The introduction of television to Australia changed the way people ate, and threatened a major stream of income for the wool industry.

A new exhibition, Tee Vee At Sixty, explores its influence on everyday life.

It coincides with the anniversary of the first test broadcasts from Mount Dandenong in Melbourne which took place 60 years ago this week.

Those early broadcasts featured ventriloquist Ron Blaskett, who attended the opening of the exhibition at the University of Melbourne.

Blaskett went on to be a regular on Melbourne television station GTV-9's The Happy Show with his puppet Gerry Gee.

The show launched the television careers of many people including Patti McGrath — later Patti Newton — and Ernie Carroll, whose character Ossie Ostrich went on to star in the long-running program Hey Hey It's Saturday.

Patti Newton got her start on The Tarax Show. ( Supplied: Private Collection )

The Happy Show later changed its name to The Tarax Show after the soft drink company that sponsored the children's program.

Exhibition curator Dr Derham Groves said early television programs promoted their sponsor's product "in a very shameless way".

"They really wouldn't get away with it these days," he told 774 ABC Melbourne's Red Symons.

Yarn sales plummet as knitters focus on screen

One of the unexpected impacts of television was its effect on wool sales.

Dr Groves said that when television first launched, the fashion was for woollen Fair Isle jumpers which required intense concentration to knit.

The advent of television saw yarn sales drop, he said, as knitters paid attention to the screen rather than their jumpers.

Wool companies responded with "TV knitting" patterns which used large blocks of easier stitches.

"TV knitting saved knitting as a pastime," Dr Groves said.

Yarn companies promoted the knitting of TV socks (left) and simple jumpers. ( Supplied: Private Collection )

Among the most popular TV knitting patterns, Dr Groves said, was a design for "TV socks".

Many Melbourne homes were heated by open fires which only put out a small amount of radiant heat.

Televisions had to be placed away from the fire, Dr Groves said, which in turn drew the family into colder parts of the house.

"For those first 10 years, from 1956 until 1966, the domestic house was really focused on television."

The woollen TV socks were designed to keep family members warm so they could continue watching their favourite programs.

The birth of the TV dinner

The socks were not the only innovation aimed at keeping people in front of the television set.

New crockery and cutlery were designed that made it easier to eat on the couch rather than at the dinner table.

"Aids like TV trays, TV dinners and splayds were really designed for eating in front of the television," Dr Groves said.

Tee Vee At Sixty is on show at Melbourne University's Baillieu Library and runs until January 30.