AWA

AWA Origins

Awa was an Australian company manufacturing a range of electronic products. In 1971 AWA formed a company with Rediffusion International Pty. Ltd. called AWA-Rediffusion Pty Limited. The business was a platform to enter the Australian market with Rediffusion systems similar to those offered in the UK by RIS/RBE and included products and services such as Reditune Background Music, CCTV, Hotel Audio Distribution and Specialist Information Display Systems.

AWA was also the Australian distributor for many audio equipment manufacturers, including Tannoy, Revox and AKG Acoustics.

Later in 1975 the last Australian-made AWA appliances were produced at the company’s Sydney manufacturing plant in Ashfield. From the late 1970s, appliances such as TVs were being made for AWA-Thorn by Mitsubishi Electric of Japan. This division of AWA was also the Australian distributor for many audio equipment manufacturers, including Tannoy, Revox, AKG Acoustics and Clarion (car audio).

Mitsubishi Electric purchases AWA-Thorn renaming it Mitsubishi Electric AWA Pty Ltd and marketing their VCRs, stereos and TVs in Australia while retaining ‘AWA’ in the brand name.