that it is unquestionably true. Aside from the possibility that he was simply mistaken, or was simply repeating hyperbole he heard from someone else, there is also the possibility that some nuance was missing from his statement – e.g., that he meant she was the first woman to appear regularly, or the first locally based woman to appear regularly. (He also refers to all of Australia rather than just Melbourne.) It would be nice to have either a better sourcing or a weaker claim. —BarrelProof (talk) 06:34, 19 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, I suppose the first source does seem to establish that she was planned to be one of the (several) women who appeared on the first broadcast. It doesn't say she was the first, but it's helpful. —BarrelProof (talk) 06:44, 19 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The end of the paragraph in which the statement was made also contains citations from two extra sources which show the programs on opening day for Melbourne's first television station HSV-7. Mary Parker's name appears in the opening schedule. Earlier editions of Listener In-TV show that she was one of the three hosts of HSV-7's test broadcasts during September and October 1956, the other two being males (Eric Pearce and Danny Webb). The case for making the stastements that she was "The first woman to appear on Melbourne television" seems quite clear. Albert Isaacs (talk) 21:00, 22 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]