Editing Speaking clock (section)

=== Australia ===
In Australia, the number 1194 was the speaking clock in all areas. The service started in 1953 by the Post Master General's Department, originally to access the talking clock on a rotary dial phone, callers would dial "B074", during the transition from a rotary dial to a [[DTMF]] based phone system, the talking clock number changed from "B074" to 1194.  It was always the current time from where the call originated, in part due to [[Telstra]]'s special call routing systems. Landline, Payphone and Mobile customers who called the 1194 time service would receive the time. A male voice, often known by Australians as "George",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/at-the-third-stroke-george-the-talking-clock-now-on-atomic-time-20140404-3646r.html |title=At the third stroke: George the talking clock now on atomic time |date=4 April 2014 |publisher=SMH |access-date=2017-05-01}}</ref> would say "At the third stroke, it will be (hours) (minutes) and (seconds) seconds/precisely. (three beeps)" e.g. "At the third stroke, it will be three thirty three and forty seconds". The time announcement was announced in 10 second increments and the beep was 1&nbsp;kHz.  Originally there was only one stroke e.g.:“At the stroke,  it will be……” etc.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

[[File:Speakingclock.JPG|right|thumb|Mechanical speaking clock at the [[National Communication Museum]]]]
Prior to automatic systems, the subscriber rang an operator who would quote the time from a central clock in the exchange with a phrase such as "The time by the exchange clock is ……". This was not precise and the operator could not always answer when the subscriber wanted. In 1954, British-made systems were installed in [[Melbourne]] (1st floor, City West Exchange) and [[Sydney]]. The mechanical speaking clock used rotating glass discs where different parts of the time were recorded on the disc. A synchronous motor drove the disc with the driving source derived from a 5&nbsp;MHz [[Crystal oscillator|quartz oscillator]] via a multi stage [[Vacuum tube|valve]] divider. This was [[Amplifier|amplified]] to give sufficient impetus to drive the motor. Because of the low torque available, a hand wheel was used to spin the motor on start up. The voice was provided by [[Gordon Gow]]. The units were designed for continuous operation. Both units in Melbourne and Sydney were run in tandem (primary and backup). For [[daylight saving time]] changes, one would be on line while the second was advanced or delayed by one hour and at the 02:00:00 Australian Eastern Standard time, would be switched over to the standby unit.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

In addition to the speaking clocks, there was ancillary equipment to provide timing signals, 1 pulse per second, 8 pulses per minute and 8 pulses per hour. The Time and Frequency Standards Section in the PMG Research Laboratories at 59 Little Collins Street, Melbourne maintained the frequency checks to ensure that the system was "on time". From a maintenance point of view, the most important part of the mechanical clocks was to ensure that they were well oiled to minimise wear on the cams and to replace blown bulbs in the optical pickups from the glass disk recordings. When Time & Frequency Standards moved from 59 Collins Street to Clayton Research Labs (3rd Flr. Building M5), the control signals were duplicated and a second bank of [[Caesium standard|Caesium Beam]] [[Atomic clock|Primary standards]] installed so the cutover was transparent with no loss of service.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

[[File:Speakingclock2.JPG|right|thumb|Assmann digital speaking clock at the [[National Communication Museum]]]]
This mechanical system was replaced with a [[Digital data|digital]] system in 1990. Each speaking clock ensemble consisted of two announcing units (Zag 500), a supervisory unit (CCU 500), two phase-locked oscillators, two pulse distribution units, a Civil Time Receiver (plus a spare), and two or four Computime 1200 baud [[modem]]s. The voice was provided by [[Richard Peach]], a former ABC broadcaster. The various components were sent for commercial production after a working prototype was built in the [[Telstra]] Research Laboratory (TRL). Assmann Australia used a German announcing unit and built a supervisory unit to TRL specifications. Design 2000 incorporated TRL oscillators in the phase locked oscillator units designed at TRL and controlled by two tone from the Telstra Caesium beam frequency standards. Ged Company built civil time receivers. The civil time code generators and two tone generators were designed and built within TRL. The changeover occurred at 12 noon, September 12, 1990.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Each state capital had a digital speaking clock for the local time of day with one access number for all Australia, 1194. In 2002 the Telstra 1194 service was migrated to [[Informatel]] (which uses its own digital technology, in conjunction with the [[National Measurement Institute, Australia|National Measurement Institute]]&nbsp;— but kept the original voice of [[Richard Peach]]), whilst the other time services (e.g. hourly pips to radio stations) were retained as a service by Telstra. In May 2006 the remaining Telstra services were withdrawn and the [[digital electronics|digital hardware]] was decommissioned.<ref name="TRL history">''Telstra Research Laboratory Internal web page''</ref> Telstra ended the 1194 service on the midnight of October 1, 2019 and Australians no longer have access to this service.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theage.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/at-the-third-stroke-there-will-be-no-more-dial-up-talking-clock-20190418-p51ff8.html|title=At the third stroke, there will be ... no more dial-up talking clock|last=Webb|first=Carolyn|date=2019-04-18|website=The Age|language=en|access-date=2019-07-04}}</ref> A web-based simulation<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://1194online.com/|title=1194 Online Time Service Home Page|website=1194online.com|access-date=2020-04-24}}</ref> of the 1194 service was created by musician [[Ryan Monro]] on the day of the original service's shutdown.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-16/talking-clock-continues-to-tick-on-the-internet/11605112|title=When Telstra shut down the Talking Clock, one man took the time to salvage it|last=Silva|first=Kristian|date=2019-10-16|website=ABC News|language=en-AU|access-date=2020-04-24}}</ref>