The Goodall Dynasty

There was a time in Western Australia, when a prominent film industry father and his two sons were working for different television stations in Perth at the same time. Peter Goodall was with TVW Channel 7, Michael Goodall was with STW Channel 9 and father Leith was stringing for ABW Channel 2.

Leith Goodall, who started work in Kalgoorlie as a projectionist's assistant in 1917. He then came to Perth and worked for the next 20 years for Hoyts, becoming theatre manager and Chief Projectionist.

In the thirties, he was a cameraman for Fox Movietone News.

During the second world war, he was senior projectionist for Hoyts and ran the Ambassadors Theatre.

In the 1940's he was a partner and cameraman with Southern Cross Films Ltd.

For 6 years, he produced a great number of documentaries in 16mm and 35mm for Government departments and industry.

In 1947 it was decided to open The Mayfair Theatrette in Hay Street Perth.
There were very few stories from the "West", in the local cinemas, and as the Mayfair could not get newsreels from Cinesound Review or Australian Movietone News, they produced their own weekly "Westralian News", that first screened at the Mayfair on March 11th. 1948. It was screened every Friday and ran for 35 weeks.

In 1952, Leith joined the Education Department and continued to produce documentaries and promotion programmes for WA State Government Departments and the WA Tourist Bureau.

It was with this unit, that he would work with Daryl Binning and Alex McPhee senior.

Alex McPhee junior, would later work with Leith's eldest son Peter Goodall at TVW Channel 7, with Peter being an inaugural member of the Australian Museum of Motion Picture and Television and a member of the Western Australian branch of the Australian Cinematographers Society, like his father.

Peter Goodall was a cameraman when TVW first opened, working from 1959 to 1966. He then returned to be predominantly a studio director between 1979 and 1983.

Peter's brother Michael, started in television with the competition, WA’s second commercial television station, STW Channel 9, working in the film department and as the official stills photographer, before venturing into news camera work too. Later, he was a cameraman in the newsroom at TVW from 1971 to 2003, continuing the Goodall family tradition. Michael Goodall covered the transition from film to electronic news gathering, whilst Peter also used electronic news gathering equipment on his move to the ABC in Perth.

Leith Goodall retired in 1968, and sadly passed away on October 16th 1978.

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