Australia's Amateur Hour

{{Use Australian English|date=June 2022}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

{{Infobox television

| genre = Talent contest, variety entertainment

| presenter = {{ubl|Harry Dearth|Dick Fair|Terry Dear}} (Dear hosted both the radio and television version)

| country = Australia

| language = English

| location = Homebush West, Sydney

| channel = {{ubl|AWA (radio version)|Seven Network and Nine Network (television version)}}

| first_aired = {{Plainlist|

• Radio: {{Start date|1940}} - {{End date|1958}}
• Television: {{Start date|1957|08}} - {{End date|1958}}

}}

| last_aired =

}}

Australia's Amateur Hour was a talent quest, broadcast on Australian AM radio from 1940 to 1958,{{Cite news |date=1958-11-07 |title=Dearth, Fair, Dear in Closing Amateur Hour Presentation |work=The Age |department=Radio and Television Supplement |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DIVVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=T7MDAAAAIBAJ&dq=amateur-hour+18-years&pg=6777,1032840 |access-date=2013-07-12}} and a television spinoff, which ran for less than a year, 1957–1958.

The radio program began on Sydney's 2UW, compered by Harry Dearth,{{cite AuDB |first=Diana R. |last=Combe |title=Dearth, Henry Alan (Harry) (1908–1964) |volume=13 |year=1993 |id2=dearth-henry-alan-harry-9934 |access-date=2021-06-18 }} followed by Dick Fair, who developed it into Australia's most popular Sunday program, each week selecting ten contestants from around 100 hopefuls.{{cite book|title=Wonderful Wireless |author=Nancye Bridges |publisher=Methuen |year=1983 |isbn=045400513X}}

From 24 August 1930 the show was broadcast on 2GB, produced and compered by Terry Dear.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230929527 |title=Terry Dear for Amateur Hour |newspaper=The Sun (Sydney) |issue=12647 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=10 August 1950 |access-date=12 October 2023 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}} It was a popular, long-running, program on which many performers appeared.

The television version was also compered by Terry Dear, running from August 1957{{Cite news |last=Musgrove |first=Nan |date=1957-08-07 |title=Television Parade |page=10 |newspaper=Australian Women's Weekly |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51189952 |access-date=2013-07-12}} to February 1958 on Sydney's TCN-9 and Melbourne's HSV-7. The success of the radio version didn't translate to its television cousin, which closed after only seven months, the radio version following shortly after.