Pics from the past | From telegraph to telephone

1877: The first demonstration of the telephone in Australia took place.

1880: The first telephone exchange in Australia was opened in Melbourne by the Victorian Telephone Company.

1882: Sydney followed suit with its first telephone exchange.

1901: The Federation of Australia led to the creation of the Postmaster-General’s Department, which took over the operation of telegraph and telephone services.

1910s-1920s: Telephony gradually became more widespread, with telephone exchanges expanding to more towns and rural areas.

1958: The Shepparton automatic telephone exchange building opened on High St.

By the mid-20th century, telephones had largely replaced the telegraph as the primary means of long-distance communication. However, the telegraph system continued to be used for certain purposes well into the 20th century before being completely phased out.

The original Shepparton Post Office building on Wyndham St was opened in 1883 (known as the Public Buildings) and included the first courthouse, and the telegraph office was upstairs. In the 1920s, telephone technology was being introduced to the Shepparton Telephone Exchange. In 1923, there were 283 telephone subscribers, and by 1938, this increased to 582.

In the early years, subscribers would turn a handle on their telephone, then lift the handset and wait for an operator to answer and ask for the required number. The operator had to move a plug on the end of a cable to connect the call. If it was a “trunk” call (to Melbourne, for example), subscribers had to book the call and wait for the operator to call back. Party lines were common, where several subscribers shared one telephone number.

In January 1958, the Postmaster-General’s Department (a precursor of Telstra), completed the installation of a new automatic telephone exchange, which replaced the switchboard operators upstairs at the Shepparton Post Office. The 1698 subscribers had their manual telephones replaced by rotary dial phones.

At 9am on January 26, 1958, subscribers were asked to cease using the telephones while they cut the old cables away and connected the new ones. It was accomplished in minutes.

The new Shepparton Telephone Exchange building was located on the corner of High and Welsford Sts, opposite the police station/old courthouse. A number of switchboard operators (telephonists) were still employed to operate the switchboards for trunk calls — “Number, please? Hold the line while I connect you.” As soon as the installation was complete, the installation staff and technicians started working on installing an extra 600 lines because the exchange’s capacity of 2000 was close to being taken up. Over the years, staff was kept busy because of the steady stream of changing technology, which was smaller and faster and consumed less power. With the introduction of mobile phones and internet technology replacing many home phones, the building was eventually demolished in the 2000s to make way for a two-storey office building.

Geoff Allemand is an amateur photographer and Lost Shepparton Facebook page admin. Please share your pics of the past at pastpics@mmg.com.au