TELEGRAMS changed the way – and the speed – that people communicated.
The spread of the telegraph network that made telegrams possible in Australia has been compared with the communication revolution caused by mobile phones.
Tenterfield played a key role in this revolution.
On Sunday, November 6, Tenterfield’s part in communication history will be celebrated.
Four proud Sydney “morsecodians” – Malcolm McGrath, Ron McDonald, Brian Mullins and Les Edwards – will relive the telegram days by basing themselves at the Tenterfield Post Office.
The visit will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the 1861 completion of the Telegraph Line from Sydney to Brisbane, via Tenterfield.
The line was completed before federation and so was a key link between Queensland and NSW. Tenterfield was ideally placed as the meeting point between the two.
Morsecodian Les Edwards, secretary/treasurer of the Sydney Morsecodians Fraternity, said NSW and Queensland staff were originally stationed in the old telegraph station in George Willson’s store at the corner of Rouse and High streets, sharing the office with post office staff.
“As they were separate colonies at that time, telegrams from Sydney to Brisbane were by a NSW operator, written and passed on to a Queensland operator, who would transmit it to Brisbane and vice versa in the opposite direction,” he said.
The line was built along the main road to Brisbane via Warwick and Ipswich.
The first telegraph stationmaster was Augustus H. Fitzroy, who was appointed on October 1, 1861 with an annual salary of 180 pounds.
Mr Edwards said the telegraph department was under the control of the Minister for Public Works and was run separately to the post office where there was a postmaster.
The second telegraph stationmaster was Joshua Walter Nunn in 1863, who earned 250 pounds, followed by Alexander Tucker in 1865. In the same year, a new telegraph station was opened at the corner of Logan and Molesworth streets.
“In 1869 it was noted that the postmistress, Mrs Tucker, was under great pressure due to the work in the telegraph office in consequence of the discovery of tin ore in the district and the increase of telegraph traffic between Grafton and Sydney…” Mr Edwards said.
He said it was impossible for Mrs Tucker and the staff to give enough time and attention to post office work.
“They were kept at telegraph work alone ‘til nearly midnight and of late, working on Sundays and not having proper time to get meals or rest at night.”
There are reports of Mrs Tucker being sick, and the post office was at times over the years moved to operate away from the telegraph office. The offices were permanently combined in 1875.
In 1874, Tenterfield people including mayor Edward Whereat had signed a petition asking for a new post and telegraph building. The petition noted that 12 staff were crammed into two small rooms, with a thin partition between the Queensland and NSW departments.
The new building was originally planned for the corner of Logan and Molesworth streets, but the location was changed to the intersection of Rouse and Manners streets.
The grand post office building that stands today was designed by Sydney General Post Office architect James Burnett.
It opened on October 19, 1881, and was declared “too good for the place and altogether too large for the township” by the postal inspector.
Before the building opened, automatic telegraphic repeaters were introduced, and Queensland staff left the telegraph station.
The telegram was a major source of communication until the telephone gained popularity in the 1940s. The last publicly provided telegraphy service closed in 1993.
Mr Edwards said the advent of the telegraph system remained a turning point in history – and was the country’s very first Internet.
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