BITS AND PIECES (Odds and Sods in no particular order) *********************** ON ONE HAND!

Transcription

1 BITS AND PIECES (Odds and Sods in no particular order) *********************** ON ONE HAND! A Morse key weighs 4 ounces (approx). Each letter necessitates 4 upward, plus 4 downward movements = 8 x 4 ounces = 32 ounces. On average there are approximately 6 letters to each word, = 6 x 32 ounces (2lb) = 192 ounces (12lb). Each minute a good operator sends at twentyseven words per minute = 27 x 12lb = 324lb. Each hour = 60 x 324lb = 19,440lb. For a six hour day = 6 x 19,440lb = 116,640lb. Dividing 116,640l by 2,240 (lbs in a ton) equals 52 tons 160lb. EACH DAY. ON ONE HAND NOT A BAD EFFORT Reg Walker. **************** THE SYDNEY CHIEF TELEGRAPH OFFICE THE ROOM The Sydney Chief Telegraph Office was located on the fourth floor of the Sydney GPO in Martin Place. It was big enough to accommodate around 500 Telegraphists and a large number of auxiliary staff and took up most of the city block between George and Pitt Streets. It was rarely given its full title. Sometimes it was abbreviated to the CTO, sometimes it was called the Telegraph Room but to the men who worked there it was just The Room. All positions were located on long rows of tables with 12 on either side facing each other with a carrier belt travelling above the centre of the two rows to convey received messages to the circulation section and a supervisor and lectern located at the head of each. Here operators reported for duty and supervisors carried out the myriad of duties expected of them. Over the years thousands of Telegraphists passed through the Sydney Chief Telegraph Office. Along the way many acquired nick names which related to many factors town of origin, physical makeup, temperament, expertise and non expertise, outside work activities; in fact anything at all! There's much in a name and as The Room it began to reflect the personalities of the Telegraphists or telegs as they habitually called themselves. And a mixed bunch they were! The Room was rich in the character types that were commonplace in Australia during the first half of the twentieth century, the larrikins, the scallywags, the jokers, the drinkers and much of its character was shown in the nicknames that were more commonly used than real names. Try and imagine the characters associated with some of these names: Rudolf had a red nose. The Parson had studied for the Baptist ministry as a young man. Cheeky Charley locked his supervisor in the locker room one morning. The man was known as Lockout Les ever after. Squeaker had a high pitched voice. Foulmouth, who never swore, earned his name when, in a rare fit of exasperation, yelled out angrily, "Oh bother!" and Yabba said, "That'll be enough out of you, Foulmouth." It stuck. Breadroll Billy brought breadrolls instead of sandwiches for lunch. Buttercup, never the most energetic person, was named after a popular bread manufacturer who advertised as the big Sydney loaf. Keggy obviously enjoyed a beer or two, but that wasn't his main problem. He was addicted to Bex powders (an extremely addictive analgesic that was sold over-the-counter in Australia until it was banned about 1965). Occasionally one of his tormenters would say, "I feel like a Bex" and within minutes Keggy would be out at his locker taking one. There were two brothers named Keith and Kevin Light. Keith had red hair so he was naturally Blue Light, and Kevin was called Amber Light because he was always ready to stop. Kevin was an interesting bloke. Very quiet and selfeffacing, he had escaped from a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II and wandered around Germany for six weeks before being caught. He was then able to talk his captors out of shooting him as a spy. And there were lots of animal names Harry the Horse, The Snake, The Octopus, The Fox, The Old Crow, The Bear. There were so many it was almost a telegraphic menagerie. Back in the pre-decimal days of the 'fifties when trams still trundled through the city there was a man named Fourpenny Dark. He lived at Manly on the north side of Sydney Harbour and every morning his wife gave him a shilling that was comprised of fourpence for the ferry to Sydney, another fourpence to get back, and twopence each way on the tram. Now Fourpenny liked a drink and he knew if he walked from the ferry to work and back he could spend the fourpence he saved on a small glass of port wine (known as a Fourpenny Dark, from which his nickname evolved). He said he was standing in the Ship Inn at Circular Quay one night sipping his drink trying to make it last and a little man on his shoulder said, "Have another one."

2 He was startled but another little man on his other shoulder said, "No! No! It's your ferry fare home." "Be a devil!" said the Devil. "Don't be silly!" said the other. Fourpenny said he listened to both of them a couple of times but then, "The next thing I knew I was out past Fort Denison swimming for my life." (Not a bad swim it's eleven kilometers (seven miles) from Circular Quay to Manly.) Bumpy Bill was an old style Telegraphist. He wasn't going to get involved with modern contraptions like typewriters. He'd always written his telegrams with a pen (dipped in a bottle of ink he kept by his sounder) and he always would. He wasn't alone in that, a few of the old hands had never learned to type. One day a wag substituted disappearing ink for the ink in his bottle and alerted the teleg sitting next to him who listened carefully to Bill's next telegram. Half way through Bill realised the ink was disappearing and said to the man, "Look at this." "What's up, Bill?" "Whaddayamean what's up? There's nothing on the page." "Looks all right to me," said the man, and from memory recited what should have been on the page. Bill was distraught. "I'm going blind," he wailed. Yep, it's a true story. Bill probably worked out later what had happened but he was no rocket scientist. Bumpy, a rather large man (see p47 of Coming Round the Bend) got his nick name from the fact that he had a bumpy walk and other telegs working near him often gave the operating table a hefty bump which of course upset Bill s writing and often spilt his ink. HARRY THE HORSE After an afternoon of visiting several pubs near the C.T.O. Harry found himself on the street just as a Paddy Wagon was passing. He was kindly given a lift to the nearest Police station to accommodate him until his health improved. On sobering up the Police Sergeant, having taken an interest in the genial gent, asked if he could ring his home for him and advise of his whereabouts. Harry was not very impressed with this offer and suggested that the Sergeant ring the telegraph branch and ask for the Fox. Tell him the Horse is in the jug. He ll know what to do. Some time later the puzzled policeman returned and spoke to Harry Eh the bloke who answered the phone said the Fox wasn t there. He wants to know if the Octopus, the Snake, the Slippery Eel or the Lizard would do. Where do you actually work son the Telegraph Office or the zoo?. *************************************** OLD TIMERS During the war years many old telegs returned to operating and very efficiently filled the shoes of younger men who had enlisted. This poem by an unknown author was penned in their honor. Deal gently with the ancient hand Who labours at our C.T.O., Your drift he fails to understand, When messages too swiftly flow. He could not pass the expert test, But there, he really does his best. You operators far away, Whose speed is like the lightning flash; And who can make a pretty play, With cryptic sign of dot and dash- Remember that old-timers frown, Who strive in vain to write you down. You supervisors full of zeal, Whose dream is rapid traffic flow, And who may feel inclined to squeal When rheumy hands wax somewhat slow- At 70 odd YOU may be sending, If this damned war is slow at ending.

3 HOW TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE LINES WERE TENSIONED Linemen employed by the P.M.G. Department were responsible for the maintenance and construction of telegraph and telepnone lines. Poles were located approximately 33 to each mile and carried cross arms fitted with insulators which in turn carried the metalic wire. The photo shows the tool used for tensioning aerial wires and commonly known to linemen as Tongs. The chain was hooked around the wooden crossarm on the pole and the clamp fixed to the line. The end of leather strap was then pulled by the lineman, who was up the pole, and the wire strained to the desired tension. The length of the folded leather strap was approximately one metre and the ovarall length of the tool was approximately 1.6 metres. *************************************************** TRESS TELEPRINTER REPERFORATOR SWITCHING SYSTEM It was TRESS (Teleprinter Reperforator Switching System) which eventually brought about the demise of Morse in Australia. It commenced at the end of 1959, and was phased out around the end of For a few years TELEX was used for remaining traffic until finally being killed off, largely by excessive charges. Every office had a 3 letter routing code. The first letter represented the State and the second and third letters were usually the first and last letters of the town's name. For example NCT was the routing code for Crows Nest, N.S.W. and QWE the routing code for Woodridge, Queensland. Of course this could not hold good for all towns and when other towns had the same first and last letters, a non-standard routing code was used. Some offices located close to state borders took the first letter of the near state, thus Broken Hill which was very close to the South Australian border had the state letter S rather than N for New South Wales. Switching centres were located in each capital city except Tasmania which was served from Melbourne. Northern Territory was served from Adelaide and Canberra (Australian Capital Territory) was served from Sydney. The preamble of each telegram started with the routing code for the office of destination, followed by the code of the originating office and numbering commencing from 1 each day. Service messages which consisted of code words such as RQ (request for information) BQ (reply to RQ ), test messages, etc. Were not numbered. Urgent telegrams and some official traffic to interstate destinations placed Z as the first letter of a routing code, as this was an 'Express' channel. Also if an outstation wished to 'speak' to the Switching Centre Traffic Office, the routing code XTO was used. The = sign at the end of the first line disconnected the Number Bulletin Printer at the switching centre which recorded the first line of all the telegrams received at that point. Capital City routing codes were e.g. QBR = Queensland Brisbane Receive, VMR Victoria Melbourne Receive etc. As these offices had many telegraphists, their sending serial numbers were a letter representing the send position, and serial number of the telegram. E.g. J46 represented the 46th telegram sent by position J for that day. Some large provincial centres had several Telegraphists and a Supervisor. Each Telegraphist had a designated sending position e.g. A, B or C as a fourth letter representing the sending position of the operator. Thus NGN26 was the 26th telegram sent by position B at Goulburn on that day. Telegraphists prepared their messages on tape which went to line via a transmitter. In smaller offices, transmission was direct to line. Squares, hollow or solid, at the end of some preambles represented a Bell signal. PTGE followed by an amount in dollars was the fee charged to deliver a telegram beyond the free delivery area. Otherwise it would be phoned, if possible, or sent by the next mail delivery.

4 NEW SOUTH WALES MORSE CALL SIGNS

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6 ************************************************** THE ONE O CLOCK TIME SIGNAL The transmission of the one o clock time signal was a most important minute of the normal day. At about a minute to 1pm a buzzer connected to the Sydney Observatory, as the official timekeeper, would commence a series of signals corresponding to a dash intimating that one o clock was approaching. All morse transmission would cease and telegraphists would send dashes in unison with the buzzer. Then dead on 1pm a ball would drop and the buzzer would emit a sustained signal and the telegraphists would send a string of dots to every Post Office in New South Wales indicating that it was one o clock and that clocks should be adjusted. Prior to this arrangement, a few minutes before 1pm a Telegraphist from the C.T.O. would go to the roof of the building from where there was a clear line of sight to the Observatory. He would then send the same signals to the C.T.O. below and in turn the signals were sent to each Post Office connected by Morse. An article in the Yass Courier of 25 January 1859 reads:- We understand it is intended to erect a bell to indicate the fall of the time-ball at the observatory, Sydney, each day at one o clock. The bell will be rung for a few minutes daily, by means of an apparatus connected with the telegraph, and cannot fail to prove of advantage to our townsmen, seeing that at present there is no public clock to enable anything like uniform time to be obtained. Another instance of time signalling was at Mudgee N.S.W. Post Office. A cannon was presented to the Mudgee Council in 1855and placed about 20 feet high in the Telegraph Office yard and up to 1885 was in charge of the Telegraph Master and was loaded and fired each Saturday at 1pm by telegraph officers. A misloading of the cannon in 1885 resulted in the telegraph operator losing most of his hand and from then on the cannon was operated by council officers. A telegraph employee would stand on the verandah of the Post Office and when the appropriate morse signals were heard would call ready and then fire at 1pm. The gun would go off with a bang and the time had been signalled.

7 LAST ELEGRAM SENT IN NEW SOUTH WALES The message would have been sent from position 270 in the Chief Telegraph Office, Sydney as can bee seen in the picture and not line No ************************************************ TELEGRAPHISTS INITIALS On entering The Room each operator was allocated a set of initials for use while ever he remained in the room. This was to overcome problems of more than one person at any one time having the same initials. My own, for example was ME on first entering the room which remained with me until I left on transfer to a regional relief position. On qualifying as a Supervisor and returning to the room later, I was allocated MY. Each message transmitted was endorsed in blue pencil with the line or channel number, batch number, time of transmission and the sending operators initials. Each terminating message was endorsed with the time of receipt and the receiving officer s initials immediately below the signature in the message in the case of morse transmission and on machine systems, in black pencil, below the last text line and aligned to the left hand margin.

8 NICK NAMES Over the years thousands of Telegraphists passed through the Sydney Chief Telegraph Office. Along the way many acquired nick names which related to many factors town of origin, physical makeup, temperament, expertise and non expertise, outside work activities; in fact anything at all! Here are just some to give an idea of the fellowship that existed between them.

9 Telegraphist in Training Class G.P.O. Sydney 1950 Back row: Pat Kaveney, Ron Miles, Bill Moon, Bill Grudgfield, Eric Jeckelyn 2nd back row: Keith Brown, Aub Peel, Dennis Harrison, Brian McSweeney, Doug Potter 3rd back row: Brian Spencer (Instructor), Tom Fletcher, Eric Skarrett, Bruce Sowter, Jim Berry, Peter Cook, Bede Kenny, Laurie Clements, Ron McMullen, Neville Kedwell, Brian Wallace, Noel Flannery, Keith Long, Geoff McKay (Instructor). Front row: Ken Nicholls, Sid Brown, Keith Norris,? John Lewis, John Pryke, Keith Barnes, Gilbert Wheeler, Fred Morrissey, Arthur Williams, Stan Church. Laurie Hutchison, V Morrison, and Doug Walter have signed the back of the photo, but may have been absent for the photo. Laurie Hutchsion may be the? in front row. This would make 35 plus the two instructors. *************************** THE OLD VERSUS THE NEW It was April 2005 and the battleground was Sydney's Powerhouse Museum. The lines were drawn but the opponents were generations, indeed centuries, apart. On one side Brittany Devlin aged 13 armed with a modern mobile phone, on the other, Gordon Hill, aged 93, armed with a nineteenth century morse key. This was to be a contest between the earliest form of telecommunication and the latest to see which was the faster. Gordon and Brittany were given an identical message to send Gordon, with many years of experience, had to send it by Morse Code to 82 year old Jack Gibson who would decode and record it on a manual typewriter. Brittany who had been texting for about two years was to SMS a friend standing alongside Jack. The message selected was from a teenage magazine and read, "Hey, girlfriend, you can text all your best pals to tell them where you are going and what you are wearing." When the contest started Gordon had to send the message in full. Brittany saved time by abbreviating hers to read, "hey gf u can txt ur best pals 2 tel them wot u r doing, whr u r going and wot u r wearing". Jack finished typing the message just ninety seconds after Gordon started sending, Brittany's took eighteen seconds longer. Three other teen aged challengers stepped forward to pit themselves against the skill of the two old Telegraphists but none was able to match the Morse for speed. ***********************************

10 Sending Morse Code has a relationship to handwriting in that some people write very clearly while others are quite illegible. If Morse signals are not crisp and clearly defined they can set problems for the person receiving them. The problems became more pronounced around Christmas. It was always a busy time and we worked long hours for the few days leading up to Christmas Eve. One afternoon I put in a four hour stint on a country line where the distant operator was obviously celebrating Christmas a little earlier than he should. Early in the afternoon his signals were crystal clear but they deteriorated as he continued to drink. By the end of the day I felt that I was getting no dots and no dashes, but putting it down anyway. (Fortunately Christmas telegrams had many similarities so it was possible to work out most of what was meant, and to query the bits and pieces that were indecipherable.) The Room was mainly a male environment. Male interests predominated and the things most popular were sport (especially football and cricket), horse racing and cars. Oh! yeah, and beer. We had a couple of bookies on the staff to help the punters lose their money, an unofficial money lender (who charged 10% until the next pay day, and got away with it), and lots of unofficial breaks when we could pop out to the pub for a quick drink. It was a pretty carefree environment. For all that, the quality of our work was high. Most of us got into the job, and stayed in the job, because we loved the Morse and we would have been badly embarrassed if our workmates thought we couldn't cut it. There were only five or six women working in the Room when I was there and they were left over from the labour shortage of World War II. Only a couple worked Morse (the others machines) so they won't feature in this item, not because I'm sexist but because that's the way it happened to be away back then. (Women's lib and feminism were as yet virtually unpublicised and the Female Eunuch hadn't been born.) Because of the peer pressure to drink and gamble some telegs held back part of their pay; Cunning money. They figured that what their wives didn't know about wouldn't matter. One man, let's call him Don, had a problem with his cunning money his wife guessed what was happening and demanded that he bring his pay envelope home unopened. Don didn't hesitate. Next payday he went to a stationers and bought a box of pay envelopes. From that point on he typed the amount she thought he was earning on an envelope, put in some money and pocketed the rest. We had all types. We had lots of drinkers and it was commonplace for them to leave their job when they got thirsty. Everybody knew it happened but mostly the management turned a blind eye. (They liked a drink, too.) The Angel, not far from the C.T.O.. was a favourite spot. One character was trying to get down to the pub one morning but his job was too busy. Every time he had it almost cleared more telegrams would be filed to be sent. Eventually he removed all the telegrams from his files, put them in his pocket, and ducked out for a quick beer. He must have enjoyed it because he didn't remember the telegrams in his pocket till he got home from work. Never one to panic he brought them in the next day, waited till the time he'd gone to the pub the day before, then sent them exactly twentyfour hours late. He got away with it because nobody could work out what had happened. A shocking thing to do? Of course it was, but that's how things happened in those days. It still does! The Old Crow was a keen golfer and earned his nickname when he arrived straight from the golf course, complete with golf clubs, and said with a big smile, "I look like an old pro, don't I!" The reply was immediate. "You look more like an old crow to me," said somebody and the name stuck. From that day forward whenever he arrived at work somebody would start a chorus of, "Aark! Aark!" in bad imitation of a crow's call. His name was Neville and he was one of the all-time characters in the room. The things he did, especially when he was young and, even more especially, if he had been drinking were part of the telegraph lore. Once while working the midnight to dawn shift he brought his motor bike up in the lift and when the supervisor objected chased him down the room on it. The poor man didn't have enough wit to jump up on one of the tables he just ran, and Neville chased. On another occasion he was working with Sydney Radio, the coastal radio station that received messages from ships at sea and passed them to an operator in the Room before they were forwarded on for delivery. Nev had managed an ale or two during the night and while he was taking down a radiogram (requesting supplies for the return voyage) addressed to a ship's provider he managed to add a couple of extra zeros to the order. When the ship arrived in port it was to find the wharf loaded with crates of tomatoes. No compensation was ever paid. Unfortunately that kind of error wasn't confined to the Morse days. One of the worst cases occurred during the mineral boom of the 1960s and '70s. A company named Poseidon was rumoured to have discovered a huge deposit of nickel and within six months Poseidon shares rose from 80c to $280. It was a phenomenon and fortunes were being made by people trading their shares. Right at the end of the boom one investor sent his stockbroker an order for shares and the operator sending the telegram added an extra zero. There are checks to make sure that can't happen but, with the best of intentions, sometimes human error still plays a part. The stockbroker's normal practice was to confirm the number of shares ordered by return telegram before purchasing and the buyer, who didn't have enough capital to pay for such a large amount, saw his chance to make a killing and confirmed.

11 Of course it was at exactly that time that the bottom dropped out of the market and the man went bankrupt. I understand Telecom Australia apologised and offered to refund the cost of his telegram. They had no further obligation than that. Gordon Olley The Trumpeter. Gordon joined the Army during World War II and, given his telecommunications background, was posted to a signals unit. On the first morning his sergeant asked if he could read Morse sent by an Aldiss lamp. (I think it was an Aldiss lamp. I don't quite remember what Gordon called it, but it was certainly an optical device.) "Of course I can!" trumpeted the Trumpeter. He was nothing if not confident. He was given a classroom test which he passed with flying colours then moved out to do some exercises in open country. That was when the penny dropped! "I didn't realise when they were testing me in the class room that I could hear the relay, and that's what I was writing down." Once he realised his mistake it didn't take him long to learn the visual version. He was a pretty good operator. There are lots of stories about the Room and I'll add them as I get the opportunity. It was an oddball place to work with lots of oddball people, but it wasn't boring. SYDNEY MORSECODIANS At right is the badge of the Sydney Morsecodian's Fraternity, a group of ageing Telegraphists who never quite forgot the romance of the Morse code era. Their annual reunions are cheerful, noisy affairs during which conversation only stops while the speeches are being made; and it stops not merely from courtesy but because everybody wants to listen the speeches are made in Morse Code. People whose only knowledge of Morse comes from watching old movies or listening to the SMS signal on their mobile phones may be surprised to learn that it didn't always sound like that. The buzzer, or oscillator, was used only in radio communication. When Morse was used on land-lines the signals were a series of clicks and Telegraphists were trained to read the spaces between those clicks. The following report about one annual meeting of the Morsecodians' Fraternity was written by Peta Peters, Telecom Australia's NSW Media Officer. It was published in the Telecom News. The date of publication is unknown but the distances given in kilometers indicate that it was written no earlier than 1984, when Australia adopted the metric system of weights and measures. Ancient posters, lovingly preserved, decorate the walls and there is a feeling of camaraderie as the men one hundred and ten in all talk and laugh at some fondly remembered joke. The Professor, the Slippery Eel and the Duck exchange pleasantries while Spider, Two Bob and the Snake are ribbed by their mates. These characters and many more are gathered tonight to celebrate the seventh reunion of the New South Wales Morsecodians' Fraternity. Over the general hubbub is heard the distinctive clackety-clack of the morse key. This is an annual meeting with a difference. The entire meeting is addressed in Morse and, to the casual spectator, the applause and laughter that peppers the Morse signals seem bewildering. Yet all the men present are experts in the field. Former Telegraphists who have long since retired from the Knighthood of the Key, or whose lifestyle and careers have changed direction. Jim Porter is here tonight. He will be 86 next January and his memories go back to 1909 when he first joined the PMG (Postmaster General's Department). Originally from the Snowy River, Jim's first job was as a telegraph messenger. Next he was promoted to clearing mail boxes in North Sydney. This was done with a horse and cart, and although the PMG paid an allowance for forage, Jim had to supply his own horse and equipment. In 1915 he successfully applied for a Telegraphist s position. In those days the equivalent of a Higher School Certificate was needed and it was considered a prestigious job. In reality, however, it could sometimes be a tedious occupation involving long hours, cramped muscles and loneliness. Jim was posted to various country Post Offices on relief staff until he enlisted in the Light Horse Signal Corps during World War I. He served from 1916 to Returning to the PMG he was promoted to telegraph officer at the GPO in Sydney and his last position was as Traffic Officer at the GPO. Another Morsecodian who remembers the isolation often encountered is Jack Baker who was to become known as The Count, for his regal bearing and mode of speech. At sixteen Jack was located in Central Australia in a Post office thirty kilometers from the nearest railway and 260 kilometers from his nearest neighbour. All he had for company was his horse, and the day the horse bolted was the day he demanded to be sent home.

12 Bill Douglas is another member of the Fraternity. He began his career in 1916 and his memories include working for every newspaper in Sydney as a Telegraphist. He clearly remembers Sir Frank Packer coming to the newspaper office as a schoolboy in short pants, and recollects Eric Baume, the legendary radio and television figure, working as a night sub-editor on one of the papers. Other memories include receiving telegrams from New Guinea that had been written on a variety of items ranging from coconuts to toilet rolls. Telegraphists belong to a fraternity of their own and their history is steeped in folklore. They were masters of an extraordinary form of communication which has long passed into history. These days the clack of the keys has been replaced by the clatter of the teleprinter. Only the memories remain. ******************************** TELSTRA BANKSTOWN MUSEUM The following story by Richard Macey appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on August 4, Gordon Hill still remembers the year he developed telegrapher s cramp in his right arm. "I broke down in 1935," Mr. Hill, now 92, said yesterday, recalling the repetitive strain injury triggered by his job as a morse code telegram transmitter. "It was so painful I almost cried." But such memories have failed to dull his passion for a 45-year career that ended in 1972 when he retired as Liverpool's postmaster. He belongs to a voluntary group of 16 men and two women who gather in Bankstown each week to celebrate their passion for the communications revolution. On Tuesdays they meet in a small building in Kitchener Parade, next door to the Bankstown telephone exchange, to restore and maintain ageing communications gear. On Wednesdays they invite the public inside to inspect Bankstown's Telstra Museum of telecommunications. The thousands of exhibits are either owned by Telstra - which yesterday donated $50,000 to produce a catalogue for the collection or donated by supporters. They include almost every type of telephone ever used in Australia, as well as switchboards and teleprinters. There is a machine made in just four years after the telegraph arrived in Australia - which inked out morse code messages on ribbons of paper, a telephone used by prime minister Billy Hughes, and a public phone box that stood in Anthony Hordern's city store. A misdemeanour book records that around 1910 a young GPO worker named Norman Gilroy, a future cardinal, was fined a shilling for incorrectly addressing a telegram. The historians take some of their technology on the road, visiting country towns. Last month it was Mudgee. Next they will head for Gunnedah. Brian Mullins started work as a telegram boy in South Grafton in 1955 and retired in 1978 as a public phone inspector. "But I have never worked so hard," he said of his voluntary job as museum manager. "The younger generation doesn't even know what a telegram is." Mr. Hill, who started work as a telegram messenger in 1927, still demonstrates his skill on old morse code telegraph keys. "Once we go, it is dead," he said. Proving that the technology is always on the march, the museum has mobile phones that were in use not long ago. But it seems the idea of mobile communication is not new. The January 17, 1901, edition of The Transmitter, published for the NSW Postal and Electric Telegraph Society, made a prediction: If in the near future an electric bell concealed about the person of a man in the street is heard to ring, and he draws from his pocket a small case, listens to it, and then hurries off, it must not hastily be assumed that he is mad. The probability is that he has just received a message by wireless telegraphy. **************** TELECOMMUNICATION MUSEUMS There are very good Telecommunications museums located in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. They are manned by members of the Morsecodian Fraternity and others interested in the history of telecommunications. They are open to the public on various days and at other times for groups etc. by appointment. Telstra is a proud sponsor of these museums.

13 CONGRATULATIONS Congratulations are extended to Ray Carter, Les Edwards and Brian Mullins. On Saturday, August 27, 2005, at Channel 7 Television Studios, they successfully engaged in a transmission speed test of Morse versus mobile text messaging and won a Gold Medal. They also won a place in the Guinness Book of Records. Official Guinness World Record Text reads:- The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human The receiver had to type out the message 100% correct or disqualification, so transmission had to be exact. Audience of 300 people watching plus national coverage on TV possibly the world. Competing against twice world champion SMS. Only one attempt. Congratulations also to Brian Mullins, manager of the Telstra Museum, on being awarded the Order of Australia Medal in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours. Brian was one of my trainees in the final year of Telegraphist training in R.M. *************************************************** TREATMENT OF TELEGRAMS Acceptance: There were various types of telegrams; Ordinary, Urgent (double the cost of ordinary and received urgent treatment at all stages), Reply Paid, Collect (addressee paid the cost on delivery), Lettergrams, International telegrams, Radiograms transmitted by radio between stations within Australia and Papua New Guinea, Radio Telegrams to ships at sea and Press telegrams (usually to Newspapers). Each category had its own type of form. All could be lodged either over the Post Office counter by the sender completing an originating telegram form or by telephone from a telephone subscriber to a Post Office. Telegrams accepted over the phone were known as Phonograms. The time a telegram was accepted at the Post Office counter was the first recording on the top left hand portion of the form. Then the number of words in the message was counted and the appropriate charge per word assessed. The accepting officer would place his initial in this section. After acceptance of cash from the sender, stamps were affixed to the top of the form and cancelled with a steel hand date stamp. Capital city offices and some large offices used cash registers. The sender was also requested to write his name and address on the back of the form in case later contact with him was necessary. All Post Office transactions with a monetary value had to be dated with a steel hand stamp. In the case of Phonograms the message was transcribed from the subscriber onto a form with a detachable strip at the top, folded and by means of carbon paper the time of lodgment, number of words, charge and addressee details were recorded on both sections. The strip section was detached and used for accounting purposes. Otherwise Phonograms were treated exactly the same as telegrams. The accepted message would then be transferred to the Morse or telephone operating position by hand, pneumatic tube or overhead kick back carrier whichever was appropriate, where it was placed face down on a spike situated at eye level for easy sighting, so that each message would retain its order of lodgment. Each day all originating telegrams for the previous day would be checked for correctness of pricing, sorted into a particular order, particulars entered in duplicate on a record of originating telegrams, and later posted to the Accounts Branch of the state headquarters. Transmission: For Morse transmission each office was connected to a land line. Very busy offices used a simplex circuit with only one office at each end of the line whilst most offices used an omnibus circuit with up to three or four offices on the one line depending on the amount of traffic at each office. Usually each office was worked in turn, but this was flexible having regard to the amount of traffic being handled. Most traffic was transmitted to the Chief Telegraph Office or major regional office for onward transmission to the terminating office. Any office on a line could communicate directly to another on the line if necessary. During busy times it was usual to take the busiest office off the main line and place it on a spare line, where it may have been the only office, apart from the terminal office, until the busy period had passed. Each office had its own call sign and would call the wanted office three times followed by his own call sign when he wished to transmit. The receiving operator would reply with one transmission of his own call sign. Messages were transmitted in batches and the sending operator would send the office of origin (in the case of a Chief Telegraph Office, if the message was a phonogram the word sub would be added, indicating telephone subscriber), number of words in the message and time of lodgment. At the conclusion of the sending of each message he would record in blue pencil on the top right hand section of the form the batch number, circuit number on which it was sent, the time and his initials. When a batch of more than five messages was sent it was usual for the sending operator to signal tts 5 (that s 5) to ensure that none had been lost by line fault etc. The receiving operator would acknowledge. I well remember on one occasion at a special event at a county office I was receiving one way only traffic when the tts 5 rule was ignored. After message number 87 the line went dead and some minutes later I could hear the sending signals but could not break the operator. He was an excellent sender; using a jigger and it was truly a pleasure to receive from him. I kept receiving from number 93 and at the conclusion of the session 134 messages had been sent and all received except five

14 without a break in transmission other than the line failure. On full restoration of the circuit it was agreed only five had been lost and these were retransmitted without any problems. Oh for the tts 5, rule! On completion of a batch of transmitted messages the sending operator would indicate the number he had sent and the receiving operator would confirm that that number had been received. Each operator would make an appropriate entry in relation to that particular batch in his operating journal. The message was then filed with sent traffic. All sent traffic was checked at frequent intervals during the day to ensure all had been transmitted and none was mislaid. Reception: At the repeating or terminating office the message was recorded by typewriter, or in some instances by handwriting. The terminating message, recorded on a terminating telegram form would show in the preamble its number in order of receipt, office of origin, number of words and time of lodgment. The receiving officer would record the signals exactly as they were sent. The received message would be separated into four sections, preamble, address details, text message and signature of sender. The receiving officer would record at the bottom of the message the time of receipt and his initials. At a C.T.O. the message would be placed on a conveyor belt to the circulation section where it would be transferred to another operating position, by circulation staff for further transmission to the terminating office. Received messages were recorded in duplicate on a terminating sheet which showed the basic details of the message and had provision for delivery details. Delivery: After being recorded on the terminating sheet the message would be placed in an envelope and allotted to a Junior Postal Officer for delivery to the addressee. The sheet would show the time it was allocated for delivery, the expected time delivery would take, the time the J.P.O. returned from the delivery and the time taken for the overall delivery. Permissible time lags (P.T.L) were in place and it was expected that they would be adhered to. However in practice this was often impossible. Means of delivery were mostly by bicycle, often by foot in dense city areas, but in larger towns and mountainous areas motor cycles were used. In some cases messages would be telephoned to addressees and the actual message sent out in the normal post. Cash received for Collect telegrams was converted to stamps and placed on a separate record sheet. In 1946 the designation Telegraph Messenger was changed to Junior Postal Officer. Delays in delivery of telegrams occurred at times for a variety of reasons. They would be endorsed, usually by hand or a rubber stamp, delayed by interruption to lines or similar depending on the circumstances. A unique brass stamp, as shown in the pictures below, is believed to have been used at Omeo, Victoria. DELAYED BY NTERRUPTION TO LINES - Brass stamp. Delivery Officers: All delivery officers were supplied with uniforms consisting of cap (optional hat), 2 cap covers for summer and rain use, 2 shirts, tie, coat and 2 trousers. Various types of rain gear were issued. Vouchers were issued for shoes and the officer would use them to purchase his own shoes or boots. Until a uniform was issued a new starter would wear a red with black lettering P.M.G. arm band on his upper arm. In temperate areas the uniforms were navy blue and in hotter areas khaki.

15 A BRIEF HISTORY OF TELEGRAPHS IN AUSTRALIA The first Australian Morse Code link was established in 1854 between Melbourne and Sandridge (Williamstown). The original Sydney Telegraph Office was established on December 30, 1857 in the Sydney Exchange later to be called the Royal Exchange at the corner of Bridge and Pitt Streets, Sydney. Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide were linked by telegraph lines in 1858, while the Sydney Brisbane connection was made three years later. Submarine cable was laid to connect Tasmania and Victoria in For the first four years the Sydney Telegraph Department was controlled by the Commissioner of Railways. In 1861 the responsibility was transferred to the Minister of Public Works. With the amalgamation of the Post and Telegraph Offices from 1870, and the introduction of the Overland Telegraph which traversed the 3,000 kilometers between Adelaide and Darwin in 1872, the importance of the telegraph system increased dramatically. Between 1860 and 1874 the Sydney Telegraph Office moved four times until the Operating Room was finally located on the Fourth Floor of the Sydney GPO in Martin Place in September of that year. In 1893 public telegraph enquiries moved from the fourth floor to the ground floor of the GPO before being finally relocated to Hooker House in King Street saw the introduction of the Murray Multiplex system for interstate traffic. In 1928 another building was erected adjacent to and joining the GPO, with the Chief Telegraph Office (CTO) now occupying two floors. A phonogram section was added with, initially, forty phonogram operators. Two years later teleprinters and teletypes were introduced to handle traffic at major post offices but Morse was retained for lower-volume locations. In the period leading to the early 1950s staffing levels within the CTO exceeded 1,000, providing a round-the-clock, sevendays-a-week service. Teleprinter exchanges (the words were contracted to form TELEX) were introduced in These provided manual telex connections. It was to be another twelve years before automatic dialing was introduced to the telex network. Beginning in 1959 morse code was gradually phased out with the introduction of TRESS (Teleprinter REperforator Switching System) which provided a store-and-forward function. While TRESS operated very satisfactorily for 26 years it did, of course, remove the personal contact and involvement that were part of day-to-day morse and teleprinter communication. A Farewell to Morse was held in the Sydney Town Hall on Saturday, February 2, It coincided with the transmission of the last official morse message in Australia from Halls Creek (Western Australia) to Sydney. In 1970 a facility was provided to permit members of the public to attend the CTO and have a Telegraphist send telex messages for them. Commencing in Perth, in May 1986 TRESS was replaced with a computer-based system that interfaced with the Telex network. The Sydney Message Bureau, located in Aussat House, Carrington Street, Sydney, commenced in October that year and became fully operational by May The CTO had now been abandoned and an official "wake" was conducted there on May 15, 1987 to commemorate 113 consecutive years of service. The year 2006 celebrated the 50th anniversary of the last morse-trained Telegraphists. ************************************* THE BOSS Did you ever work for the P.M.G.? Did you ever sell a stamp? Did you ever work in Canberra? Or in a Snowy Mountains camp? Perhaps you worked at East Block Where they had that big exchange Or did you work at Curtin When the PM there was strange! He treated his staff quite decent And that just wasn t on They tried, but could not change him Mr McMullen known as Ron. Allan McGrath ex Postal Clerk, Curtin A.C.T. *********************************

16 I succumbed to the pleadings of a very good friend, John Riddett, to include this article. RM Background THE TELEGRAM With the introduction of Morse code in the 1840's the telegram quickly found a place in society as a fast and effective means of communication. By 1855 people in Great Britain were sending more than 740,000 telegraph messages a year and shortly before World War 1 the number rose to more than 82 million messages pa. At the peak of its popularity the telegram was refined to such an extent that there were special forms and envelopes for almost any occasion, most favoured being for Xmas, Easter, birthdays, weddings and mother s day. Australia also took up the telegram service enthusiastically and by 1950, with a population a little over seven million, sent more than 35 million telegrams. However, the service subsequently declined due to the private telephone becoming more accessible and transmission by Morse code was eventually phased out almost entirely in Australia by Printer transmitted messages subsequently ceased about The last recognised Telegram facility in the world closed on 27 January, 2006 when Western Union terminated the service after more than 150 years. Currently there is a number of private operators, largely American based, claiming to provide a telegram service connected into the traditional international old fashioned network. Charges range from a minimum of $15 (US) plus 90c per word up to $105 plus 90c per word for weekend delivery. Compare this with the Morsecodian fraternity who provide a telegram service at a rate of $2(Aus) for local messages and $3 for international telegrams. Behind the Telegram To the average person it would appear there should be little difficulty in accepting, transmitting and delivering a telegram from point of origin to its destination. But of course nothing is as simple as it seems and the following are a few samples of what could, and did happen on occasions to counter officers accepting telegrams, Telegraphists sending and receiving the messages, and the unfortunate telegraph messenger at the end of the line. Acceptance of Telegrams Acceptance of telegrams from the public was largely telephoned through a Phonogram operator or lodged with a counter officer at the local Post Office. Each system had its problems. The Phonogram operator had to contend with accuracy in content and spelling, particularly in regard to names, addresses and foreign words. A famous example of a Phonogram operator's mistake was; To a wholesale green grocery in NSW:- Please send 6 dozen french letters, urgent (fresh lettuces) Most originating telegrams at post offices were dealt with promptly by counter staff who checked the handwritten message for legibility and content. However, occasionally there was conflict with members of the public in regard to (obscene) content in messages, usually relating to wedding telegrams. Unfortunately, what was regarded as acceptable or unacceptable often depended on the gender and predisposition of the counter officer at the time of lodgement. Examples of each category are: Acceptable: Unacceptable: Unacceptable: A honeymoon couple is like a kitchen table. Four bare legs and no drawers. A honeymoon couple is like an old TV set Four bare legs and a worn out knob. Please send a photo of your beautiful new wife Preferably mounted. Transmitting and Receiving Telegrams In the capital cities, Phonograms were despatched directly to the Telegraphists in the Central Telegraph Office (CTO) for transmission to the office of destination, or to a repeater station for subsequent on forwarding. The activities at the CTO are not something on which the author of this article is qualified to comment, however, having some experience as a Postal Clerk on both the transmitting and receiving end of messages some credence can be given to the following observations. (i) The pet hate of a transmitting Postal Clerk was illegible writing, particularly in respect of the addressee's name and postal address. (ii) A close second was what was then known as leakage, usually occurring during wet weather. This caused Morse signals to become so weak that the dots were difficult to read. (iii) Squabbling telegraph messengers (JPOs) were a further source of irritation because they were usually scuffling right alongside the Morse operator. When receiving telegrams one had to be careful how they laid out the text on the telegram form because a full stop or a comma in the wrong place could totally alter the meaning of the message. In this respect a well known example back in the fifties was that of a recently married young woman who fell ill just before her husband departed to the bush on a business trip. It was agreed she would telegraph him in a few days if she had not recovered. Not recovering and yearning for her new husband she sent the following terse telegram "Missing you terribly. Not getting any better. Come home" By the time the message reached the young husband it was formatted thus:- MISSING YOU TERRIBLY NOT GETTING ANY BETTER COME HOME

17 Another message that comes to mind was from a young man who had overstayed his holiday at Surfers. His family received the following message;- NO MON NO FUN YOUR SON To which his father promptly replied:- HOW SAD TOO BAD YOUR DAD Despite many work related obstacles, including over zealous senior management, Telegraphists and Postal Clerks were very proficient and errors were rare. The rate of competency was so high that many, particularly Telegraphists, operated Morse in excess of 30 words per minute as the norm. By contrast the majority of old timers going around today operate largely between 16 and 24 words per minute. Delivering Telegrams We now come to the most important cog in the telegraph industry; the underpaid and unappreciated Junior Postal Officer (JPO). Commonly known as telegraph messengers the JPO not only delivered telegrams to all areas and in all conditions, but also provided a wonderful source of recruitment for promotion to the Postal Clerk and Telegraphist ranks. Many of the current Morsecodians began their careers as JPOs. Unless one was a JPO one could not appreciate their contribution to the telegraph industry. Telegrams were delivered in rain, hail or shine, in cold westerly winds and in the heat of summer. In addition to the elements, the JPOs were exposed to traffic, pedestrians, unmade roads, angry dogs and, on occasions, amorous lonely women. Additionally, when not actually out delivering telegrams the JPO was required to maintain the forms and pens in the public area, clean public phone boxes, attend to punctures and other bicycle defects, assist with preparation of the outward mail despatch and do personal messages for the Postmaster and other senior staff. Despite all the apparent negatives the JPOs were generally a happy, free spirited group of young lads who subsequently used their experiences to good effect later in life. Conclusion What is now referred to as the good old days are long gone and only the memories of happy times in the Postmaster- General's Department remain. Little did many of us realise when we commenced work at 14 as JP0s where the experiences of those days would lead us. In many cases some of the current Morsecodians were involved in every aspect of the telegraph industry, i.e. acceptance, transmission and delivery of telegrams. A great industry in its time and a wonderful experience. ODE TO AN OLD BLOKE Why is he looking so downcast and sullen this dear old man named Ron McMullen Yes he is a sad tale of woe he has lost his jigger from the C.T.O. He sits there with his eyes a flashin because he knows there will be no more dots and dashin But all is not lost despite the groan he can still ring his friends on the telephone ********************************* Hope this doesn t look like me R.

18 TELEGRAPH STORIES (1) (Tales of a JP0) Introduction In the old PMG days of the 1950's the designation of JPO stood for Junior Postal Officer, better known to the public then as telegraph messengers. The unfortunate JPOs were the poorly paid dogs bodies of the Postal Services Division and were treated accordingly. They were at the beck and call of virtually every other employee in the office and were required to perform a wide range of tasks not necessarily associated with telegram deliveries. A lot of the unwanted jobs handed down to the JPOs were unpleasant and demanding and many a JPO hour was spent contemplating revenge on the initiators. Rest assured though, the JPO was not a person to be trifled with if he felt he was being mistreated! This fact became very evident to the detriment of many a person who made the mistake of bullying JPOs Revenge of the JPO In the early 1950's there was one particular JPO employed at the Yarraville Post Office who, being a country boy and unaccustomed to discipline as a child, had the reputation of being quite a handful if sufficiently riled. He carried the nickname of Riddle possibly because nobody knew what he was likely to do next, and a few examples of retaliatory measures inflicted on perceived wrongdoers by this rebellious young messenger are given below. (1) The Phone Box: Early one Monday morning in the Spring of 1951 an elderly lady entered the Post Office at Yarraville and approached the Senior Postal Clerk (SPC). She insisted that someone attend to one of the public phone boxes out front of the office. Not being able to get a clear picture as to the problem the SPC examined the phone booth himself and discovered two large, used condoms dangling off the earpiece and mouthpiece of the old style public telephone. Of course it was up to the reluctant and very angry JPO to remove the offensive items as directed and dispose of them. Unfortunately for the Senior Postal Clerk the JPO elected to dispose of the offensive items by fitting them very carefully along the handlebars of the SPC s road racing bicycle where they remained until knock-off time that evening. Not a smart move as it turned out but it must have seemed like a good idea at the time. (See footnote) (2) Bully Boys: For several months in 1952 the mail despatch at Yarraville was handled by an attractive female Postal Assistant. This lass was quite competent at her job but lacked the physical strength to haul the large outward mail bags around to the railway station for loading onto the Melbourne bound train. Hoping to impress and do some good for himself, our young JPO volunteered to transport the mail bags to the station for her. All went well for a week or so but then our hero fell victim to a couple of train travelling older bullies from a nearby College. After a few thumpings and a couple of blood noses the JPO sought assistance from some of the local knockabouts who happened to be fond of him. It transpired therefore that a few evenings later as the JPO was trundling the mail bags to the end of the railway platform who should appear but the bully boys. Showing unaccustomed fear the JPO ran into the railway platform toilet followed closely by his tormentors, intent on handing out another lesson. Coincidentally, there happened to be four of the local lads standing out of sight just inside the toilet doorway and who took it upon themselves to deal out Yarraville justice. This meant holding the bullies upside down in the toilet bowls for some minutes and repeatedly flushing the toilet. The JPO was left unmolested from thereon, but sad to say so was the female Postal Assistant. (3) Lights Out: Late in 1951 our JPO became aware of a blossoming romance between the married Postal Clerk and a female counter officer. As the weeks passed it became obvious to the JPO that the pair was disappearing regularly for minutes during the lunch break. It so happened that one particular lunchtime the Postmaster requested that the Postal Clerk be asked to return to the Morse line to receive an urgent telegram awaiting transmission from the C.T.O. The JPO offered to go look for the Postal Clerk and headed directly to the post office annex across the road. The annex was a building used for storing surplus equipment but it also had a strong room which housed items of value such as tax stamps, postal notes, registered articles, etc. Upon entering the annex the JPO observed that neither the Postal Clerk nor the counter officer were to be seen but he did note that the strong room door was slightly ajar with a faint stream of light filtering out. Being the good lad that he was he promptly switched off the light and shut and locked the strong room door. Fortuitously, he returned shortly afterwards and, upon hearing muffled screams and shouts, opened the strong room door to the relief of the nerve wracked and dishevelled occupants who had been trapped in pitch darkness. Seeing that there was little to be gained from honesty on this occasion, the JPO refrained from mentioning that it was he who had locked the strong room in the first place. The shaken pair hastened back to the post office never to pair again. Semi conclusion There are other allegedly true stories about this particular JPO including his experiences with Reply Paid telegrams, an unpopular Postmaster, a dead horse, savage dogs, teeny bopper girlfriends, toilet humour, learning Morse code and the pitfalls of showing off in public. Some other time and that's a promise. * * * Footnote: Some years later the same SPC involved in the bicycle incident was fortunate enough to interview the former telegraph messenger for a Clerk 2/3 position in the Postal Services Division. Needless to say the application was unsuccessful. Introduction TELEGRAPH STORIES (2) (Tales of a JPO) At the height of its popularity in the early 1950's the telegraph system offered a wide range of forms and services for the benefit of the public. Apart from standard telegrams there were also greetings and special occasion forms, urgent telegrams, overseas cablegrams, telegraph money orders (Telmos), money order advices (MOAs) and reply paid telegrams.

19 All of these different message types had unique features. However the messages most popular with the Junior Postal Officers, who were responsible for delivery, were winning Tattersalls lottery advices and Reply Paid telegrams. Both of these message types offered attractive monetary opportunities for a resourceful JPO. Tattersalls telegrams Telegrams from Tattersalls advising lottery winners of their good fortune were much sought after by the JPO. These messages often carried a sizeable monetary reward from the highly excited and exhilarated recipient. However, there was an art to delivering these messages because if the JPO left the scene before the recipient had a chance to react to their good fortune, the messenger could miss out altogether. The ploy was to linger as long as possible, even to the extent of innocently asking if the message was a reply paid telegram and necessitated a response. Any cash received was shared among the messengers; as well as the occasional greedy Postal Clerk. In this respect there was an infamous incident at the Yarraville Post Office where a Postal Clerk received a Tattersalls message at a time when all the JPOs were out on rounds. This mean spirited louse kept the news quiet and subsequently delivered the telegram himself during his lunch break. He was only caught out when a good hearted middle aged lady fronted up at the Post Office counter some two days later with a tip for the delivery boy. Tips from elated Tattersalls winners ranged from one pound ($2) up to fifty pounds ($100) which was a lot of money in the 1950's. It was rare for a JPO not to gain some benefit from delivering a Tattersalls telegram and any messenger who returned from a delivery empty handed was viewed with a high degree of suspicion by his fellow workers. Whilst the monetary reward was always welcome it was still a great thrill to bring news of good luck to some of the very deserving people in the then working class suburb of Yarraville. Reply Paid Telegrams The Reply Paid telegram was also very prominent in the 1950's and offered a pre-paid reply facility to the addressee of a telegraph message and usually required the recipient to simply respond briefly with a negative or affirmative answer, or a time, a date, a location or a name or address. It was rumoured that this uncomplicated process could be put to advantage by some enterprising messengers who would wait for a reply, and then charge the unsuspecting recipient a fee for taking the reply back to the Post Office. Rumour also has it that another innovative use of the reply paid telegram was conceived by a young JPO from Yarraville. It all came about because the Yarraville Post Office did not provide a full Saturday delivery service making it necessary for a Yarraville messenger to be based at the Footscray Post Office on Saturday afternoons. More often than not there were no telegrams received for delivery in the Yarraville area and this would leave the messenger at a loose end for the afternoon. The story goes that as a consequence of this idle time the Yarraville messenger came up with the idea of secretly typing up a number of duplicate copies of locally addressed telegrams received on the morning of the Saturday he was scheduled to work at Footscray. On arrival at the Footscray telegram delivery area on the Saturday afternoon he would unobtrusively feed these duplicate messages into the local despatch system. Shortly afterwards he would be booked out with these telegrams by the unsuspecting despatch clerk and take off for the afternoon to deliver the bogus messages. It is said that this system worked well for more than 20 months and allowed the young messenger ample time to enjoy many a happy Saturday afternoon at the Western Oval viewing VFL football and district cricket matches. It was also rumoured that a further enhancement to the system was introduced during the football season. This involved the JPO presenting himself to the attendants at the entrance gate of the Western Oval with a bogus Reply Paid telegram for a visiting VFL player. Naturally protocol demanded that the reply paid message be hand delivered by the messenger who would then pass through the entrance gate free of charge and disappear in the direction of the players change rooms. Once out of sight of the gate attendants, he would promptly remove his messenger cap and blouse and secure them in a lightweight kitbag concealed inside his clothing. He would then join the crowd. The game would finish in ample time for the JPO to don his uniform outside the ground and return to the Footscray Post Office to check if there was a Good Night run. Disgraceful conduct if true but of course this was only a rumour. John Riddett. January 2008 A POST CHRISTMAS STORY There was a man who worked for the Post Office whose job it was to process all the mail that had illegible addresses. One day, a letter came addressed in a shaky handwriting to God with no actual address. He thought he should open it to see what it was about. The letter read:- Dear God, I am an 83 year old widow, living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had 100 in it which was all the money I had until my next pension cheque. Next Sunday is Christmas, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with. I have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope. Can you please help me? Sincerely, Edna.

20 The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to all the other workers. Each one dug into his or her wallet and came up with a few quid. By the time he made the rounds, he had collected 96 which they put into an envelope and sent to the woman. The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of Edna and the dinner she would be able to share with her friends. Christmas came and went. A few days into the New Year, another letter came from the same old lady to God. All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened. It read:- Dear God, How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me? Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift. By the way, there was 4 missing, I think it must have been those bastards at the Post Office. Sincerely, Edna. **************** MORSECODIANS THEME By Red Robby Out in the room the old timer stands Clasping the key in his thin bony hands Tired are his eyes as he reads down the press Glory if they let him won t he cut this bleeding mess. CHORUS Click go the keys boys, click click click Tired are the arms, but the hand moves quick The Super looks around and gazes at the clock Shake it up me hearties You re a bleeding lot of crocks. In the middle of the floor in his leather covered chair Sits the boss of the room with his eyes everywhere. Notes all the stragglers as they come drifting in and Curses the day they built the Angel Inn. Repeat CHORUS The days of Morse are over we ve sent the last GN So roll up your jiggers boys and lay down the pen Switch off the sounders close up the key and any old Morsecodian can come and drink with me. Repeat CHORUS *********************** LAST TELEGRAM SENT BY MORSE IN AUSTRALIA The last telegram transmitted by Morse in Australia was in October 1968 from Wittenoom (now abandoned infamous blue asbestos mining town) in Western Australia to Roebourne, W.A. The transmitting officer was Bernard (Barney) McKenna and the receiving officer was Neville Matsen. There was no land line communication from either Wittenoom or Onslow to any other centre and all Morse was conducted by wireless telegraphy using two transceivers, a short range 3BZ at each and at Wittennoom, a second more powerful 581Y which could work direct with Perth C.T.O. via the receiving station at Byford and the transmitting station at Wanneroo. 3BZ transceivers were installed in all Post Offices north of Carnarvon. After the introduction of the TRESS system wireless telegraph traffic received at Roebourne was fed into that system for onward transmission. ******************************

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23 MYSTERY The code outlined below is not American or Continental. It was confined to Victoria and possibly would have presented problems when Victorian offices worked with adjoining Colonial offices. There seems no reason as to why it was necessary to change to a one Colony code.

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25 THE ARRIVAL OF THE TELEGRAPH SERVICE IN ALBURY April 9th 1858 A perusal of copies of the The Border Post from July 1857 onwards reveals the following information regarding the arrival of the Electric Telegraph service in Albury Mr O'Byrne Superintendent of Telegraph Works from Sydney to Yass and Mr. H. L. Steel, Superintendent for the portion of the work from Yass to Albury visited Albury with a view to making some preliminary observations in connection with the construction of the Electric Telegraph The telegraph line from Melbourne to Wodonga is presently being constructed through Wangaratta Tenders are called for the erection of the Electric Telegraph from Picton to a point on the Victorian side of the Murray River opposite to the town of Albury Mr Martin the district surveyor was busily engaged in working out sites for the posts of the electric telegraph in Ford Street Beechworth It is expected that the wiremen will reach the bank of the river this evening. As it will be fully seven or eight months before the Sydney Government will place us in a position to avail ourselves of this wire, by furnishing the necessary instruments and bringing the line across the river, it has been suggested that the public in this quarter should subscribe the small sum required for that purpose (about 70), in order that the Victorian contractors might complete the telegraph to Albury. The Atheneum rooms could be used as a temporary station, and would form a very convenient one. Considering the great benefits of telegraph communication, it certainly does appear hard that the people of Albury should be shut out from the use of the wires, when by carrying the line some 300 yards further, it could be brought into the town, but the chief obstacle to the accomplishment of the affair by subscription is the lack of the services of a station clerk. We think some representation should be made to the Sydney Government on this subject, for Albury, being situated on the borders, has been neglected by both Governments. The British border towns have important privileges secured to them, but the Australian boundary townships are allowed to fall between two stools A public meeting has resulted in the collection of a sufficient sum of money to pay for the extension of the telegraph from the Victorian side of the river to the town of Albury. An arrangement has been made with the contractors, and on Thursday several men commenced preparing the posts and wires. The line is to be completed this evening, when the wires will be temporarily fixed in the Atheneum rooms. Mr. Nichols has transmitted to the Executive an offer to erect a station adjoining his hotel to be placed at the disposal of the Government free of rent for three years and should this offer be accepted, the wires will be carried to that point. The petition praying for the appointment of a station clerk and the supply of the necessary instruments has also been sent down, and there is every probability that Albury will be in the enjoyment of a telegraph communication with Melbourne some time before the contractors will be able to complete the line on the New South Wales side. Yesterday evening the ceremony of christening the first telegraph post erected on this side of the Murray took place in the presence of a number of Albury residents. Whilst on this subject we may as well correct an error which we fell into in stating that Mr. McGowan was the contractor for the line, Mr. Crowell is the gentleman who has performed the work The Telegraph Mr. McGowan intends visiting Albury next week, when the station at Wodonga will be placed in working order. The gentleman who is to have charge of the Wodonga office is already on his road up from Melbourne and on his arrival the line will be open for the transmission of messages. The station arrangement at Beechworth will also be complete in a few days. I n reference to the Albury station, the following reply has been received to the memorial lately forwarded by the inhabitants of this town, praying the N.S.W. government to supply the necessary instruments, and to send up a station Clerk:- "Department of Land and Public Works, Sydney, December 31st Sir, in acknowledging the receipt of a Memorial from certain of the inhabitants of the town of Albury, praying for the services of an officer capable of transmitting messages by electric telegraph, &c., I am directed by the Hon. the Secretary for Lands and Public Works to inform you, for the information of the memorialists, that the necessary steps will be taken by the Government in the matter; and the Chief Commissioner for Railways has been instructed for that purpose accordingly. I have the honor to be, Sir, your obedient servant, Michl. Fitzpatrick Electric Telegraph. - The electric telegraph at Belvoir (Wodonga) was used in transmitting messages to Melbourne and intermediate places for the first time last evening. The Beechworth office was opened for work on Friday morning - when shall we report as favorably of ours? The Telegraph. - We have much pleasure in being able to report so favorably of the Belvoir (Wodonga) office. Through the courtesy of Mr. James Beatty, the superintending officer, we are enabled to put before our readers the rates charged for transmission to the various other towns connected by this agency throughout the colony. To Longwood, Benalla and Wangaratta, for every 10 words, the charge is

26 2s. and every additional word 2d.; To Melbourne, Sandridge, Williamstown and Kilmore, for every 10 words, the charge is 3s. and every additional word 3d.; To Geelong, Queenscliffe, Ballarat, Sandhurst, Castlemaine, Kyneton, Gisborne, Hexham, Streatham, Raglan, for 10 words it is 4s. and every additional word 4d.; To Portland, Belfast, Warrnambool, for 10 words 5s. and every additional word 4d. The hours during which messages are transmitted are from 8.30am to 8pm. The arrivals and departures of shipping at Port Phillip Heads are reported twice a day, and posted for the benefit of the public in a conspicuous place at the office. Melbourne time is sent up every day at noon, so that in future we shall not hear that Wodonga is half an hour in advance of Albury or vice versa Electric Telegraph. - A letter has been received from the office of the Railway Commissioners, intimating that the New South Wales Government have sanctioned the appointment of Mr. Lay as operating clerk in Albury, and that that gentleman would leave Sydney as soon as the instruments which had been ordered in Melbourne, should arrive in Sydney. We mention it as an instance of Government circumlocution that the instruments could have been sent up direct from Melbourne, a distance of 230 miles, at an expense very little exceeding the cost of transhipping them to Sydney. The instruments after receiving the benefit of the sea voyage will then have to be conveyed 400 miles overland from Sydney to their destination. They could have been brought up direct from Melbourne in ten days, but it will probably occupy six or eight weeks to send them by the route adopted Telegraph Items. - The instruments for the office in Albury have arrived from Sydney, and the line could have been opened yesterday but for the illness of Mr. Lay the station clerk, who received a stroke of the sun whilst placing the wire on the insulators. Mr. Nichols has completed a new office for a telegraph station adjoining his hotel, and has put up the necessary posts and carried the wire from Sawtell's corner to the new office. Mr. Nichols has further found the furniture and fittings for the telegraph office. These works have been carried out in a most satisfactory manner at the sole expense of Mr. Nichols, who has thus shewn an amount of public spirit which does him infinite credit. We believe the Albury station will be opened to the public on Monday or Tuesday should Mr. Lay have recovered the effects of his illness Telegraphic. - Mr. Lay, the Albury station superintendent still continues to suffer from the effects of his accident, and it is not known when the office will be opened to the public The Telegraph. - We are glad to state that Albury is now in communication with Melbourne, the office being opened yesterday The Electric Telegraph. - The posts for the electric telegraph between Sydney and Albury have been erected as far as the bridge at Paddy's River; and the wires have been fixed to within a mile or two of the same place The Telegraph Station In Albury. - We learn that a memorial has been forwarded to the Government by a few inhabitants of Albury, praying that the Telegraph Office may be removed from the premises just erected for the purpose by Mr. Nichols, to the building now occupied as the temporary offices of the Bank of New South Wales, adjoining the lockup. We trust that the office may not be removed so far away from centre of the town, the present site being much more convenient The Electric Telegraph. - Although nearly two months have elapsed since the posts were erected and the wire stretched through Yass, we are still without the advantages conferred by telegraphic communication with Sydney and Goulburn. The cause of the delay, as stated by the superintendent, is the impossibility to procure the apparatus necessary to enable a station to be opened. We cannot but think that great blame is attachable in some quarter, because, had the contract been completed in the stipulated time, the apparatus would long since have been required. Patience is said to be a virtue, and from necessity the inhabitants must content themselves to call it into exercise although it certainly is provoking to witness the wires stretched through the town utterly useless from the want of necessary forethought. The posts are now erected nearly as far as Gundagai and the wire-stretchers are but a short distance behind the sinkers; so that a communication may yet exist between Melbourne and Sydney ere Yass derives any advantage from the undertaking The Electric Telegraph. - We are informed by Mr. Garrey of the Sydney mail, that the wire now extends nearly to Kyamba that the posts are fixed to the Billybong creek; that the clearing party is about three miles in advance and that the pioneers have marked out the line for some miles on this side of Mullengandra. The contractors expect to complete the work in about three weeks time The Telegraph. - Messrs. Tunks and Co., the contractors for the line between Sydney and this town have arrived in Albury. The wires are stretched beyond the Ten Mile Creek, and the posts are erected some distance on this side of Mullengandra. It appears there is some slight probability of the return of the money subscribed by the people of Albury to connect their town with Wodonga. A letter has been received from Captain Martindale, intimating that the question of the purchase of the private line by the Government at the contract price paid for the rest of the work, is under consideration by the Government The Telegraph. - The post holes are now sunk for the whole distance, and the wire from Sydney may be expected to join the Melbourne line in about a week Completion of the Overland Telegraph. - Yesterday morning the line of telegraph was completed between Sydney and Albury, thus placing the principal towns of New South Wales in connection with those Victoria and with the metropolis of South Australia. The line will be opened to the public in a few days, Captain Martindale being compelled to await the arrival in Albury of an operator from Melbourne to take charge of the Victorian portion of the line.

27 Mr. Lay the Albury station master will for the future conduct the business on the New South Wales part of the line, Albury being made a check station. (Reproduced with kind permission of Rex Rutherford). EUCLA TELEGRAPH STATION The lonely outpost at Eucla, built 20 kilometres inside Western Australia's border with South Australia, ensured that up to 600 telegrams a day successfully travelled along iron, and later copper wire between the two states. In 1874, the WA Legislative Council voted 15,000 for the construction of a telegraph line from King George Sound, Albany Western Australia to Eucla on the border with South Australia. At the same time, the South Australian authorities agreed to construct a line from Port Augusta to Eucla. As the line was hung and inched closer each day to the border, telegrams were carried between each end of the line by horsemen - so telegrams by Morse and horse! This inter-colonial line, 2532 kms long, was opened on 8th December 1877 at a total cost of 33,000 amid congratulatory messages keyed along the single iron wire linking the colonies. This enabled Western Australia to be in telegraphic communication with the rest of the world. Text of the first telegram: "SATURDAY 7 PM (DECEMBER 8TH 1877) EUCLA LINE OPENED. HURRAH." Built in sight of the sea, it operated as two colonial terminal stations and became perhaps Australia's most important telegraphic link - all day, all night the sounders clicked. The station was staffed equally by Western Australian and South Australian Telegraphists and the staff worked each on its own side of the 'border'. The telegraph table extended north and south the full length of the room, and for telegraphic purposes the boundary line between the two colonies ran up the centre of the table. Different versions of Morse code were used. A Canadian associate of Samuel Morse, Samuel W. McGowan came to Victoria, realised his associate's invention potential and obtained a contract from the Victorian government to erect Australia's first telegraph line. His knowledge of Samuel Morse's code was obviously invaluable. South Australian operators received their traffic from Adelaide using this code locally known as Victorian code and passed it through holes in the partition to their Western Australian colleagues who would re-transmit to Perth using International Morse code which was in use outside the U.S.A. Even the clocks showed different state times being 90 minutes apart. In the 1890's, Eucla became the busiest telegraph station in Australia outside the capital cities. On signing of the Federation in 1901, the partition was ceremoniously removed. Rabbits! Rabbits! Rabbits! The first plague. Around 1897, telegraphists used to amuse themselves by watching three waves of rabbits pour across the Nullarbor from the east, en route to Western Australia. The Eucla telegraph station had been in operation for almost 20 years when telegraphists began noticing rabbit traces when walking for exercise before coming on duty. Soon the traces began to appear more thickly and they even extended to the Pass and on the Roe Plain. But no one took much notice and did not realise that this was the opening phase of an invasion from the east of hordes of rabbits. Rabbits had been released in Victoria in 1859 to provide sport and food for the early settlers. It was not long before the scrub with which the beach dunes were densely covered began to disappear. At this rate the sand would soon become loosened and the situation was becoming serious.

28 An urgent report was telegraphed to Perth, however when it was shown to Sir John Forrest, the Premier did not react with his usual perspicacity. He dismissed the call for help with a smile and said: "It's sheep manure they've seen". The report was soon forgotten and no action was taken. The rabbits continued to pour in from the east and also began to multiply rapidly. One Sunday, the off duty Telegraphists in company with a few natives killed over 1000 rabbits on the outskirts of the settlement but no noticeable effect was produced on the invading hordes. Thus began the first plague of Eucla. The second plague. Tens of thousands of rabbits hunted for food in the already stricken Eucla district and even stripped the bark from the trees. After there was no food above ground they began grubbing up and eating the roots of the saltbush, the blue bush and the cotton bush. The situation was becoming desperate and a more urgently worded message was telegraphed to Perth. This time the authorities were convinced. The authorities in Adelaide were also showing anxiety and it was they that took the first action. Whose inspiration was responsible will never be known but someone must have suggested, Let's send them cats. The suggestion was taken seriously and the authorities gathered up hundreds of cats and shipped them to Eucla with the instructions, Let the cats see the rabbits!. Dutifully but unconvinced, the settlers at Eucla obeyed. On being released the cats swarmed across the sandhills and attacked in style. They gorged themselves, slept it off in the sun, and then attacked again. But the rabbits still multiplied. Eventually the cats tired of rabbit meat and began hunting birds and lizards. The cats also took over rabbit burrows and kittens arrived by the score. And so began the second plague of Eucla - cats. The third plague. The loosened sand was a constant trial in the years that followed. Whenever the wind blew (and it blew almost all the time), windows had to be kept shut regardless of the heat of the day. The streets had to be regularly swept and yards cleared of sand. The battle against the sand was a hopeless one and when the repeater station finally closed down, the sand moved in and overwhelmed most of the buildings. And for anyone who follows the shores of the bight, say from Port Lincoln to the Sandpatch, they will find that the domestic cat has run wild. In all likelihood, the majority of these are descendants of that disastrous shipload landed at Eucla jetty to exterminate the rabbits. And of course, the rabbits are there also. Eventually, with the introduction of electro-magnetic automatic repeaters, the coastal telegraph line was abandoned in 1927 in favour of a more easily maintained line alongside the trans-continental railway line. In the 1950's, the telegraph station was completely buried, but changing winds have pushed the dunes back and some of the walls are now exposed again. Today, all that's left are its 1897 stone walls and only a portion of those is still standing. Eucla Memorial Erected as a tribute to the staff who manned and maintained the east-west telegraph service between December 1877 and March The establishment of the east-west telegraph service in December 1877 linked Western Australia with the eastern states and through the north-south telegraph line between Adelaide and Darwin with Great Britain and the rest of the world.

29 Eucla Telegraph Station CAPE OTWAY TELEGRAPH AND SIGNAL STATION In a large and sparsely settled country such as Australia the electric telegraph enabled news to be sent and received so that settlers felt less remote from the centres of civilisation and less alienated in their new environment. The residents of Tasmania were keen to have a telegraph link established with mainland Australia and after much lobbying in August 1859, Australia s first submarine telegraph cable was laid and in operation. The Cape Otway Telegraph Station was built in 1859 to house this submarine telegraph cable and its operators. There was also an overland telegraph line that ran from Cape Otway to Geelong and thence on to Melbourne. The first message transmitted between Hobart and Melbourne took place on 29 September The 386 km cable linked Tasmania to mainland Australia via King Island. However it never worked satisfactorily. On 28 May 1860, extensive damage occurred to the cable and on 24 January 1861 communications with Tasmania failed altogether. The cable was then moved a few miles east and brought ashore at Apollo Bay. The Cape Otway Telegraph Station, like the Lighthouse, has walls of massive sandstone 50 cm thick. This was quarried near the mouth of the Parker River and taken overland by bullock teams to Cape Otway. With the failure of the submarine cable, the Telegraph Staion was retained as a Lloyd s signal station. Communication with passing ships was carried out using flags, with messages then received, passed on to Melbourne and beyond via the mainland telegraph link. Between 1882 and 1933, the building was used as a school for local children, mainly consisting of the Light keeper s children. During World War II, it was used by the armed forces stationed at the radar facility at Cape Otway. After that, Lightkeepers and their families periodically used the building as a residence. In 1910 the lookout tower was removed. The building has been unoccupied since 1973 and had been slowly deteriorating. By 1997 it had become deralict. This heritage listed building, after two years work has now been restored. The verandah has been reinstated as has the Welsh slate roof and much repair work to the external structure of the building. Visual displays depicting the life of this great building are now complete and officially opened on 29th August It is encouraging to see this once magnificent building now restored to its former glory and accessible to all visitors to the Cape Otway Lightstation. Bass Strait cables **************** BUSH SURGERY In the early 1900s in remote areas of Australia, Postmasters performed many other duties apart from their normal Post Office functions. Mr Fred Tuckett was Postmaster at Halls Creek, a small settlement 3,000 kilometers north of Perth in Western Australia. Other positions he administered were Magistrate, Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages, Roads Commissioner, Protector of Aborigines, Mining Warden and Chairman of the Licencing Board. Fred was trained in first aid and had a reputation of being a bush doctor. Very early on the morning of 1 August 1917 a knock on his door revealed a buckboard (a buckboard is basically two sets of wheels joined together with boards) carrying a man, Jimmy Darcy, who had been thrown from his horse on Ruby Hills station 64 kilometers away. He was suffering severe abdominal injuries and it was clear that this was beyond his capabilities of first aid. Jimmy had also recently suffered from Malaria. Unable to contact medical help at Derby or Wyndham, Fred called Perth Telegraph Office by Morse and asked that his former first aid teacher, Dr J. J. Holland attend the Perth office at 9pm to advise him what might be done to assist Mr Darcy. With Dr Holland in attendance, the operator at Perth obtained medical history and details of Mr Darcy s condition from Fred by Morse. Dr Holland diagnosed a rupture of the urethra which prevented the passage of urine. Urgent operation was

30 necessary. Fred had no aneasthetic, no surgical instruments and no antiseptics, but if he did not attempt an operation the patient would surely die. Fred was hesitant. On the following morning Fred and Dr Holland again convened with the assistance of a Perth Telegraphist. Mr Darcy s condition was considered desperate and an operation imperative. With the patient tied down to the Post Office counter the operation began later that day after the heat of the day had eased. On the doctor s instructions by Morse, Morphine was administered to ease the pain and a small pen knife with gauze wrapped around part of the blade to prevent too deep an incision was used. Morphine was included in many first aid kits at that time.the first attempt was unsuccessful and a second incision was made with almost immediate relief for the patient. All the time instructions by Dr Holland had been sent by Morse to Fred. After a third session by Morse that night the operation was declared successful. However Mr Darcy was still in a serioues condition and required further urgent medical attention. Dr Holland decided that he should journey from Perth to Derby by the first available boat, the Moira which sailed from Fremantle on 9 August. As the Moira had been chartered to carry cattle, the crew would be entitled to extra pay if a passenger was carried. Dr Holland therefore signed on as a cattleman and slept in the mess room throughout the journey. On reaching Derby on 16 August Dr Holland was handed a telegram from Fred advising Mr Darcy s condition had deteriorated and he was taking very little nourishment. Halls Creek was still 335 miles distant. He left Derby that day in a T model Ford reaching Lower Liverings station 56 miles away where they spent the night. Fitzroy Crossing was reached the next day where Fred advised Dr Holland by Morse that the patient was still alive, but in a worsening conditon. A change of vehicle was made for the remaining 186 miles to Halls Creek, but with many breakdowns two days were lost. Food was also running short. Further breakdowns occurred and 40 miles from Halls Creek aborigines brought word from Fred that Darcy s condition was now critical. It would be necessary to continue the journey at night to have any chance of saving Darcy. Night travel by car had never before been attempted in the Kimberleys. With still 20 miles to go the car failed completely and aborigines caught horses and well after midnight the doctor was driven in a sulky to Halls Creek arriving at daybreak. On 21 August, 12 days after leaving Femantle, Dr Holland was greeted at Halls Creek by Fred with the sad news that Mr Darcy had died the previous day. Death had won a race against time. Dr Holland recorded in his diary This news upset me more than I can express I felt I had lost someone near and dear to me A post mortem conducted by Dr Holland later revealed Malaria to have been the cause of death. Returning to Perth in September Dr Holland was met by Rev. John Flynn who asked for details of his trip. Dr Holland replied everywhere I went the men asked me to return adding but next time I ll fly. Rev Flynn replied that s an idea. Eleven years later the Royal Flying Doctor Serviie was founded. Undoubtedly Dr Holland s experience and the tradegy of Jimmy Darcy s death hastened the fruition of Flynn s dream. *******************************************************

31 A fine example of camaraderie between Morsecodians Thanks Brian, Vale Brian O Shaughnessy died 23 Jan 2014, 91 years of age. THE MORSE CODE ALPHABET When you want simply A, make a dot and a dash One dash and three dots gives you B in a flash Dash dot dash and dot are the signal for C Four dashes are for Ch; dash and two dots are D One dot stands for E or means No you will not And for F you make two dots, a dash and a dot Two dashes and one dot add G to your store Four dots are for H carless speakers ignore Two dots are for I (Morse s Is are twice dotted) One dot and three dashes to J are allotted One dash dot and dash gives you K when you spell And a dot, dash and two dots are equal to L M s a couple of dashes; a dash and dot N But for O put three dashes, three strokes of your pen P s a pair of plain dots with two dashes between Two dashes dot dash if it s Q that you mean R s a dot dash and dot; and three dots are an S And a dash by iself stands for T or for Yes Two dots and a dash is how Morse makes a U Three dots and one dash for a V have to do W s dot and two dashes can scarcely perplex Make a dash, two dots and a dash and there s X Dash dot and two dashes as Y will be read And two dashes with two dots between them are Z (Anon) ***********************************************

32 .Postmaster-General February 11th 1907 MORSE IN FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND (Courtesy of Doug Cadioli) I did my morse training in the Postal Training School, Brisbane in After graduation was sent to western Queensland (Quilpie) for about 6 months and was appointed to Thursday Island or TI as it is best known. The morse link from TI to Brisbane was rather different to the normal. The morse signal was sent by landline to a hill on TI where it was converted to a shortwave radio signal then picked up at Bamaga on Cape York and re-converted to a landline morse signal. The line from Bamaga was a mix of good and bad wires going through Mount Surprise then to Hughenden, over to the coast and integrated with the broadband bearer to Brisbane. Needless to say the line quality was at best ordinary and in the wet season was swept away by the Jardine river. We would then use a standby radio transmitter for direct communication with Brisbane using radio morse which we had to adapt to after learning the sounder. Also on TI we had a direct link with OTC (Radio call sign VII). They handled all ship to shore and vice versa traffic. We would get their stuff from ships at sea and we would send them stuff for the ships. All in morse. We got on pretty well with them. We also handled all the traffic for the Torres Strait Pilot Service through the normal telegram system. They would receive ship movement info so that pilots could be rostered onto the ships for journey down the reef. At Christmas they gave us a carton of beer in appreciation which I have to say was never refused. Anyway, I left TI after about 18 months or so and went on the reflief staff. Did my last morse in western Qld about 1958 or so. As a matter of interest, I was promoted to SPC1 Crookwell NSW in 1962 and later went to Adamstown, Newcastle (went to a Morsecodian do while there) and then to Kyogle NSW, before becoming a PM in Qld. **************************** BRISBANE TRANSPORT GIRLS DELIVERY OF TELEGRAMS BY TRAM During the second world war thousands of servicemen were stationed in brisbane. This placed a very heavy load on morse facilities and to expedite delivery of telegrams a half hourly shuttle service was implemented between the brisbane GPO and suburban post offices. This operated from about 1943 to 1946.

33 Twelve girls designated transport girls were recruited to carry telegrams from the delivery section of the GPO by tram to Woolloongabba, Red Hill, Paddington and Albion post offices. Messages were carried in a small leather bag and the girls were issued with a tram pass. From these offices the telegrams were delivered locally or tansported by messenegers on bicycles to offices further out. At night during blackouts when bicycles could not be used because of lights being spotted, messengers would travel by tram to various post offices, walk through darkened streets to deliver their telegrams and then return to the GPO by tram. ********************************************** DITTY MORSE WHAT S THAT? During world war II when things were desperate for all sides, many messages were sent in morse. The need for secrecy was paramount so secret codes were utilised. Even the simplest of messages had to be coded before transmission and deciphered at the receiving end so the message could be understood. At the same time the enemy listening in was not supposed to be able to crack the code. But they often did. Enter ditty morse. Ditty morse was first practised by the japanese signallers but then taken up by the british. It was a method of sending morse in plain language so that it could not be understood. It was amazingly simple. An extra dit was transmitted after each letter if it was a consonant and an extra dit was sent before each letter if it was a vowel. For example, a t instead of being dah was sent as dah-dit, an a instead of being di-dah was sent as di-di-dah. This confused everybody on all sides, the ditty senders, the ditty receivers and the enemy listening in. The british persevered with ditty morse but realised that operators who had learned regular morse had no hope of adapting to the ditty version. A whole new generation of cleanskin ditty operators had to be trained to send and read the extra-dit code. The only criteria for the new trainees was that they did not know a letter of regular morse to start with. So the letter b to them was dah-di-di-di-dit and u was di-di-di-dah. What happened was that 99 percent of signallers could only read normal morse and one percent could only read ditty morse. The ditty morse programme was abandoned. ********************************************************* AEROGRAMS AEROPLANE TO SHIP What may have been the first Aerogram from an Australian commercial aircraft to a ship at sea was sent from a Guildford, W.A. bound T.A.A. Skymaster, the John Eyre, to the S.S. Stratheden at sea near Adelaide possibly on 6 June It was sent while the plane was over Forrest on thenullarbor Plain. The message contained 12 words and cost the sender 11/- and was relayed direct by the Overseas Telecommunications Commission Coastal Radio Station at Applecross. Aerograms were used on Trans-Australia Airlines aircraft travelling between Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth from 1 September T.A.A. believed it was the only two-way telegram service for air passengers in the world. Charges were threepence per word. Messages were sent by the radio operator to the nearest coastal radio station which relayed them to the Postmaster-General's Department. Delivery was expected to be made within about 30 minutes of the time of lodgment. A Similar service was offered to persons sending messages from the ground. T.A.A. expected the service to be extended to all of its routes. It is not known if this actually happened. ********************************************** E.F.M. TELEGRAMS E.M.F. (Expeditionary Forces Message) was a set of number codes used during war times to provide a quick and easy form of communications which did not need a great deal of censorship. Special charges were assigned to them. In Australian messages Loving birthday greetings was represented by 59. All my love dearest was represented by 32. There were 364 sets.

34 Some of the most common phrases used in telegrams. U.K. set. Full Australian list on following pages.

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43 ****************************** TELEGRAPH MONEY ORDERS There were two means of transferring money from one person to another using Post Office services. The most common was by post whereby the sender completed a Money Order applicaion form and handed the amount plus a commission to the Money Order Teller at the Money Order section of the counter. A Money Order would then be issued in duplicate the original given to the sender to post to the payee and the duplicate sent by the Money Order Teller to the paying officer at the designated paying office. On presentation of the original, the duplicate would be matched with it and on satisfactory identification, the payee would be paid. The second means was by telegraphic Money Order. The sender would complete the application form, but in addition was required to lodge a telegram addressed to the payee advising that money had been sent. The message was required to have words such as telegraphed (or wired) * Sydney (or the appropriate Paying office). The telegram was then endorsed MOA (Money Order advice) ready for Morse transmission. Another telegram was prepared addressed Telmo (Money Order teller) at the paying office. Both of these messages were then kept together as far as possible until final reception at the paying office. The Telmo was always trnsmitted before the MOA and at each stage of transmission had to be signed by the receiving officer and the supervision officer. The payee would then present the telegram at the paying office and payment made as for a postal Money Order. *************************************** MULTIPLE TELEGRAMS Multiple telegrams addressed to any number of addressees served by the same office of delivery could be sent at a greatly reduced rate. Each addressee received a copy of the original with no indicatdion that it had been addressed to anyone else. The full message and details of all addressees were transmitted first and then individual copies prepared by the office of destination. Most types of telegrams; ordinary, urgent, and press could be sent under the system Full details relataing to multiple telegrams can be seen in the file Telegram Traffic Procedure 1955 at page 76. This would have been a much easier task with the present day cut and paste features of computers! *************************************** **

44 Reproduced by kind permission of Beechworth Historic and Culture Precinct The Old Telegraph Station was for many years the main connection hub between regional centres and Melbourne and Sydney. It is still in operation and is possibly the busiest telegraph office in the world. Members of the Morsecodian Fraternity man the station on several days each week and the public (mainly tourists) can send a message ($2 Australia, $3 rest of world) to any part of the world. The message is initially sent by Morse code to various other Morsecodian operators throughtout Australia and thence by normal mail to the addressee.

45 Beechworth Telegraph Station 2015 Station operators L to R: Rex Rutherford, Des Jackson (Deceased late 2015), Leo Nette, Terry Conway, Norm Campigli. ********************************** MNEMONICS FOR LEARNIONG MORSE CODE WW1 A Learning Tool To Teach Signallers During Ww1 LETTER MORSE MNEMONIC LETTER MORSE MNEMONIC A a las N noo-dle B ba-by-ish-ness O out-side-door C cal-cu-la-tion P pol-ice-sta-tion D dub-i-ous Q queen-car-o-line E egg R re-cord-er F fed-er-a-tion S si-cil-y G green-gag-es T tool H hes-it-an-cy U un-ex-celled I inn-er V ven-om-ous-snake j jap-an-tea-tray W with-out-doubt K koh-i-noor X ex-cell-ent-work L lin-o-le-um Y york-shire-cream-cheese M mon-soon Z zo-ol-o-gy ******************************** NEW SYMBOL ADDED TO MORSE CODE The International Telecommunications Union which oversees the entire frequency spectrum, from amateur radio to satellites, has voted to add a new character to denote symbol used in addresses. The new symbol is known as a commat and consists of the signals for a and c with no space in between:

46 BRIEF HISTORY OF TELEGRAPHS IN AUSTRALIA. Western Australia - The Early Days of Telegraphy. Sequence of telegraphic events worldwide: First telegram sent in USA Washington - Baltimore First Australian telegram sent Melbourne - Williamstown First telegram sent in South Australia First telegram sent in Tasmania First telegram sent in New South Wales First telegram sent in Queensland First telegram sent Perth - Fremantle June 21st. Annoyed by colonial apathy, Perth newspaper proprietor Edmund Stirling offered to build a telegraph line between Perth and Fremantle if the government would supply and erect the poles. This was granted, so under the supervision of a conditional release ex-convict, James Fleming (who had been transported in 1864 for defrauding fellow Glaswegian tea merchants), the first pole was placed in position at a spot near the foot of the Perth jetty by the Colonial Secretary, the Honourable Fred Barlee. A 12 mile wire was hoisted to Fremantle and opened on 21st June 1869 being 15 years after the first line in Australia was opened in Victoria. First Telegram transmitted:- TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE FREMANTLE TOWN TRUST. HIS EXCELLENCY COLONEL BRUCE HEARTILY CONGRATULATES THE INHABITANTS OF FREMANTLE ON THE ANNIHILATION OF DISTANCE BETWEEN THE PORT AND THE CAPITAL AND HE REQUESTS THAT THIS THE FIRST MESSAGE MAY BE PUBLICLY KNOWN GOVERNMENT HOUSE -21ST JUNE May. The Legislative Council passed a resolution authorising the construction of telegraph lines which would connect the towns of Albany, Bunbury, York and Newcastle (Toodyay) with Perth. A company called The Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company was formed to construct those lines. Initially telegraphs in WA were privately owned. The Western Australian Post and Telegraph Department, which had been operating the lines since 1871 despite not owning them, became sole owners and operators of the colony's telegraph system on 1st January Stations then in service were Perth, Fremantle, Guildford, Toodyay, Northam, York, Pinjarra, Bunbury and Albany th December. Connection of line Perth - Albany. More Telegraphists were needed as the lines extended. The resourceful Superintendent overcame this problem by training new operators as he went. With manpower scarce, many of the first Telegraphists were young ladies Lines had reached not only Eucla in the south-east, but also Northampton in the north, together with Beverley and Bussleton in the south. Also in that year plans were made to extend the line beyond Northampton to Roebourne The main telegraph line between Perth and Wyndham is perhaps the longest direct line in the Commonwealth being about 2,000 miles long. It is worked duplex from Perth Broome and extended on a simplex line to Wyndham with repeaters at Mullewa, Marble Bar and Broome. The Darwin - Adelaide line was 1800 miles long Perth-Fremantle line goes Duplex working A submarine cable was landed at Broome which made WA independent of the Darwin-Adelaide line with is cables to Java laid in the 1870s. 1890s. The Telegraphist s dream come true. No more pen and ink. The typewriter was introduced Perth Coolgardie line opened to cater for the multitude of messages from the WA goldfields Second wire (of copper) added to Perth - Adelaide line The Postmaster-General Richard Scholl reported that the total number of telegraph Stations opened in Western Australia had reached 161.

47 1901. The salary for a Telegraphist was between A 130 per annum and A 170 depending on experience Sept. The Chief Telegraph Office (CTO) in Perth opened when the GPO building was completed in Forrest Place The gothic typewriter, namely the Imperial Model 55 typewriter was introduced The public Telex service (TELetypewriter EXchange service) was introduced into Australia in 1954 and offered a national and international system for sending and receiving information using teletypewriters or better known as teleprinters. There are still over 2,000,000 Telex subscribers worldwide The Teleprinter Reperforator Exchange Switching System (TRESS) offering fully automated message (telegram) switching was introduced in Western Australia in It was an innovation which hastened the end of Morse telegraphy Nov 5th Morse telegraphy was last used in Australia between Roebourne and Wittenoom Gorge in the northwest of Western Australia, just eight months short of 100 years after the transmitting of the first telegram st June. The Governor of Western Australia, His Excellency Professor Gordon Reid, witnessed the end of an era in the history of telegraphs in Western Australia. On this day, Telecom s Chief Telegraph Office Supervisor, Jack Fleming oversighted the sending of a telegram to the Mayor of Fremantle, a telegram that had first been sent precisely 117 years before by his namesake, James Coats Fleming. SEE ABOVE. This ceremony marked the introduction of Australia's first computer based telegram service known as the Public Message Service which uses the Telex network. Telegrams had been sent by mechanical means for the last time th Jan. Perth Central Telegraph Office closed its keys and switched off its teleprinters at noon on this day for the last time. On the final day fewer than 30 telegrams and telexes were handled by this office. Although the office had not handled WA generated telegrams since 2nd December 1988, it had handled public telexes and overseas telegrams. All telegrams from now on were handled by the Melbourne telegraph office th June. Australia Telecom disposed of the national telegram business to Australia Post and the Lettergram service was reborn in a new format which was transmitted by Telex then mailed to the addressee. The charging was per sheet not per word as the telegram st October. The last 'Lettergram' service, delivered by mail, was sent in Melbourne by Australia Post at 1700 hours EST. International Telegrams are handled by Telstra Sydney on telephone **************** THE OFTEN FORGOTTEN ROLE OF LESSER KNOWN TELEGRAPH SECTIONS In Melbourne, as in all C.T.Os., the Circulation Section played a vital part in the system and had several tentacles - more accurately, the pneumatic tube network. The C.T.O. was next door to the G.P.O. where the Telegraph Counter was situated, and just over the small lane called Little Bourke Street, was the Delivery Section. Delivery and the Counter had tubes connected to the 5th floor Circulation Section. A pneumatic tube system was also connected from Circulation to the Stock Exchange, Russell Street and Rialto post offices. (Possibly one or two more). Another tube connected Circulation to O.T.C. (Overseas Telecommunications Commission) in Queens Street, where there were 2 cable clerks on duty, but at the Counter. They had overlapping shifts from about 7am to about 8.30pm, but usually only one officer was on duty at a time. After that the counter officer did the cable duties. Tubes also went to several newspaper offices including the Argus, Age and Sun- Herald. This under-street tube system commenced in Melbourne in The overnight Circulation officer (there may have been two) had a busy night collecting telegrams from all the State machines for local delivery or onward transmission, and filing live traffic on the printers. He also, by use of the Addressograph machine, stamped code address details in full on the back of cables and telegrams. Code addresses usually comprised only one word plus the office of destination. The Circulation officer also sorted sent traffic sent to all States and re-sorted it in the Glass Room as it was known.

48 At pm Delivery closed down and one or two telegraph messengers went to the counter for a while before knocking off at 11pm or so. The all night messenger arrived about this time and stayed at the counter, except for urgent deliveries within 3 miles. Delivery also had two motorcyclists on duty, and one of them would also come over to the counter when Delivery closed, and hang around for an hour or so before knocking off. He would handle any Porterage messages before going home. On the 5th floor where all the Interstate and country channels were located - Machine and Morse - Circulation had a couple of what were called kickbacks. These systems were used in many commercial premises where money for a purchase was placed in a canister and inserted into the kickback for transfer along a wire to a Cashier located some distance away. A receipt and change would be returned the same way. Circulation staff used these kickbacks in the daytime to send telegrams to the country section where another officer was there to collect the messages and place them in bins or on hooks, ready for transmission to the various post offices, or country offices. Telegraphists on all night duty also had the task of answering telephones for the reception of telegrams (Phonograms) between the hours of about 10pm until about 6am during which times Phonogram Operators (usually females) were not on duty. In Melbounre about 1955, as in other C.T.Os. the practice of the Department providing Telegraphists to newspaper offices at a fee to transmit their press business by Morse or machine was coming to an end. Newspapers increasingly took on private wire teletype services, and provided a lot of work for telegraphists who worked privately for the papers and were paid by them - moonlighting is the word, and the chaps doing the work used to call it woodchopping.!! (Allan Moore 2015) ********************************* WHAT DOES THE MORSE SIGNAL MEAN? The answer will not be found in any compilation of morse signals. But ask any morse man and he will happily tell you MEANS Laugh laugh laugh ***********************************

49 SOUTH AUSTRALIAN RAILWAYS TELEGRAPHS & TELEPHONES

50

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55 291

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64 PAGES 296 AND 297 MISSING. Morse Register (Embosser) used on South Australian Railways Switch depicted in centre of diagram at page 291 above.

65

66 AUSTRALIA CHANGES TO INTERNATIONAL MORSE CODE

67 ARMISTACE WW1 11 NOVEMBER 1918 This message was received by Sergeant R J (Jim) Williams 3409 whilst serving with the 15th Battalion in France in He was a Telegraphist at Kalgoorlie Western Australia when he joined the A.I.F (Australian Imperial Force) in After the war he returned to the P.M.G Department, retiring in 1955 as Postmaster, Grade 5 Kalgoorlie after 50 years of service. ********************** WAR TIME TELEGRAMS In 1942, 26,000 telegrams from departing troops on the liner Queen Mary (converted to a troop carrier) were lodged in a bag, very much like a cattlefeed bag, at Perth GPO. These had first to be censored, then transmitted to the various states using the Murray Multiplex system which gave a total of 12 transmitting arms, that is 12 men, one on each arm. They started at 1800 hours and worked through the night and by 9000 hours had cleared 20,000 messages. The remainder soon followed.

68 SECRETS OF WAR During the second World War from 1939 to 1945 Melbourne was the vital link in military/civil communications. The headquarters of the Army, Navy and Air Force were located there. Whilst many Morse operators enlisted in the forces, many were deemed to be in a reserved occupation and therefore remained at home. As the C.T.O. would have been a prime attack target, a secret auxiliary C.T.O. was established in suburban Carlton. Windows were bricked up and no natural light entered the building during the entire time of war. Operators were under pressure and sworn to secrecy at all times. Traffic consisted of troop movements, sensitive messages of cipher and code and the location of all military units was known at any one time. A special casualty unit was attached to deal with all the unpleasant messages to loved ones. Portion of cable received in Melbourne advising capture of Bardia 1941 (Reproduced with kind permission of National Archives Australia) ******************************* MONITORING OF JAPANESE FORCES IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA When the Japanese occupied Java and other Islands to the North of Australia during World War 2, they began a series of brain-washing propaganda broadcasts to the locals. These were transmitted in the Indonesian language on short range transmitters from Bandung, Surabaja, Surakarta and Batavia (now Djakarta). The Japanese did not think these broadcasts would extend beyond the range of islands in the immediate vicinity. However, by a strange quirk of fate and atmospheric conditions, they were being received in Broome, Western Australia and monitored by members of the Netherlands Armed Forces who were attached to the Netherlands Indies Government Information Service (NIGIS). These personnel, a Major and Four Lieutenants were not European Dutch, but who would now be known as Indonesian Nationals, and were familiar with the Indonesian language. These broadcasts were recorded, transcribed and taken to the Broome post office where PMG staff would transmit them by Morse code to the Perth Chief Telegraph Office. From there they were retransmitted to the Melbourne CTO and then passed to NIGIS Headquarters in Melbourne. After a short time, it was found that radio reception was better and more consistent in Carnarvon and the operation was transferred there. Two rooms at a local hotel were taken over and used to house the radio and recording equipment while the aerials were set up in nearby mangrove swamps. It is most likely that none of the residents even noticed these, or if they did, had no idea what they were for. And so began a period of constant and discreet surveillance which was to last from 12th Dec until 31st May Because it was imperative that the Japanese did not learn they were being monitored, all Morse transmissions were over land lines to prevent interception. In the early months of the operation it was usual for these telegrams to be sent first to Perth and then repeated to Melbourne. And to avoid interfering with normal North West traffic, a special position was established in the Phonogram Section of the Perth Chief Telegraph Office. This was worked from Carnarvon by oscillator on a circuit imposed on a telephone line. Later however a direct circuit from Carnarvon to Melbourne was established, but this was after midnight when normal traffic was light. At that time the circuit would probably have been the longest direct Morse circuit in Australia. In Melbourne, the telegrams were analysed and any relevant information contained in them was then sent to General MacArthur's Headquarters. On several occasions very substantial information on Japanese troop movements was revealed and on at least one occasion, a consequent Allied Air Strike succeeded in causing a large number of enemy casualties including two very high ranking officers. During the period of surveillance of these broadcasts, over one million words were transmitted from Broome and Carnarvon to Melbourne. It was one of the many, but little known of, significant events in the history of Morse Telegraphy by the Post Office in Western Australia. Many PMG Personnel were involved in this operation both in Western Australia and Victoria but those known to have been involved in W.A. are Brian Chugg (Broome), Keith Clark, Charlie Fane, Colin Hopkins and Reg Thomas (Carnarvon), John Meadowcroft and Colin Smith (CTO Perth). Service: 12th December st May 1945 to Netherlands Indies Government Information Service. Total number of words transmitted: 1,013,902. Total amount of revenue derived therefrom: d

69 HISTORY OF TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE COMMUNICATIONS IN QUEENSLAND 1861 First telegraph line in Queensland opened between Brisbane and Ipswich and later in year extended to meet Sydney Line First experiments with telephone conducted in Brisbane on Saturday 26 January. Later in year first successful telephone call made to Ipswich First Govt. owned telephone exchange in Australia cut over in Brisbane on 8th October on ground floor of G.P.O First country exchange was opened at Maryborough with 32 subscribers Over 300 subscriber's services were connected to the Brisbane exchange Bundaberg exchange opened Coastal Telegraph Line completed in August between Thursday Island and Brisbane The first public telephone office was opened at the Brisbane Post Office followed by others at South Brisbane and Fortitude Valley A new multiple switch board was installed at Central and cut over in Charters Towers exchange opened First section of the Pacific cable from Burnett Heads to new Caledonia Telegraph station at Paterson moved to Peak Point now known as Cape York The Government decided to obtain the services of an Electrical Engineer from abroad During the year ended 30 June the number of subscribers on Central Exchange reached 600 and the number of calls averaged 6500 daily The first trunk line was put into operation between Townsville and Charters Towers A Brisbane - Ipswich line was opened and proved successful. The same year saw the opening of telephone station on the Phonopore System Inauguration of the Postmaster-Generals Department (PMG) 1901 The telephone system was vested in the Federal Government. Federation was here Pacific telegraph submarine cable laid from Vancouver to Southport New regulations were introduced which gave existing subscribers the choice of remaining under the old system or transferring to the measured rate system Professor Alexander Graham Bell made a visit to Brisbane and the central exchange whilst the installation of a new C.B. Exchange was in progress Transfer of last subscriber from magneto exchange to new C.B. exchange Brisbane First interstate trunk line was brought into service from Brisbane to Sydney The first automatic telephone exchange in Queensland established in South Brisbane Three dial circuits from Ipswich and one each from Toowoomba and Southport were provided to Albion, Newmarket and South. Brisbane Automatic Exchanges The first carrier wave telephone system was introduced into Queensland when a 3 channel system was installed between Brisbane and Sydney In November Brisbane Central Exchange became automatic First Queensland country automatic exchange opened at Cairns The installation of an automatic exchange at Rockhampton was completed A 12 channel carrier system was installed between Brisbane and Sydney, the first of that type in Queensland ,000 telephone subscribers in Qld. The first radio trunk line in Qld between Redland Bay and Russell Island The Townsville exchange was converted to automatic working during March.

70 1952 Teletype (USA) introduced into Queensland replacing Morse code Telex introduced into Queensland for business use First point to point STD (subscriber trunk dialing) from Redcliffe to Brisbane and Southport to Brisbane Television introduced into Queensland First speaking clock system in Brisbane. Introduction of the Extended Local Service area (E.L.S.A.) in Brisbane Area. First crossbar exchange installed at Toowoomba ,000 telephone subscribers in Queensland First broadband bearer system in Queensland. Brisbane to Tweed Heads section of the Brisbane to Lismore NSW Coaxial cable Completion of Brisbane to Cairns microwave radio line (Seacom). First single SSB HF radio system Cairns to Weipa Cutover of the Brisbane ARM (Crossbar) - STD trunk exchange Coolangatta C.B. exchange converted to automatic allowing Gold Coast to receive automatic service Remote control TV transmitter station constructed on Mt Bellenden Ker to provide service to Far North Queensland Centenary of opening of Overland Telegraph, Adelaide to Darwin Completion of Townsville, Mt Isa and Darwin microwave radio system. STD introduced to Darwin. 400,001 telephone subscribers in Queensland Commencement of installation of first 10c computer controlled trunk exchange at Wolloongabba. First radio concentrator at Isaac River Telefinder service introduced to Brisbane and Gold Coast 1979 Telephone and telex calls transmitted by Hermes satellite in demonstrations at Longreach, Emerald and Yeppoon. ********************************************** MARBLE BAR Marble Bar in Western Australia has the honour of being the hottest town in Australia. It was also a vital link in communications to the north western areas of Western Australia during the telegraph era. From soon after its completion in 1893, the number 6 coastal telegraph line from Perth to Broome and then on to Wyndham as number 8 was susceptible to the effects of sea mists, cyclone damage and traffic congestion. These problems were eased in 1912 when a new line was built on an inland route through Mullewa, Meekatharra, Mundiwindi and Nullagine to Marble Bar where it was joined to the existing line to Broome. This line was designated No. 65 and No. 6 was then terminated at Marble Bar which became a repeater station and the most important switching station in the North. Both these lines were operated on the duplex principle. In 1926 that section of No. 65 from Marble Bar to Warroopna, just south of the La Grange telegraph station, was moved further inland. This bypassed Condon and cut out a particularly bad section of the existing line. Power for the landline at Marble Bar was provided by forty 6 volt accumulators and four banks of these were on hand, which were rotated on a regular basis from, in service, to recharge, to stand by, Recharging was done by a converted 4 cylinder Meadows marine engine with three small single cylinder engines with attached generators available for emergency use. Morse communication was further enhanced in 1945 when most post offices from Carnarvon north were additionally equipped with type 3BZ radio transmitters and receivers. (see appendix A). Although these radios were low powered, and initially only intended for emergency short range use, they could be worked satisfactorily over longer distances when conditions were suitable. Marble Bar, Onslow, Roebourne, Port Hedland, Learmonth and Wittenoorn were able to work by Wireless Telegraphy (WT) direct with Perth Chief Telegraph Office (CTO) on 9 megs. However by midday conditions usually became too noisy and that frequency had to be abandoned. A change to 2 megs was sometimes successful. Inter office contact was usually on 5.5 megs. Changing frequencies was done by means of a switch in the post office which brought a different length aerial into use.

71 In 1949, to ease traffic congestion on the landline, a radio telegraph circuit using powerful 260 watt Temco transmitters was established between Perth and Broome, Rhombic aerials, which produced strong directional signals, allowed consistent working by WT between Broome and the CTO. Byford was the receiving station for all Post Master Generals Department (PMG) incoming radio signals which were then relayed to the CTO. Outgoing signals were transmitted via the Wanneroo station. Both these locations being outer Perth suburbs. The circuitry involved with the two duplex lines was unusual if not unique in that they could be switched to enable individual stations to work with the CTO at the same time. ie Broome could be transmitting to the CTO on 65 while Pt Hedland was receiving from the CTO on 65/6. It was a very versatile arrangement and when combined with the use of the radios provided multiple options in the event of cyclones, line faults or heavy traffic. The importance of the telegraph in those times could not be overestimated. Until the late 1950s there was no public voice communication beyond Camarvon or Meekatharra. Morse telegraphy was the life blood of the north. Because of its inland position, Marble Bar usually escaped the full fury of cyclones and was ideally situated to provide assistance when line damage or faults occurred. Col Hopkins who was Postmaster at Marble Bar from 1952 until 1955 and experienced several incidents where the coastal line was extensively damaged by cyclonic action, said: 'It was times like these that the radio at Marble Bar really came into its own'. Col recalled a particularly severe cyclone which hit Onslow on the evening of 22nd March The following day the Onslow Postmaster took a party along 4 miles of the telegraph line. Travelling with great difficulty, he found at least 25 poles, which were either down or badly damaged. Returning to Onslow they concentrated their efforts on repairing the radio aerials, which were broken in several places, and the supporting poles were also damaged. By 1pm the wind had subsided sufficiently for the masts to be climbed and adequate repairs made, which enabled WT contact with Marble Bar. As Roeboume and Port Hedland had also suffered line damage it was necessary for Marble Bar to hand repeat all traffic for these offices as well as for Wittenoom. The telegraph line north of Onslow was repaired after 4 days but Onslow was worked by radio for 2 weeks. Just a month after the devastation at Onslow another cyclone hit Port Hedland severely damaging the line. With Carnarvon unable to use its radio because of local interference and with Port Hedland's radio signals too weak to reach Broome, Marble Bar again assisted by repeating for Port Hedland, Roebourne, Onslow and Wittenoom. A similar operation was necessary during the October 1952 atom bomb tests. Both circuits were needed by Mt Potter which left those offices between Marble Bar and Carnarvon isolated. On this occasion Marble Bar received traffic by WT from those affected offices and hand repeated it to Broome on number 65 for further retransmission to Perth by WT. Marble Bar really was A Vital link To The North. Appendix - The type 3BZ radios were ex Coast Watchers, a unit set up in New Guinea to monitor and report Japanese ship movements during WWII. The Japanese would often land armed parties to try and wipe out these units so it was necessary for the Coast Watchers to be highly mobile. For this reason the heavy radios were in two parts - a transmitter and a receiver. In addition to the radios, two 6 volt accumulators were required and a 3 hp motor and generator, plus of course fuel, food and survival gear. Up to 20 porters were necessary when a hurried move had to be made. 3BZ Receiver 3BZ Transmitter

72 ****************************** P.M.G. TELEGRAPHISTS - WHAT DID THEY DO BEFORE Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (A.N.A.R.E.)? Peter McGrath wrote an excellent article for the December 1994 edition of Aurora regarding the number of telegraphists from the Chief Telegraph Office (CTO) Melbourne, Victoria who served at all stations in the Antarctic, up to the CTO s last radio officer in Peter also provided details of the geographical features named after some of them. Some 20 Melbourne telegraphists served between 1952 and 1978, covering 43 wintering expeditions. What did these telegraph operators do before they signed on for the various expeditions? In what way were they equipped to handle the communications work at hand? The following provides a thumbnail sketch of how these potential radio officers earned their living in the Post Office organisation before joining the various expeditions. But even before they became telegraphists, where did their young working lives begin? Most of them left school at 14 or 15 years at best. Joining the Post Office or PMG (Post Master-General s Department) in those days involved a competitive examination in routine school subjects at a little below the former Intermediate level. Having passed the tests, most, if not all, were assigned to suburban or country post offices where they commenced duty as telegraph messengers. The official title was seductive Junior Postal Officers. By the time most of them were 17 and in some instances 18, they were accepted into telegraphist-in-training courses, and again, by competitive examination. (Exceptions were naturally made for returning military radio operators and others from World War Two wishing to join telegraphy courses, some not necessarily having been in the PMG before). The former PMG, until the separation of Telecom from the Post Office in the 1970 s, was in total control of all telegraphic activities throughout Australia. Each capital city had its own CTO and trained their telegraphists in classes on site, or close to it. Telegraphists were trained to send and receive messages using the sounder system. This system of signalling incorporated the movement of relays initiated by Morse keys, which operators learned to decipher by ear. In radio operating (compared with telegraphy) while the same code is used, the sound is quite different, consisting of high pitched oscillator tones received through headphones, and occasionally, loud speakers. All CTO s were open for business 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The classes were called Telegraphist-in-training classes, and trainees had first to learn the Morse alphabet themselves before admission to a course. Many city trainees attended evening Morse tuition at the Victorian Postal institute and attained some speed and knowledge of Morse before commencing their formal training. Country aspirants usually practiced in their post offices at the conclusion of the day s business.

73 Trainees started off slowly, sending and receiving practice Morse traffic during a number of segments throughout the day. They also learned to touch-type essential to record messages when transmitted at high speeds. Further, they learned to read the 5-unit code used on Teletype tapes, that was familiar to many expeditioners in the Antarctic prior to the introduction of satellite transmissions. Trainees were also instructed in traffic handling and management, and the theory of magnetism and electricity, equipment and switching devices. Other technical instruction was also included. The courses ran for about 9 months, culminating in the final examinations. Pass marks were set high and those unfortunate trainees who failed, were transferred to non-operating duties at various places, or in other sections of the CTO. The Morse test was rigorous two sessions with a senior examiner, transmitting and receiving 18 standard telegrams in 20 minutes. Trainees had to send messages by hand-key to the satisfaction of the examiners at the same speed. The minimum passing out speed was averaged at 22.5 words per minute. Once working in the CTO on actual circuits, personal speeds went up after a while to an easy 30 words per minute plus! The now qualified trainees were permitted to use semi or fully automatic sending devices (Jiggers), which old expeditioners will recall seeing in (Antarctic) station radio offices. Trainees also had to pass a tape reading test, as well as set written examinations in traffic and technical theory. Many hundreds of towns throughout Australia some with identical or very similar spelling were also studied and memorised. In retrospect, there was a lot to learn about Morse operating and circuit procedures, and to instantly recognise all the symbols. There were 26 letters, 10 figures, about 20 punctuation and other symbols - plus many abbreviations similar to those adopted by people today using short messaging service (SMS) messages on mobile telephones. While not as popular as Morse operating, telegraphists were also required to work on the many busy Teletype circuits. In this regard the final test involved transmitting by typing on a Teletype or teleprinter keyboard, 32 average telegrams in 30 minutes over two sessions. A similar number of messages had to be received and correctly activated. As with the Morse examination, very few corrected or uncorrected errors were permitted. Working later with live traffic, many telegraphists were able to transmit 100 or more telegrams in an hour on the interstate circuit machines and sometimes raced their colleagues to see who could send the most in an hour. There were separate classes running simultaneously for Postal Clerks. These officers once qualified, were transferred to country and suburban post offices, and apart from numerous postal duties, would man the opposite ends of the Morse circuits connected to Melbourne. Their curriculum and standard of training was exactly the same as for telegraphists, but in addition, they studied other subjects involving all aspects of the postal side, and the management of post offices, generally. Telegraphists and postal clerks worked very much in tandem on the circuits. There was an intriguing mixture of telegraph traffic: urgent and ordinary telegrams, telegraph money orders, messages relating to telegraph lines and equipment faults, overseas cables, radio telegrams to and from ships at sea ; birth, death and marriage telegrams, press telegrams, entire lottery results, Weather Bureau meteorological messages, bank coded messages, horse and dog racing results, tipsters forecasting likely winners, Christmas, New Year, Easter and Mothers Day greetings, and on the list went. Nationally, Melbourne was connected to CTO s in all States, plus Darwin, Northern Territory and Canberra, Australian Capital Territory by multi-channel, Teletype circuits. In Victorian country areas, there were approximately 163 post offices, all connected to Melbourne by Morse code circuits, only. Depending on operational requirements, some stations had single, exclusive circuits with Melbourne while others may have had up to five or six stations on one telegraph line. (Suburban Morse and machine circuits, of which there were many, are excluded from this count. 22 of the larger provincial towns such as Bendigo, Ballarat, Mildura, and Geelong operated on Teletype systems to accommodate higher volumes of traffic, and telegraphists were actually stationed at these particular four post offices). High volumes of telegraph traffic were also transmitted over the country Morse circuits annually, and with constant usage, telegraphists gained an ability to send and receive at high speeds for lengthy periods. This was particularly so with long press messages. Later, in the Antarctic, they would have to contend with fading signals, interference from other stations, and static. But Morse lines were subject to problems as well; in some areas, when heavy rain fell, line leakage caused low signal strengths and then Morse signals would not properly form. Occasionally the line current was so weak that telegraphists had to read the line relay magnets at a much reduced volume. Adjacent to the busiest machine telegraph channel in Australia in the Interstate Section (Melbourne to Sydney Channel A ) a single Morse position was located, connected to Currie, King Island, way out in stormy Bass Strait. Why the position was situated there was anyone s guess. John O Shea who kindly contributed to this story, knew that this circuit was lightly loaded, and the operator would often find himself volunteered to work on one of the interstate Teletype circuits during busy periods, or to provide temporary relief. This is the most likely reason for its placement. The previously mentioned 163 post offices on the country Morse network, repeated telegraph messages to an additional and surprising, 1,405 towns, hamlets or properties. The 22 Teletype circuits in country areas repeated telegraph messages to a further 656 towns, hamlets or properties. Telegrams, overseas cables and other messages would normally be telephoned from the main provincial centres and Morse-connected post offices, to those two thousand or so, outstations - an impressive network that was fast and reliable. Although labour-intensive, the actual cost of maintaining Morse lines was cheap perhaps $5 annually. And Morse telegraph equipment never wore out!! The above configuration of circuits and statistics was at 1 May, They remained relatively unchanged for approximately five or six years each side of It must also be remembered that this was an era in the early to mid or later 1950 s when

74 direct dialling by telephone to country and interstate destinations was non-existent. Even Connections with many city and suburban telephone services was still done through operators at the Central Telephone Exchange in the city. Facsimile machines were in a more or less fledgling state, and were not regularly used in postal communication for a few years to come. Black and white photographs could be transmitted and received using dedicated picturegram equipment via telegraph circuits, for publication by newspapers around the nation. And the worst news for telegraphists in the fifties and sixties whose finishing times were late in the day Victorian pubs closed at 6pm.) The following stations were somewhat unusual, and all directly connected to the Melbourne CTO by Morse circuits: Victorian Railway stations: These included Geelong, Ballarat, Seymour, and Spencer Street Melbourne railway stations. This large organisation had their own telegraph service connected to dozens of railway stations around Victoria, and used Morse code as well to transmit messages throughout their network. Morse post offices in country areas also repeated traffic to a further 23 Victorian railway stations. Teletype-connected post offices repeated to an additional 6 railway stations. Military Post Offices Army: These included Puckapunyal, Broadmeadows, Bandiana and Seymour. Country Morse stations repeated to several other smaller military post offices in the Tatura area, for example. Victorian Military Post Offices R.A.A.F./Navy: These were Point Cook, Laverton, Ballarat, and East Sale. A range of traffic was exchanged on these circuits, but the bulk were messages intended for individual soldiers or airmen, from their relatives and friends. Prior to 1963, radio technical officers and operators undertook courses at the RAAF Ballarat School of Radio before heading south. (A separate Teletype circuit was connected to the Flinders Naval Depot) New South Wales Stations: These were at Wagga Wagga, Tocumwal, Barham, Balranald, Deniliquin, Corowa and Wentworth. A few years earlier, Broken Hill, RAAF Tocumwal and Uranquinty were on direct circuits to Melbourne. The large NSW town of Albury was connected by a Teletype circuit to Melbourne, as well as to their own CTO in Sydney. Routine traffic was exchanged with these stations which were close to the Victorian border. Some Victorian and NSW towns published their own newspapers, and volumes of so-called Press messages were transmitted to them, and they to Melbourne newspapers on a regular basis. C.I.C. Bonegilla - (Commonwealth Immigration Camp): Many early migrants were placed at Bonegilla while accommodation and work in other areas was found for them. Telegrams and cables were often sent and received in the language of their native countries and both telegraphists in Melbourne, and postal clerks at Bonegilla, had to concentrate to avoid errors. Other Immigration camps existed too, at Rushworth, Benalla and Somers. Messages for these camps were repeated by other post offices in the telegraph network. Geelong Ford Motor Company: This was a difficult circuit. Most traffic to Ford in Geelong comprised telegrams ordering spare parts for vehicles. Part numbers were usually long groups of words consisting of a mixture of letters and figures. The operators called these telegrams barbed-wire. The Postal Clerk operators rostered at the Ford Factory did a wonderful job, day in, day out. (Similar telegrams were transmitted to GMH Holden, but over a teletype circuit). Victorian Racecourse Telegraph Circuits: A supervisor and a small number of telegraphists were routinely out-stationed at Melbourne metropolitan (horse racing) courses on race days - Flemington, Caulfield and Moonee Valley. Country courses were similarly accommodated and staff would man Morse circuits at large provincial meetings for example at Ballarat and Warrnambool. These were really jobs for those telegraphists who had a good knowledge of racing the punters - of which there were quite a few. Press messages were sent to newspapers from the racecourses, as well as details of scratchings, prices, placings and so forth. Most operators assigned to the racing venues were regarded as gun or expert operators, and complete accuracy was essential. In the 1950 s and beyond, SP (Starting Price) betting was illegal. Nevertheless, there were several SP bookies in the CTO who accepted bets from their workmates, and promptly paid out on winning wagers. The system worked well. Flemington Cattle-yards: Telegraphists (usually the same few) were assigned to the Flemington Cattle yards telegraph office on sale days, and transmitted to Melbourne for onwards transmission, hundreds of telegrams regarding live beef sales to their owners around the state. Within 30 minutes or so, owners would know how many animals (and of different categories) were sold, at what price, and who purchased them. The Weather Section This small discrete section was manned by two, three of four telegraphists, 24 hours a day, and was directly connected to the Melbourne Weather Bureau. A number of weather observers at country post offices were connected by Teletype to this section and sent in their observations every three hours. A number of seaports (and some airports) were also connected and reported in on a scheduled basis. The observations were essential for safety of life at sea, especially for the many commercial fishing vessels that operated out of those seaports. This was the Section where telegraphists first learned about basic weather observations, and the five figure codes some would transmit in their thousands around the Antarctic in years to come. Temporary Telegraph Facilities Temporary portable telegraph facilities were provided at Scouting Jamborees, yachting and other sporting events where post office telegraph services were not normally available. Morse, and at times, Teletypes were used.

75 To Conclude The above narrative is intended to convey how Melbourne telegraphists gained Morse and Teletype experience before applying for radio officer positions with ANARE. The bulk of Morse telegraphists mentioned in Peter McGrath s article qualified in training classes held between 1950 and 1957 with the earlier exceptions of Geoff Butterworth (1945), Eric Macklin (1947), Eamonn (Joe) Gavaghan (1948), and Bruce Neilsen (1949/1950). Eric was the first Melbourne telegraphist to join an ANARE expedition, and his first trip was to MacQuarie Island in Frank (Narra) Johnson, Ken Tate and Ivan Thomas were the first of the fifties telegraphists - (Class of 1950) to lead the procession of later operators. Morse was taught until the conclusion of the 1957 classes. It was not until about 1962/63 that identical courses, minus Morse instruction, were again instituted. Several non-morse colleagues who went on expeditions in the 1970 s came from later classes. In the Antarctic these officers learned new skills which included tuning radio receivers and transmitters, radio Teletype operation (RTT), antenna and frequency selection, operating field transceivers and so forth. Their previous post office experience in handling a variety of traffic was important and was easily adapted to handle high volumes of scientific, meteorological, administrative and personal traffic throughout an expedition year. As mentioned in the Aurora in our series, Fifty Years of Australian Radio Communications in the Antarctic , our former Director, Dr. Phil Law, was a prolific user of telegraphic and radiophone communications, be it at sea, on the ice, or in the air). Contact with foreign operators at other stations was always enjoyable, as was the exchange of weather and other information with our leased Danish polar vessels, ice breakers of the United States, the Soviet Union and Japan, and Australian, U.S. and Russian aircraft. There were some very interesting foreign stations on our network Johannesburg, Marion Island, Kerguelen, Amsterdam Island, Mirny, Molodezhnaya, McMurdo Sound, Dumont d Urville, SANAE, Syowa and Roi Baudouin. There were also the Overseas Telecommunications Commission stations (OTC) Sydney, Perth and Esperance Radios, with Melbourne Radio as an emergency backup and of course our own stations at Heard Island, Macquarie Island, Casey (previously Wilkes), Davis and Mawson. Cameraderie in the CTO or the Room as it was known, was good. This friendship spilled over in all the States and Territories, as telegraphists frequently went on exchanges in other CTO s for six or so months at a time but incredibly as was the case with the long-standing rivalry between the cities of Melbourne and Sydney - this same tongue-in-cheek rivalry existed between telegraphists from these cities. Having said that, we wish to honour a long-time friend and colleague of ours from the CTO in Sydney. Ken (KB) Bennett served as a radio officer on 8 expeditions between at each of our four stations.! Sadly, telegraphy as we knew it has gone, along with a number of our operator friends. But not one person would have foregone the wonderful and exciting opportunity of serving down South as radio officers with such a great organisation as ANARE. (My gratitude for their assistance is extended to John O Shea (Class of 1952), Peter McGrath (Class of 1956) - both threetime winterers - and to Fred Ryan, (Class of 1937), and former Traffic Officer-in-charge of the Canberra CTO in my time there), who searched their memories about the good old days, to help construct this tiny piece of a warmly remembered past). ALLAN MOORE FEBRUARY 2012 (Reproduced with kind permission of Allan) (Prior to Teletype operations Murray Multiplex systems were used between capital cities and large provincial offices) ******************************** OLD MAN MORSE You remember of course, old fellow Morse Who for years kept us under his thumb; Who filled us with sound till our heads went around Like a swarm of bees in a drum. You remember the men who took him by pen In the years before automation And the yarns galore they would tell by the score Of what happened at the old Eucla Station. Here lie the remains of Old Man Morse With few to mourn that he s run his course; Mastered by men who have left their mark, Light of the world when the world was dark; Never to rise again. Anon Where they would jump out of bed and give go ahead ere the light of a new day was dawning And GN they say, would be given mext day In the early hours of the morning. Where nobody spoke or had time for a joke Or swore at the man tother end ; Not a man of them used a jigger - 30 wpm by the hand they could send.

76 Cloth notice affixed to poles post FAREWELL TO MORSE Below is the text of a message sent in Morse from the Director General P.M.G Department to J F Hickey President of E S F on the occasion of a function held at Sydney Town Hall on 2 February 1963 to commemorate the end of the Morse Code era in New South Wales. Tonight as you say farewell to Morse you look back on 109 years of Morse telegraphy in Australia. With its passing will come the memories of the many epic feats of Telegraphists that have enriched the history of communications in our country. The key words in this history have been the resourcefulness of Telegraphists and their willingness to accept whatever challenege was given to them. When Samuel Morse invented his automatic link, The Telegraph, a new world of communications began. Machines were improved, new ones were invented and progress was made largely because there were no hurdles big enough to stop any Telegraphists. In 1890 Telegraphists put away their pens and took up a new invention, the typewriter. Today 70 years later they close down their Morse keys and take up with TRESS. It is gratifying for me as Director-General to know that you have accepted this new challenge in the true tradition of Telegraphists and that whatever the future may bring in the way of fresh challenges, the spirit and the resourcefulness of Australian Telegraphists will continue to give Australia a telegraph service second to none. It is my regret that I cannot be with you tonight in person. I am glad of this opportunity to send you this message and hope the evening will be one to remember. GN. F P O Grady director-general Posts and Telegraphs. 2017