I used to work for the PMG/TELSTRA, have you ever thought about early telephones. The rapid and successful experimentation provided real working models. The first government telephone exchange opened at the General Post Office in Sydney in 1882. On his appointment as Chief Telegraph Mechanic of the Electric Telegraph Department, a German, G. A. Kopsch, installed the exchanges. This helped the expansion of the GPO and built logical bridges between varied forms of communications. Thereafter, the colonial post offices (which already controlled all but the overseas telegraphs) would rapidly take over the private telephone exchanges. The two Sydney exchanges used different and incompatible switchboards. This problem was soon rectified by an accident: an electrical short circuit which occurred when wires were crossed during a thunderstorm. The first exchange burnt out and as a result, the Royal Exchange Company handed its business over to the postal office at no charge rather than invest in a new switchboard. By 1883, the Sydney GPO exchange had 405 subscribers and the first comprehensive system was under government control. In Melbourne, the Melbourne Telephone Company began operations in 1881, but it was notoriously inefficient and unwilling to invest in exchanges adequate for its rapidly growing traffic. Following pressure from the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, whose members were not ideological champions of private enterprise, it was taken over by the Victorian Post Office in 1885.18 Thus, private enterprise had proved to be a failure in its efforts to provide Australia s first telephone services. Although telephone networks developed rapidly under the management of the colonial post offices, they remained confined to each city or town. Long distance and intercolonial links (called trunk lines) were slow to develop. The first trunk line was not opened in Australia until 1888, improbably enough a 35km line connecting exchanges in Hobart and New Norfolk. After five years and with over 700 subscribers, the post office in Sydney decided to install a more efficient system with an updated switchboard. The rapid expansion meant that the system constantly needed updating, but finances were not always available, even under government ownership. It was not until 1900 that a new central exchange was opened in the GPO in Sydney. It was designed for expansion, and with it the modern age in telephony had arrived. Telephone poles lined the streets, becoming more and more laden with wires, as each connection then required its own line. Some poles were carrying up to 200 open wires.19 Federation and Australias Post, Telegraph and Telephone Services The growing importance of telephones and telegraphs was reflected in the politicians deliberations at the first Australian Federation Conference in 1890. In his opening address, Sir Henry Parkes stated that the means of communication carried in all directions constituted one of the major reasons for the union of the colonies. Alfred Deakin endorsed Parkes proposal that communications by post, telephone and telegraph be handed over to the proposed new federal government. Delegates agreed it was obvious that there was a need for a federal system of control with uniform rates and regulations. Thus, in 1901 the Australian Constitution gave all power over postal, telegraph and telephonic and other like services to the federal government. The Commonwealth Postmaster Generals Office was established and officially began operating in March 1901 from its headquarters in the new federal capital of Melbourne. This was universally known as the PMGs Department, a name it retained until July1975 when it was divided into Australia Post and Telecom Australia. The PMGs Department was headed by a Minister in the Commonwealth Government called the Postmaster General, who had final authority (under the Crown of course) on matters of post, telegraph and telephone policy. Responsible to the Postmaster General for the departments administrations was its permanent head, the first of whom was a former Queensland postal official, Robert Townley Scott. The former colonial postal, telegraph and telephone departments, together with all their assets, including the post and telegraph offices and telegraph and telephone systems, were handed over to the new Commonwealth Government. The PMG was easily the infant Commonwealths largest department, with about 10,000 permanent staff, another 6,000 contractors of various types, and assets with a capital value of about 6 million. To put this into perspective, it had a staff only a little smaller than the largest state enterprise, the New South Wales Government Railways, although its assets were only a fraction of the value of most of the state railway systems. The transfer of authority from the former colonies to the new Commonwealth was far from instant. The colonial post offices had co-operated on many matters before Federation and had had only one common vote in the International Postal Union, which regulated postal policies across the globe from its Paris headquarters. In this way the Australian colonies postal services already had been united and independent from Britain for decades before Federation. Although most country towns had acquired post offices during the colonial period, there were new post offices built after Federation, especially in growing suburbs and expanding rural centres, and in coastal and holiday districts. In such suburbs and towns, the Commonwealth built new post offices to standard designs. The Commonwealth did not much intrude on the everyday life of Australians until the 1940s, and these post offices, together with branches of the new Commonwealth Bank and telephone exchanges (often located within post offices) were the only Commonwealth buildings in many districts. The separate colonial postal rates and separate colonial (strictly speaking now state) stamps remained in use for more than a decade after Federation. Letter rates varied between the states. Victoria had moved to the penny post as in England, but other colonies, with more dispersed populations and consequent higher costs, charged higher rates. In New South Wales the standard letter charge was 2d, as it had been since 1849. A common postal rate of a penny was not introduced until May 1911 when it became not just Australia-wide but Empire-wide as well. State stamps remained in use for a further two years until the first Commonwealth stamps were issued. A bit of history of the TELEPHONE and POST, if you like history it is a worth while read. telstra.au/abouttelstra/company-overview/history/tele-communications-timeline/
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 05:27:36 +0000
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