The one big problem with the Logies Hall of Fame: Where are all the women?

SINCE 1984, the Logies have inducted 28 people and four television shows into their Hall of Fame. There’s one anomaly.

SINCE 1984, the TV Week Logie Awards have inducted 28 people and four television shows into its prestigious Hall of Fame.

But there’s one glaring anomaly that has been labelled a “disgrace” by those in the television industry.

In its 32-year history, just one woman — Ruth Cracknell — has been given the honour despite the enormous presence and contribution of women to television over nearly 60 years on air.

While the Logies Hall of Fame inductee for 2016 is yet to be announced, television personalities are hoping that this year things will change.

“The options are endless, I can’t believe that Ruth is the only one in there,” Today Extra host David Campbell told news.com.au.

“Television was a white male boy’s club and that’s the way it was,” he said of the TV industry.

“But we could have tried a bit harder up until now,” he added of the search for potential candidates. “The Logies probably could have tried a bit harder when looking, I think they’ve taken a few easy punts.”

The TV Week Logie Awards are the annual Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959.

Campbell’s co-host Sonia Kruger said she wasn’t surprised at the lack of female representation in the Hall of Fame.

“It’s bizarre,” she said. “Strangely though, it doesn’t surprise me. We’ve come a long way, the fact that we’re talking about it today is a good thing. But I guess it was the way.”

Studio 10 co-host, Ita Buttrose, said the list was reflective of the gentlemen’s club mentality of the television industry.

“Women are constantly overlooked,” she told news.com.au. “It’s what happens in Australia and the Logies reflect exactly what happens in Australia, women are overlooked.”

Added Jessica Rowe: “TV is dominated by men. It’s blokey.”

Last year, Eddie McGuire sounded off about this very issue after Seven’s long-running soap Home and Away was inducted for 2015, in place of a worthy female figure.

“There are so many women who have played major national roles and it’s a disgrace that the gender imbalance is such,” Eddie McGuire told the blog TV Tonight.

“There is a degree of understanding because of the on-air gender imbalance and the times in general in the early days, but now is the time to widen the eyes and acknowledge these legendary figures of television.”

Dr Chris Brown echoed McGuire’s sentiments that it’s about time a woman was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“If it’s still too hard to induct a woman … why not start with Dame Edna?!” he told the blog. “Maybe that’s how they can ease their way into doing something that’s long overdue …”

The ABC’s Charlie Pickering and Ten’s Sandra Sully were also behind the cause on Twitter.

It's time for #morelogiewomen in the @TVWEEKmag Hall Of Fame. Surely Denise Drysdale and Noelene Brown more than due.

— Charlie Pickering (@charliepick) April 26, 2015

C ' Mon Tweeps. ..need to get Women in TV recognised @LogieAwards2015 #MoreLogieWomen @KAK @Caroline_J @PosieGE

— Sandra Sully (@Sandra_Sully) March 30, 2015

"@hugheses146: @KAK @Caroline_J @PosieGE Noeline Brown, Noni Hazelhurst, Nancy Hayes, Sue Masters, Robyn Nevin" #morelogiewomen

— Sandra Sully (@Sandra_Sully) March 30, 2015

With a plethora of worthy talent to choose from, perhaps the powers that be behind the Logies Hall of Fame could consider these female candidates for a nod in 2016?

It’s time to end the boy’s club.

Denise Drysdale

Denise Drysdale is one of the most loved women in television.

“I was amazed and shocked and horrified that she wasn’t there already,” Studio 10 host and journalist Joe Hildebrand said of his co-host, affectionately known as ‘Ding Dong’. Drysdale began her TV career at age 10, doing junior ballet on the Tarax Show. She would go on to regularly appear on numerous television shows including: The Norman Gunston Show, Celebrity Squares, Young Talent Time, Countdown, Division 4, Homicide, The Circle, and now Studio 10. She has won two Gold Logies for the Most Popular Female on Australian TV as well as several silver Logies. Is there a more deserving female recipient?

Noni Hazlehurst

Noni Hazlehurst presented Play School from 1978 to 2002.

Most recently we’ve come to love Hazlehurst on Better Homes and Gardens and Play School, but she has been a constant on our screens since the early 70s. In late 1976, she joined the original cast of The Sullivans before becoming a Play School presenter from 1978 to 2002.

Since 2013 she has appeared on our screens as wealthy matriarch Elizabeth Bligh in A Place To Call Home.

Sandra Sully

Sandra Sully has delivered the news to Australians for 26 years on Channel Ten.

Ita Buttrose’s vote goes to Channel Ten newsreader and journalist Sandra Sully, who marked 25 years with Ten last year. “I think Sandra Sully is worthy of being inducted into the Hall of Fame,” she told news.com.au, “she’s been here at Ten reading the news for 26 years, that’s a fantastic track record.”

Jana Wendt

Jana Wendt was a force in television news and current affairs for three decades.

Jana Wendt is already a Gold Logie winner, winning in 1992 for her role as host of A Current Affair. For nearly three decades she was a constant voice in news and current affairs and has had an extraordinary reporting career. She was signed to 60 Minutes at just 24-years-old before going on to work on A Current Affair, Witness, Sunday, and Dateline. Her forensic television interviewing skills even earned her the nickname “the perfumed steamroller”. Said David Campbell: “Jana Wendt is a great argument from a news and current affairs perspective. As a journalist, she should be number one to be inducted in there. Whether she would accept it or not is another thing.”

Noeline Brown

Noeline Brown has been nominated by Sonia Kruger as a worthy recipient.

Campbell also put forward Noeline Brown, who came to national prominence after joining the cast of The Mavis Bramston Show in 1964. In the 70s she appeared on The Naked Vicar Show and Graham Kennedy’s quiz show Blankety Blanks, winning a Logie for the most popular NSW female personality in 1978. “I think Noeline Brown is great,” said Campbell. “She started out as a TV star on a variety show and she was integral to how we viewed Australian comedy in this world. You forget the impact that she had, going back to Graham Kennedy and Don Lane and that era, she was a great actress as well.”

Lorraine Bayly

Lorraine Bayly, best known for her role as Grace Sullivan in The Sullivans.

Lorraine Bayly is perhaps best known to television audiences for her portrayal of Grace Sullivan, the mother figure in the drama series The Sullivans, but she also worked on Play School for 10 years, alongside Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas in The Man from Snowy River, Carson’s Law for three years and Neighbours from 1991 to 1992. “One woman who should definitely be inducted is Lorraine Bayly,” said Kruger. “She is just extraordinary. She has been in our living rooms on The Sullivans, she is still working and she is just an extraordinary woman. She’s just wonderful and she’s one of our greatest actresses.”

Other women nominated for the honour include: Gina Riley, Jane Turner, Liz Hayes, Rebecca Gibney. Tracy Grimshaw, Magda Szubanski, Anne Wills, and Margaret Pomeranz.

Which female star do you think should be put forward to be inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame? Leave your comments below.