Editing Telecommunications in Australia (section)

==History==
[[File:NarranderaTrunkLineMemorial.JPG|thumb|A memorial at [[Narrandera]] to the "J" trunk route linking the Australian cities and towns on the east coast]]

===Colonial period===
{{furtherinformation|History of telegraphy in Australia}}
Prior to [[Federation of Australia]] in 1901, each of the six Australian colonies had its own telephony communications network.<ref>{{Cite web|title=160 years of Australian telecommunications {{!}} Telsoc|url=https://telsoc.org/journal/ajtde-v2-n2/a43|access-date=2022-02-17|website=telsoc.org|language=en}}</ref> The Australian networks were government assets operating under colonial legislation modelled on that of Britain. The UK [[Telegraph Act 1868]] for example empowered the Postmaster-General to "acquire, maintain and work electric telegraphs" and foreshadowed the 1870 nationalisation of competing British telegraph companies.

Australia's first telephone service (connecting the [[Melbourne]] and [[South Melbourne]] offices of Robinson Brothers, a Melbourne engineering firm) was launched in 1879.<ref name="wah">{{cite web |url=https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/16334 |title=When and How Did Telephones Come to Victoria? |website=Museums Victoria |access-date=8 November 2023 }}</ref> The private [[Melbourne Telephone Exchange Company]] opened Australia's first telephone exchange in August 1880. Around 7,757 calls were handled in 1884.<ref name="wah"/>

The nature of the networks meant that regulation in Australia was undemanding: network personnel were government employees or agents, legislation was enhanced on an incremental basis and restrictions could be achieved through infrastructure. All the colonies ran their telegraph networks at a deficit through investment in infrastructure and subsidisation of regional access, generally with bipartisan support.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Government-operated post office and telegraph networks – the largest parts of the bureaucracy – were combined into a single department in each colony on the model of the UK Post Office: [[South Australia]] in 1869, [[Victoria, Australia|Victoria]] in 1870, [[Queensland]] in 1880 and [[New South Wales]] in 1893.{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}}

===At Federation (1901)===
At Federation, the colonial networks (staff, switches, wires, handsets, buildings etc.) were transferred to the Commonwealth [[Postmaster-General's Department]] responsible for domestic postal, telephone and, telegraph services becoming the responsibility of the first Postmaster-General (PMG), a federal. With 16,000 staff (and assets of over £6 million) the PMG accounted for 80% of the new federal bureaucracy.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

[[Payphone|Public phones]] were available in a handful of post offices. Subscriber telephones were initially restricted to major businesses, government agencies, institutions and wealthier residences. Eight million telegrams were sent that year over 43,000 miles of line.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

There were around 33,000 phones across Australia, with 7,502 telephone subscribers in inner [[Sydney]] and 4,800 in the [[Melbourne central business district]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Overseas cable links to Australia remained in private hands, reflecting the realities of imperial politics, demands on the new government's resources, and perceptions of its responsibilities.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

===After Federation===
A trunk line between Melbourne (headquarters of the PMG Department) and Sydney was established in 1907, with extension to [[Adelaide]] in 1914, [[Brisbane]] in 1923, [[Perth]] in 1930 and [[Hobart]] in 1935.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

[[Image:Old Ash Tray With Single Digit Phone No.jpg|thumb|An old [[bakelite]] ash tray showing an example of a single digit phone number used in the early days of telecommunication.]]

On 12 July 1906 the first Australian wireless overseas messages were sent between [[Point Lonsdale]], Victoria and [[Devonport, Tasmania]].<ref>http://tja.org.au/index.php/tja/article/view/9/30 Given, Jock. 2010. 'Wireless politics: Marconi and the Parliament at Point Lonsdale, 12 July 1906'. Telecommunications Journal of Australia. 60 (4): pp. 60.1 to 60.7. Monash University ePress.</ref> Australia and New Zealand ratified the 1906 Berlin Radio-telegraph Convention in 1907. The PMG department became responsible for some international shortwave services, particularly from the 1920s and for a new Coastal Radio Service in 1911, with the first of a network of stations operational in February 1912.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

The [[Sydney–Melbourne co-axial cable]] was officially opened on 9 April 1962.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/timeline/results.aspx|title=Australia's Prime Ministers|publisher=National Archives of Australia|access-date= 14 September 2013}}</ref>
The coaxial cable infrastructure supported the introduction of [[subscriber trunk dialling]] between the cities<ref>{{cite book|title=The Australasian Engineer, 1962, p.32}}</ref> and live television link-ups. After its commissioning in April 1962 the cable carried telegraph and telephone traffic.<ref>{{cite book|title=Telecommunications Journal of Australia, vol.13, no.3, February 1962 (special edition), p.173}}</ref> It also provided the first inter-city television transmission in Australia, allowing simultaneous television broadcasting in Melbourne and Sydney for the first time.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Australasian Engineer, 1962, p.33}}</ref>

[[Optus]] was formed as AUSSAT, a government owned corporation, in 1981. It was privatized later in the 1980s under the [[Bob Hawke|Hawke]] Labor government. [[Telstra]] (previously known as Telecom), another government owned asset, was also privatized in 1997 under the [[John Howard|Howard]] Liberal government.