Actor, writer, playwright, director, scenic artist/designer, producer (stage, radio and television), publisher.
The daughter of W. Kinane, at one time a Chief Accountant with the Taxation Department, Kay Kinane was born at Claremount and educated at Loreto Convent. She began her tertiary education at the University of Western Australia in 1930 and was soon prominent in many areas of student life, including the drama society, revues, the debating club, the Boat Club social committee (as vice-president), the Wanderers Club, and as an events organiser. Showing much promise as an artist, Kinane studied fine art (while the course was in existence) and had several of her drawings, along with some poetry, published in the University's literary magazine, The Black Swan ('The Black Swan : Hackett Memorial Issue.' West Australian 16 July 1932, p.21).
In 1932 Kinane took a break from her studies to teach in the country for two years. After moving back to Perth she and her brother-in-law, Norman Gledhall, published a newspaper-style magazine called The Christmas Eve. Produced in aid of unemployment relief, it reportedly remained in circulation for several years (ca. 1933-34). In 1935 Kinane took up a teaching position at South Perth and at the same time returned to her university studies.
Numerous newspaper reports over the remainder of the decade indicate that Kinane continued to be heavily involved in extra-curricular activities. In addition to becoming a committee member for the University's debating society, and the Perth Rugby Club's social group, Kinane also increased her theatrical commitments. A 1935 Daily News article focusing on several prominent young Perth women records in this respect that the 'Varsity Organiser' led the move to re-establish the University Dramatic Society after it had gone through two years of inactivity ('Personalities Among Women,' p.28). Her involvement in theatre during the 1930s included roles as actor, director, producer, scenic artist and properties manager with both the Varsity Players and the Perth Repertory Club. While a student at the University of Western Australia she also took part in an (unidentified) ABC radio play ('Began in Radio When Student,' p.15).
Reviews published in the various Perth newspapers throughout the latter half of the decade show that Kinane was accorded much positive criticism for her acting. In this respect it was her ability to undertake a wide range of characters that appears to have most impressed the Perth critics. Her artistic efforts, both as scenic artist and designer, were also routinely praised. The scenery she produced for The Gentlemen From Chile, a musical comedy by Perth playwright Margaret Giles, came in for special praise. As one critic records:
High marks go to Miss Kay Kinane for the bold and dashing way she carried out the author's idea of a backcloth - Perth from King's Park ('Hepzibah Talks of Signs of Spring.' Daily News 27 August 1938, p.19).
She was also a popular choice for a number of number of local organisations and societies seeking a designer or decorator for social events, including dances, fundraisers and balls. These too were frequently mentioned in the social columns of various Perth newspapers during this same period.
Sometime around the late-1930s Kinane took a position at Subiaco Senior State School. From at least 1940 she combined teaching with writing and directing stage and radio plays for young adults. The radio plays were produced for the ABC's Schools Broadcast Sessions in Western Australia, and often featured KInane as an actor. By 1943 her solid body of work and professionalism led to an appointment as the ABC's Schools Broadcast Officer for Western Australia, succeeding Tasmanian A.J. Halls who had taken over a similar post in New South Wales. In announcing Kinane's appointment, the Mirror (Perth) further records that as an expert swimmer she had also been on the staff of the Western Australian Education Department's swimming course for some three years ('Local Girl Gets ABC Job,' p.15.) Early the following year the Kalgoorlie Miner made special mention of her popular appointment, suggesting that many of its readers would have heard her playing the heroine parts in numerous broadcasts over the past three years ('A Lady's Letter.' 21 January 1944, p.2).
One of Kinane's responsibilities in her new position was to hold a class in radio scriptwriting during Perth's annual Adult Education Summer School. The ABC's objective was to look for talent from within all sectors of the community not just entertainers or journalists. A 1945 Mirror column, 'Merry-Go-Round of Perth,' indicates that among the 'pupils' from the past few years were farmers, soldiers, teachers, and typists (6 January 1945, p.6). Kinane also organised the broadcasting of class projects as well as other works and events from around the state. She continued to maintain a strong presence within the Perth theatre community, too, directing the Cathedral Players' 1946 production of Henri Cheon's Christmas in the Marketplace.
In its 1947 profile on Kinane, the Daily News records she would have been known to nearly every school child in Western Australia, by then having produced at least 22 regular programmes a week and sometimes more when required ('School Children's Pin-Up Girl,' p.30). Not long afterwards the ABC moved her to Sydney to take up a similar position in New South Wales. The following year, having been elevated to the position of Federal script editor and Youth Education Department producer, Kinane won an Imperial Relation bursary that enabled her to spend almost a year in England studying broadcasting at the BBC. During this time she also travelled to Displaced Persons (DP) camps in Germany to gather material for a series of ABC radio documentaries focusing on the complex issues surrounding the effects of relocation on the DPs and for both Britain and Australia. She began broadcasting these programmes shortly after arriving back in Australia in 1949. As Kinane saw it one of the core issues to be resolved was the problem of displaced and traumatised youth:
The greatest problem is the adolescent, who grew up during the war and was taught that it was clever to steal and lie and cheat. Now no one wants these youngsters, and they are the truly displaced persons of Europe ('Saw Displaced Person's in German Camps,' p.7).
Kinane's return to Australia also corresponded with developments between the ABC and various state Education Departments over the implementation of a radio school for regional children. In this respect she was not only one of the key people involved in pioneering this world-first system of education, but as one of the ABC's senior people involved in educational radio, was also able to report on its goals and progress both in Australia and overseas ('Aust. Leads in School Radio,' News 15 September 1950, p.9).
Kinane's position with the ABC also required her to attend high level conferences on the future of broadcasting and school education during the early 1950s. By 1953 the ABC had not only started producing radio broadcasts for infants, but was in the process of selling these programmes overseas ('Broadcasts for Kindergarten,' West Australian 22 Aug. 1953, p.6.).
Although based in Canberra, over the course of the early to mid-1950s Kinane travelled extensively around the country visiting schools, communities and colleagues in each state. She also took advantage of her travels to record and broadcast from a wide variety of locations - including, for example, the building of the Snowy River system. In late-1954 Kinane also found time to direct the Genesian theatre company's production of Lady of Fatima at its Kent Street theatre in Sydney (11 November).
In the lead-up to the start of television Kinane was one of a select group of senior ABC staff chosen to develop production and training infrastructure, and in 1955 she became one of three people with recent TV experience in Great Britain and America to be appointed a fulltime instructors. The other two were Frank Watts (Victoria) and Mungo MacCallum (Sydney), with Neil Hutchison providing support. Other part-time other instructors with expertise in specialist areas came from within the ABC and outside it. When the Commission undertook its first in-house broadcast in Sydney on 23 November 1955 Kinane was accorded the honour of producing the program. Another woman, Betty Parsons, was given the role of floor manager. That same year Kinane also managed to produce a book entitled Our Precious Soil. Described as the 'very personal story of one Australian farm run down by erosion,' the book was one of the first to be published in the Shakespeare Head Press series, Background of Australia.
When ABC television eventually went public in late 1956 Kinane was naturally retained as a senior producer. Among the earliest programmes she has been linked to were Women's World (1956-), one of the first Australian shows to be hosted by a woman – Mary Rossi; and TV Channell (1956-57), a variety programme hosted by Douglas Channell.
Surprisingly, very few details relating to Kinane's career after 1956 have been located to date, and her name is barely mentioned in any of the major secondary sources focus on early Australian television published prior to 2016. It has been ascertained that she was still with the ABC during the late-1970s and at some stage (possibly during the 1960s) was appointed Director of Young People's Programmes. In this position she oversaw the implementation and production of the GTK, a music show that served as a forerunner to Countdown. Kinane also produced the magazine-style programme, Target, which aired four days a week.
