Chapter 8
I Part 1: Communications
i Before the Telegraph
ii Electrical Communication Before Federation
iii Federation to the End of the Second World War
iv Post-war and on to 1975
v 1975 ONWARDS
II Epilogue
III Part 2: Early Australian Computers And Computing
IV Acknowledgements
References
Index
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Electrical Communication Before Federation (continued)
Initially, telephone services were connected to the exchange by use of single wire lines, resulting in unsightly heavily laden poles in city streets and with severe crosstalk between services. In Sydney there were quite early moves to metallic circuits in cable but single wire construction was retained for the section into the premises. With a vision of future requirements for installation of telephone cables, engineers in Sydney constructed a series of tunnels below the footpaths, generally with internal dimensions of 4'6" wide by a depth varying from 5'6" to 5'10". Table 3 gives details of the length and cost of 13 of 18 tunnels constructed before Federation, at an average cost, the Todd Report noted,[9] of two pounds fourteen shillings per foot run, with a further three shillings required for iron work and commission to Messrs. McCredie -presumably consulting engineers. Melbourne also saw some cable installed towards the close of the period. The first facilities for calls beyond exchanges in the same local area came in Australia in 1888, when trunk lines were provided between Adelaide and Semaphore in South Australia, and Hobart and New Norfolk in Tasmania. In Victoria a few years later calls were being made from Melbourne to such towns as Ballarat and Geelong and a similar service was available between Sydney and centres in the Blue Mountains.
Particulars of the lengths and costs of thirteen out of the eighteen sections of the telephone tunnels constructed by day labour in Sydney
In the latter years of the 19th century, studies and experiments with electro-magnetic radiation were laying the base for a third form of communication, wireless telegraphy. The work of Heinrich Hertz was reported in Australia and aroused considerable interest, and then in 1896, Marconi in Italy concluded a successful demonstration of electromagnetic communication and in the following year used wireless telegraphy to communicate from a ship to a shore station. The first successful experiments with the new communications technology in Australia are credited to Professor William Bragg of Adelaide.
People in Bright Sparcs - Bragg, Prof. William; Todd, Sir Charles
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Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering |  |
© 1988 Print Edition pages 540 - 541, Online Edition 2000
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/532.html