ONCE employed as a telegraph messenger by the Postmaster General’s Department, Trevor Thatcher fondly remembers listening to his valve driven radio during the 1930s.
“I was always intrigued when I listened to the shortwave radio,” Mr Thatcher said.
“I lived in the country so it was necessary for us to have the shortwave so the signal could reach us.”
It’s memories like that one which influenced representatives from Telstra to put together a historic telecommunications display at the Port Macquarie Library last week.
The display contained items developed and used across Australia as part of the Postmaster General’s Department, Telecom and Telstra, as well as early broadcast equipment used by the ABC. Items included a candlestick phone from the early 1900s, the ultra-modern ‘touch phone’ of the 1960s, and one of the earliest mobile phones.
Mr Thatcher, who attended the display, said it was a great success, particularly for the way in which younger children were drawn to the historic items.
“I’m really surprised, there were lots of people showing genuine interest in Morse code,” he said.
“It’s good to see there are young people still interested in this old stuff.”
Telecommunications historian Murray Rasmussen hosted the display, with Port Macquarie being the second stop on his tour of regional New South Wales.
He is always encouraging visitors to share stories, information, photos and history about the early days of telecommunication in the region.
“A lot of the major developments in telecommunications have happened in our lifetime so there is much to be shared by getting out and talking to people,” Mr Rasmussen said.
“I thoroughly enjoy swapping memories about the early home phones, hearing about the days of the party line and meeting people who have worked in the manual exchanges.”
The information collected on the tour will help Mr Rasmussen and his fellow telecommunication historians add to the large public collection housed at Telstra’s three history museums in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
“With the museums based in major cities, we are really keen to ensure the items and information in the collection also reflects the history and stores of people in regional Australia so that it continues to be a rich resource for future generations.”
If anyone feels they have an item or a story worth including in the archive, please contact the Telstra Sydney Museum on 1800 MUSEUM (687 386).
