That Ekco set makes for some interesting comparisons. I hadn't realized that Australian models didn't usually use the transformerless, live-chassis approach.
In mid-1950s England there were quite a few urban areas in which the older districts still had their original 3-wire DC distribution systems, so there was certainly a call for DC-operable sets -- Radios as well as TV.
The halfwave rectifier supplies did cause some problems in heavily populated AC areas though. I remember reading a piece in one of my old magazines which said that a certain electricity board was concerned over the assymetric distortion on the network caused by the sheer number of TV sets all pulling power on one half cycle.
There would still have been plenty of sets running on a reversible two-pin plug at the time, and even some on polarized 3-pin plugs with line/neutral reversed if they'd been in a DC area on the negative pole previously, but with 3-pin plugs becoming the norm, the majority of sets would undoubtedly have been pulling B+ power on just the positive half-cycle.
Going back to that Ekco design in general, the U.K. had only system A (405-line) broadcasts in the 1950s, with the associated AM sound and positive video modulation, so obviously there are quite a few other aspects of the design which differ.
How many of the Australian VHF channels were actually assigned at that time? Was it just the Band I channels, or were you already using those which were in what is now the FM broadcast band?
It also appears from the schematic that this Ekco has provision only for a 300-ohm twin feeder for the antenna. In Britain, the Belling-Lee 75-ohm coaxial socket was already the well-established standard.
By the way, for anybody who tried the "Bedtime Fire Routine" link above, the URL has changed. I've edited the link, so it should work now.
