For many of us, our smartphone is the first thing we look at in the morning, and the last thing we check at night. We never leave home without it. No longer just a telephone, it is a diary, encyclopedia, camera, family album and mobile office. Telephones have come a long way in 150 years!
The telephone arrived in Melbourne in the late 1870s. At first, it was limited to business premises, but wealthy individuals soon became subscribers. By the 1960s most homes had telephones, usually installed in the hall or kitchen. Long distance calls were expensive at this time and there was no time for long chats, but the telephone allowed far-flung family members to stay in touch, especially on special occasions or in moments of crisis.
Wall Telephone, British Ericsson Party Line, used at ‘The Elms’ in Baddaginnie, Victoria, from the 1930s until 1971.
Museums Victoria
A party line was a local telephone circuit shared by more than one subscriber, common in the first half of the twentieth century. There was no privacy on a party line: anyone on the line could pick up their telephone and listen in.
For remote farming communities the party line served both practical and social needs. Friends could gossip with far-distant neighbours and organise community events. The party line was especially crucial in times of emergency.
Rotary dial telephone, 1960s
Old Treasury Building
This phone was designed and made in Australia by Amalgamated Wireless Australasia (AWA). Until the 1980s most of us had a phone like this in our homes. Family contacts were listed alphabetically in a ‘Teledex’ next to the phone.
Mobile phones appeared in Australia in the late-1980s. Early models cost the equivalent of a small car, but they soon became a must-have business tool and fashion accessory. Today almost nine out of every ten Australians own a mobile phone, and mobile users get younger every day. Research suggests that about 40 per cent of children under 12 own their own phones.
Apple iPhone 10, 2020
Private collection
No longer simply for making calls, our phones have become versatile computing devices. Today’s smartphone is a web browser, daily newspaper, barometer, thermometer and GPS. There are even phone apps capable of monitoring arrhythmias and heartrates. The world is, quite literally, at our fingertips.
For more about the history of the phone in Melbourne, see Lost Jobs: The Telephone.