Patricia May Edgar AM is an Australian author, television producer, educator and media scholar, best known as the founding director of the Australian Children's Television Foundation.
Early life and education Edgar was born in Mildura, Victoria, and moved to California in the 1960s with her husband, author and social researcher Don Edgar, and their two children to study for an MA in Communication at Stanford University. On their return to Australia, Edgar joined the staff of La Trobe University as the inaugural Head of the Centre for the Study of Media and Communication.Baldwin, F (28 February 2014). Women leaders in television, National Film and Sound Archive. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
She has a BA and a BEd from the University of Melbourne, a Master of Arts from Stanford University, and a PhD from La Trobe University.
She introduced the first courses on film and television production and cinema studies at an Australian university. At La Trobe she also completed a PhD.Keys, Wendy: Not in front of the kids , The Australian, 1 November 2006.
Career Edgar served on several government committees, such as the Australian Broadcasting Control Board which she was appointed to by Gough Whitlam's government in 1975. Whilst part of this committee she was instrumental in formulating codes for children's television for the first time. She was also involved in the Australian National Commission of UNESCO, Film Victoria, the Council of the Australian Film and Television School, the Victorian Government's Board of CIRCIT Ltd (Centre for International Research on Communication and Information Technologies) and the Victorian Post-Secondary Education Commission. Edgar also served as an Associate Member of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal's Inquiry into Violence on Television from 1988 to 1989.
Egar was deputy chair of the Australian Film Finance Corporation between 1988 and 1995. She also chaired the ACMI Foundation from 2004 to 2006, and is the founding chair of the Breast Cancer Network of Australia, of which she served as chair from 1998 to 2009.
She was the founding director of the Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF). Over twenty years, the ACTF produced 174 hours of television drama and won more than 100 national and international awards including an International Emmy, two Logies, four AFI Awards, a Japan Prize, a Banff Rockie Award, the Prix Jeunesse and a Grand Jury Prize. The ACTF also made co-productions with the BBC, Disney, and Revcom.Bloodbath: A Memoir of Australian Television , Melbourne University Publishing. While she was director of the ACTF she produced a number of acclaimed children's television programs for all ages, which included Round the Twist, Lift Off, The Genie from Down Under, Touch the Sun, Winners, Kaboodle, Crash Zone, Li'l Elvis and the Truckstoppers, Noah and Saskia, Yolngu Boy, and Kahootz.
In 1995 she formed and hosted the first World Summit on Television and Children. This summit was held in Melbourne, Australia and was attended by more than 600 delegates from 70 countries around the world. She is currently deputy chair of the World Summit on media for Children Foundation, but served as chair for seventeen years.
Recently, she became an ambassador for the National Ageing Research Institute.
Publications Edgar is the author of many books. Much of her research and writing has focused on children and television. Her books about television and the media include Children and Screen Violence, Under Five in Australia, Media She (with Hilary McPhee), The Politics of the Press and recently a memoir Bloodbath: A Memoir of Australian Television, which prompted Phillip Adams to write "I would regard Patricia Edgar as a sort of human tank. Patricia is a sort of Centurion in her abilities to kick down doors and push walls over. She is annoying, irritating, relentless, drives people mad, but she gets things done".
Books Australia and Her Northern Neighbours, Don Edgar and Patricia Edgar, Halls, 1974 Under 5 in Australia, Don Edgar, Patricia Edgar and others, Heinemann, 1973 Media She, Patricia Edgar and Hilary McPhee, Heinemann, 1974 Children and Screen Violence, Patricia Edgar, Queensland University Press, 1977 The Politics of the Press, Patricia Edgar, Sun Books, 1979 The News In Focus: the Journalism of Exception, Patricia Edgar, Macmillan, 1980 Communication Policy in Developed Countries, Patricia Edgar and Syed Rahim (eds), Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983 Janet Holmes a Court, Patricia Edgar, 1999, Harper Collins Bloodbath: A Memoir of Australian Television, Patricia Edgar, Melbourne University Press, 2006 The New Child : In Search of Smarter Grown-Ups, Patricia Edgar and Don Edgar, Wilkinson Publishing, 2008 The Fairies of Plant Street, Patricia Edgar and Don Edgar, Edgar Publishing, 2012 Big Fat Porkies and Little White Lies, Patricia Edgar and Ace Buck, Edgar Publishing, 2013 In Praise of Ageing, Patricia Edgar, Text Publishing, 2013 Peak: Reinventing Middle Age, Patricia Edgar and Don Edgar, Text Publishing, 2017 Kids: Technology and the Future, Patricia Edgar, Australian Book Marketing, 2019
Reports Families Without Television, Patricia Edgar and Ray Crooke, Centre for the Study of Educational Communication and Media, LaTrobe University, 1976 Television License Hearings Go Public: a case study, Patricia Edgar, Centre for the Study of Educational Communication and Media, LaTrobe University, 1981 Children and Television: policy implications, Patricia Edgar, Australian Children's Television Foundation, 1983. Children's Television: the case for regulation, Patricia Edgar, Australian Children's Television Foundation,1984
Further Selected Publications The Unknown Audience, Patricia Edgar and Ursula Callus, Centre for the Study of Educational Communication and Media, 1979 Sex Type Socialization and television Family Comedy Programmes, Patricia Edgar, Centre for the Study of Educational Communication and Media A Survey of Audio Visual Facilities in Universities in the USA, Edgar was the producer, executive producer, and director of many children's television shows and documentaries in the late 20th century.Canada, United Kingdom and Australia, Patricia Edgar, Centre for the Study of Educational Communication and Media
Screenography Australian Screen (n.d.). Patricia Edgar, National Film and Sound Archives. Retrieved 21 May 2026. +TitleYearCrewProductionGot At Documentary short1972ProducerdocumentaryNah… He Was in a Big House Before Documentary short1972ProducerdocumentaryMy Way Documentary short1972Produce, DirectordocumentaryIt’s Just Something Kids Do Documentary short1972Producer, Director, WriterdocumentaryIt’s a Nice Place to Be1973Producer, Director, WriterdocumentaryERA1973ProducerdocumentaryYou’ve Got to Work for It1974ProducerdocumentaryMexico ‘751975Producer, Director, WriterdocumentaryWinners 8 telemovies including: Quest Beyond Time, Just Friends, On Loan, Top Kid, Room to Move, The Paper Boy, The Other Facts of Life1985Executive ProducerTV programKaboodle Series 1-2, 1986, 1988-891986Executive ProducerTV programSeen But Not Heard1987Executive ProducerTV programTouch the Sun 6 telemovies: Captain Johnno, Peter & Pompey, The Gift, Top Enders, Princess Kate, Devil’s Hill1988Executive ProducerTV programThe Greatest Tune on Earth 1988-891988Executive ProducerTV programRound the Twist Series 1-4, 1989-20011989Executive Producer, ProducerTV programSky Trackers Telemovie1990Executive ProducerTV programMore Winners 6 telemovies including: The Big Wish, Boy Soldiers, Mr Edmund, The Journey, His Master’s Ghost1990Executive ProducerTV programLift Off Series 1-2, 1991-941991Executive Producer, ProducerTV programSongs of Innocence1992Executive Producer, ProducerdocumentarySky Trackers1993Executive Producer, ProducerTV programFirst Day1995Executive Producer, ProducerdocumentaryThe Genie from Down Under Series 1-2, 1995-981995Executive Producer, ProducerTV programLi’l Elvis and the Truckstoppers1996Executive Producer, ProducerTV programKahootz 1996-20021996Executive Producer, ProducerTV programCrash Zone Series 1-21998Executive Producer, ProducerTV programYolngu Boy2000Executive Producer, ProducerfeatureI Think…2000ProducerdocumentaryLegacy of the Silver Shadow2002Executive Producer, ProducerTV programNoah and Saskia2004Executive Producer, ProducerTV program
Recognition and honours
In 1994 the University of Western Australia awarded her an honorary Doctor of Letters (Hon DLitt). In May of 2018, LaTrobe University awarded her a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa). In 1986, she was appointed Member of the Order of Australia for her services to children's television and the media. In 1988, she was a finalist at the Bicentennial BHP Awards for the Pursuit of Excellence. In 1992 on World Communications Day she was given the Award of the Archbishop of Sydney Citation. Finalist in the Victorian of the Year Awards for 1995. In the same year, she was awarded for her outstanding contribution to children at the World Summit on Television and Children. In 1996, she was given the Award of the Archbishop of Sydney Citation. She was awarded the Australian College of Education medal in 1998 and an Achiever Award from the Committee for Melbourne in 2001. She received both of these awards as recognition for her exceptional contribution to using the medium of television as a form of education. In 2001, the ACTF was awarded the Youth TV Prize at the 18th International Scientific Audio-visual Conference - Image and Science in Paris as recognition for the quality of work the ACTF had produced. Edgar was named on the Victorian Honour Roll of Women, which recognises women of achievement that have made a difference in Victoria or internationally. In 2002, the Australian Film Institute presented her with the Australian Film Institute Longford Life Achievement Award, the highest accolade the AFI can bestow. In 2003, the Governor General awarded her with the Centenary Medal to mark her contribution "to children's television education programs". In 2007, she was awarded the Dromkeen Medal for her role in advancing children's literature. Dromkeen Medal Citation 2007, Scholastic Corporation, 2007.
References
External links
Buckland, Jenny, 'Edgar, Dr Patricia (1937- ) in A Companion to the Australian Media, ed. Bridget Griffen-Foley.