In the late 1960s and early 1970s, some Australians came to realise that we, as a nation, were destroying the records and artefacts of our nation’s history and heritage. For example, old sailing ships were left to rot, to be burnt or dismantled. "They are useless, so let’s get rid of them", was the attitude of most people at that time.

This rather decorative piece is a 1937 Weldon clock radio. Pieces like this are highly collectible.

Many other aspects of our history were also considered irrelevant and many references and physical examples of those aspects were discarded if not destroyed. However, there were enough people throughout Australia who could see that this was totally wrong and our history and heritage was worthy of retaining and restoring, so they set about raising the level of interest in our past.

Our radio heritage was also being lost at an alarming rate, with most superseded and defective radios ending up in the local municipal tip after being replaced. However, a number of individuals decided that our radio heritage was worthy of retaining and set about collecting and restoring old radios. Doing this in isolation is not very effective as there is only so much any one person can do. One person on their own cannot know all there is to know, or needs to be known, to preserve a representative offering of our radio heritage.

A small number of collectors became known to each other and communicated on an ad hoc basis. Len Davenport in Alice Springs was keenly interested in vintage radio and even established his own museum in Alice Springs. Called "The Magic Spark", it attracted quite a lot of interest until Len’s death, whereupon it was closed. However, some time before his death, Len was keen to see the establishment of a national radio society. He believed that Alice Springs was not suitable for the activities of such a group.

This rather unusual horn loudspeaker is branded "Dictogrand" and was made in the USA.

Len and Ray Kelly could see that there could be room for a national vintage radio association. Ray contacted Morris O’Brien in San Remo to obtain a list of people who had obtained valves to restore old radios. Morris used to advertise valves for sale in magazines such as Radio & Hobbies, so he had a good contact list. Ray contacted the people on that list, as well as the list supplied by Len, a total of around 35 people.

There were sufficient replies from around Australia to warrant convening a meeting, held at Ray’s home in Melbourne on the 17th April, 1982. The HRSA was born on that day, with Ray taking on the position of Secretary and member number 1. The initial membership was 25.