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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
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Communications

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Communications

Subject

South Head Signal Station

Transcript: Mr James William Beale talks about his first job in the Liverpool telephone exchange

Transcript: Mr Peter Granville-Smith describes his work at Liverpool telephone exchange in the early 1930s

Royal Australian Historical Society Green Plaque 71. First Public Demonstration of Wireless

South Head Signal Station

First public demonstration of wireless

Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited

Australian Telecommunications and Electronics Research Board

CSIRO Division of Telecommunications and Industrial Physics

Commonwealth Postmaster-General's Department

Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Co Ltd

Liverpool Telephone Exchange

Naval Radar Communications Centre

Standard Telephones and Cables

Wireless Institute of Australia

Fisk, Ernest

AWA Radio Centre Pennant Hills

'10 o'clock - opening time' from 'The Hours of the Day in Sydney' September 1879

Audiovisual controls in the former Coroner's Court, Glebe 2009

Electric Telegraph Office, Sydney, 1860

Ernest Fisk at the opening of the new radio telephone service to America in the AWA Building 21 December 1938

Fort Phillip and the Signal Staff 1842

In the cable room at La Perouse 1908

Noreen Dudgeon of Rose Bay instructs US Naval personnel in visual signalling, Sydney c1943

Page from letter by John Rae with drawing of his house Hilton September 1857

Planting the first pole on the Overland Telegraph Line at Port Darwin 1870

Radio mast and Sir Ernest Fisk's home Lucania, Wahroonga 1918

Screenshot of website 'Dyarubbin: Mapping Aboriginal history, culture and stories of the Hawkesbury River, New South Wales' 2021

Signal station, South Head c1935

The old cable station, La Perouse c1953

View of AWA tower from GPO tower, 17 May 1942

Wireless Wizardry: A Sydney experiment August 1919

Mr James William Beale talks about his first job in the Liverpool telephone exchange in 1913, interviewed in 1986

Mr Peter Granville-Smith describes his work at Liverpool telephone exchange in the early 1930s, interviewed in 1986

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Communications

South Head Signal Station

For the colony's first 50 years the signal station was a basic lookout hut, a flagpole and a signal staff for semaphore flag signals. A new signal house was built in 1841, and added to over the years, until the station went out of official use in 1992. Now run by volunteers, the station provides visual signals for recreational sailors.

Transcript: Mr James William Beale talks about his first job in the Liverpool telephone exchange

Mr James William Beale was born in 1900 and interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960 ' project. He talks here about his first job, in the Liverpool telephone exchange.

Transcript: Mr Peter Granville-Smith describes his work at Liverpool telephone exchange in the early 1930s

Mr Peter Granville-Smith was born in 1910 and interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' He describes his work as a telephonist at the Liverpool telephone exchange in the early 1930s

Royal Australian Historical Society Green Plaque 71. First Public Demonstration of Wireless

Commemorative plaque that was installed between 1984 and 1988 as part of the Sydney Green Plaques Bicentennial project on the site of the Royal Society of NSW's lecture room at 5 Elizabeth Street North. The plaque commemorates the first public demonstration of wireless communications on 13 August 1919 when Edward Fisk arranged for a gramophone recording of the national anthem (God Save the Queen) to be played in the Amalgamated Wireless office at 97 Clarence Street and relayed to the Royal Society's building where he was conducting a lecture.

full record »

South Head Signal Station

Signal station established for shipping since 1797, and now used for small and recreational boating. Since 1790 the position had been a simple lookout post and flagpole.

full record »

First public demonstration of wireless

The first public demonstration of wireless communications was conducted on 13 August 1919 when Edward Fisk arranged for a gramophone recording of the national anthem (God Save the Queen) to be played in the Amalgamated Wireless office at 97 Clarence Street, and relayed to the Royal Society's building at 5 Elizabeth Street North where he was conducting a lecture.

full record »

Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited

Large electronics development and communications company that was first to transmit a direct wireless message from England to Australia.

full record »

Australian Telecommunications and Electronics Research Board

Commonwealth government agency established to improve general radio practices in Australia.

full record »

CSIRO Division of Telecommunications and Industrial Physics

Organisation for scientific and industrial research and telecommunications.

full record »

Commonwealth Postmaster-General's Department

Department created at Federation in 1901 to control all postal and telecommunications services within Australia.

full record »

Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Co Ltd

Submarine cable communications company founded in England by John Pender, one of 32 such companies he formed from the 1860s. In 1934 it became Cable and Wireless.

full record »

Liverpool Telephone Exchange

Manual telephone exchange established by the Post Office to connect local and 'trunk' or long distance calls. In 1902 the charges were 6d for 3 minutes and 4d for each additional three minutes.

full record »

Naval Radar Communications Centre

Military establishment formed at Gap Bluff in the early years of World War II as the potential for radar became apparent.

full record »

Standard Telephones and Cables

British telecommunications company (STC) whose subsidiary in Australia developed several groundbreaking new technologies. It was acquired by Alcatel Australia in 1987.

full record »

Wireless Institute of Australia

Amateur radio operators society formed to promote cooperation and experimentation in the new science of 'wireless telegraphy'. The Institute celebrated its centenary in 2010.

full record »

Fisk, Ernest

full record »

Radio engineer who promoted the potential of wireless communications and was the founding director of Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd.

AWA Radio Centre Pennant Hills

Communication centre which used a 20 kilowatt transmitter for overseas broadcasting and the wireless telephone service to Great Britain and Europe.

full record »

'10 o'clock - opening time' from 'The Hours of the Day in Sydney' September 1879

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[TN 115 (detail)]

(Illustrated Sydney News, 6 September 1879, p12)

Audiovisual controls in the former Coroner's Court, Glebe 2009

full record »

By

Simon Anders, Images for Business

Contributed By

Health Infrastructure

Electric Telegraph Office, Sydney, 1860

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Mitchell Library)

Ernest Fisk at the opening of the new radio telephone service to America in the AWA Building 21 December 1938

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[Home and Away - 18711]

(Mitchell Library)

Fort Phillip and the Signal Staff 1842

full record »

By

Edmund Thomas Blacket

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a881015 / PXE 925 Box 1, 14]

(Mitchell Library)

In the cable room at La Perouse 1908

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Sunday Times magazine section, 16 August 1908, p1 Trove ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126741953)

Noreen Dudgeon of Rose Bay instructs US Naval personnel in visual signalling, Sydney c1943

full record »

By

Australian News and Information Bureau

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

Page from letter by John Rae with drawing of his house Hilton September 1857

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[MLMSS 6998, p802]

(John Rae - Letterbook, 1840-1854, Letter to his mother, 1 September 1857)

Planting the first pole on the Overland Telegraph Line at Port Darwin 1870

full record »

By

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-an10328023]

Radio mast and Sir Ernest Fisk's home Lucania, Wahroonga 1918

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[hood_07681 / Home and Away 7681]

Screenshot of website 'Dyarubbin: Mapping Aboriginal history, culture and stories of the Hawkesbury River, New South Wales' 2021 ...

full record »

Contributed By

[Dyarubbin: Mapping Aboriginal history, culture and stories of the Hawkesbury River, New South Wales]

Signal station, South Head c1935

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a172037 / PXE 789 (v.9), 37]

(Mitchell Library)

The old cable station, La Perouse c1953

full record »

By

Max Dupain and Associates

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a9458063 / ON 559/Part 002/Item 04, 62]

(from Max Dupain and Associates records and negative archive) (Mitchell Library)

View of AWA tower from GPO tower, 17 May 1942

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[C4078, N1991C]

Wireless Wizardry: A Sydney experiment August 1919

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[Casino and Kyogle Courier, 30 August 1919, p4 via Trove]

Mr James William Beale talks about his first job in the Liverpool telephone exchange in 1913, interviewed in 1986

full record »

Mr James William Beale was born in 1900 and interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900Ã¢â‚¬â€œ1960 ' project. He talks here about his first job, in the Liverpool telephone exchange.
Transcript

INTERVIEWER: How old were you when you left school?

WILLIAM: Thirteen, and I went for a first job as a telegraph boy, delivering telegrams and letters, one thing and another. From there I graduated to be able to take on the telephone exchange, which had only a hundred subscribers at that time.

INTERVIEWER: Is this in Liverpool?

WILLIAM: In Liverpool. Number 1 was doctor; 22 was Fire Brigade and 21 was Liverpool Hospital [which was] the Old Men's Home at the time. And that's about the chief ones. They were the numbers you had to remember quickly so you couldÃ¢â‚¬Â¦oh, the Police were number 18 I think.'

Contributed By

Liverpool City Library

Mr Peter Granville-Smith describes his work at Liverpool telephone exchange in the early 1930s, interviewed in 1986

full record »

Peter Granville-Smith was born in 1910 and interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960.' He describes his work as a telephonist at the Liverpool telephone exchange in the early 1930s.
Transcript

PETER: It was a sleeping exchange. We had a bed, a folding bed, which was put down beside the switchboard, and [on night shift] I'd answer the calls from the bed. There were so very few calls at nighttime. I don't know whether you've seen a switchboard but there's a shutter for the jack of each number. You must remember that it's magneto, that's all hand operated. When you made a call from your own home you had to turn the handle of your telephone set and that dropped a shutter just above the jack. Well then the job was to put a plug Ã¢â‚¬â€œ there were two rows of plugs, one for ringing and one for speaking. You pick up the plug from the speaking section, put it into the jack of that number. And then it had two rows of keys, one row is for speaking, the other for ringing. You press the speaking one backwards and say 'number please', and then you pick up the corresponding plug and put it into the jack of the number that was requested. And then there's a ringing key, and you pull the ringing key towards you and that sent the ring out to the subscriber.

Contributed By

Liverpool City Library

(Excerpt from interview with Mr Peter Granville-Smith from the 'Looking back at Liverpool : an oral history of the Liverpool region 1900-1960' conducted in 1986 by Liverpool City Council, editor and project co-ordinator Catherine Johnson ; researchers Angela Imbrosciano, Verica Miiosavijevic, Kathleen Smith.)

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