Until 1960 there were no telephones in Falls Creek. The only access to a phone was at Rocky Valley Camp where the State Electricity Commission (SEC) had an extensive network to Mount Beauty, Bogong and the other camps such as Clover power station and Howman's Gap. There were test points with a phone beside the road where contact could be made to the office in Mount Beauty. The SEC was unconcerned about Falls Creek, so no power was connected until 1960 when Tom Mitchell aired the matter in parliament. Tom was a keen skier. He applied to the Post Master General who was then responsible for telephones as well as mail. The PMG staff came up from Bright and installed an exchange in Diana Lodge. There were only about 15 lines to a post across the road uphill about 20 metres. It was from here that you could put a line from the building into a box where connections were possible. You had to buy a cable from the disposal store. It needed to have an alloy of copper and steel in the wire similar to what the army had used during the war. If the phone failed the owner would have to find the break in the wire, not an easy task in the heavy snow. Then came the telephone itself. Falls Creek was given old-fashioned sets with a hand wound magneto to ring the bell at the exchange. When the operator answered she could then plug a line into another phone line or the exchange in Bright. In the phone were two dry cell batteries that carried the spoken word to the other phone connected. Trunk lines were expensive then, so each trunk call was timed by the minute. The operator would disconnect you after a minute if you did not reply to her question "are you extending?". These telephones were donated by Julian Newton Brown. Julian's Lodge Arundel was known as Falls Creek 11.These telephones are significant because they illustrate the earliest form of technology available to connect Falls Creek Village to other areas.Telephones constructed of polished wood, brass bell, handles and cabling. Designed to operate through a telephone exchange. They operated on two dry cell batteries.Attached to front of telephone: Instructions on how to make or receive a call.falls creek village, falls creek communicaton

Each of the five telephones is attached to a timber, wall‐mounted box. They are original to the precinct buildings and date from the early twentieth century. Located in the lighthouse lantern room, the former head keeper’s quarters, the former assistants’ quarters, and the buildings known today as the generator shed and the café, they formed an intercom system that facilitated communication between the lightstation buildings.Wall‐mounted Bakelite telephones with crank handles can be found at all six light stations, however Gabo Island has the only other example of a timber‐mounted phone. Its design is slightly different for incorporating an inclined surface for jotting down notes. As fixtures, the telephones are considered to be part of the building fabric and included in the Victorian Heritage Register listing for the Cape Nelson Lightstation (H1773; 18 February 1999). They are historically significant for their historical and technical values as part of the early communications system used at the lightstation.Five similar intercom system telephones. All are wall mounted timber boxes with Bakelite black hand sets and black cords. The five phones each have two bells at the top of the box and a crank handle at the side. Three phones have brass bells, two have black metal bells. All phones have instructions on the front either in a frame or glued to the timber."C of A" and "PMG" Written instructions on how to use the phones are printed on paper fixed to the front of the telephones. "TO CALL ....../ TO ANSWER...../ WHEN FINISHED....."

Modern communication tecnology arrived on Gabo Island with the construction of the telegraph line from Eden to Gabo Island in 1870. These and other cylindricial insulators were associated with the original 1870 copper wire telegraph line and later the P.M.G. line. The items of telegraphic equipment comprise a number of ceramic and glass insulators of varying age and type. Two bell-shaped insulators are made of clear glass, one with remains of wooden dowel inside. In addition to insulators, there is a telephone insulator bracket made of metal with wooden pins. It was once attached to the top of a steel pole and some of theseremain in situ along the former telegraph line. Telegraphic communication commenced at the Gabo Lightstation in 1870, just eight years after the lightstation opened.The line from Sydney reached Eden, NSW by 1868 and was then extended to Gabo with the costs shared equally by NSW and Victoria. It was initially carried on posts across the sea to the island but was changed to a line along the seabed after the posts were washed away. The first telegraph office was a timber building on east side of the assistants’ quarters. In 1887 a new concrete telegraph office was built which included quarters for the operator, with Victoria and NSW sharing the construction costs. The 1992 CMP identified remnants of the line from its various phases of operation,231 and these can still be seen in 2016. Other ceramic insulators in the collection are associated with lines supported on utility poles for the transmission of high voltage electricity. The various insulators have second level significance for their historic value and provenance1. Clear glass insulator. Cyndrical bottle shape with smaller dome -like knob on top. Hollow with inscription on lower edge. Has remains of wooden dowell inside. 2.Clear glass insulator. Cyndrical bottle shape with smaller dome -like knob on top. Hollow with inscription on lower edge.Around lower edge on opposite sides,"C.C / 42"

It has been restored by lightstation staff in 2002. The phone has a fixed mouth piece and is attached to the lantern room wall on a timber box mount. Dating from the early twentieth century, it is the earliest of four telephones at the lightstation and the sole box-mounted model, and is also the only telephone in the lighthouse. It has a crank handle, a separate black hand piece and an inclined horizontal shelf for jotting down notes. The four telephones provided an intercom system that facilitated communication between the lightstation buildings. Four other wall-mounted phones remain at the Cape Nelson Lightstation but unlike the Gabo Island example they do not provide a rest for jotting down notes. As a fixture, the telephone is part of the building fabric and is included in the existing Victorian Heritage Register extent of registration for the Gabo Island Lightstation (H1773). As a fixture, the telephone is part of the building fabric and is included in the existing Victorian Heritage Register extent of registration for the Gabo Island Lightstation (H1773). It is significant for its historic value and provenance, and relative uniqueness in a Victorian lighthouse.Telephone, wall-mounted in a wooden surround. Black crank handle on right-hand side. Separate black hand piece on left-hand side attached to main body by a fabric covered cord. The mouthpiece is fixed to the front of the telephone. There is a wooden rest attached to the lower front of phone on an angle. There are two half circular bells attached to the phone above the mouthpiece.

Standard Telephones and Cables Pty Ltd was a telecommunications company that began as part of Western Electric, a telephone manufacturing company set up by Alexander Graham Bell. Following the First World War, Western Electric diversified to include electric generators and wireless receivers, all still imported. In 1925, Western Electric was sold to the International Telephone and Telegraph Company. In Australia, it became known as Standard Telephones and Cables (Australasia) They worked closely the Postmaster Generals department to set up telephone and radio networks throughout Australia. Its first factory was in Chippendale, New South Wales but ut developed to have branches in all stated of Australia. By the end of the Second World War STC was Australia's biggest manufacturer due to its critical role in producing telecommunications equipment, domestic radio receivers, telecom cables, military equipment and electron tubes. The company returned to peacetime manufacture. Rather than reduce staff it used its excess capacity to produce electric irons and other domestic appliances including vacuum cleaners and floor polishers. This model was produced at the beginning of the 1950s. It was once owned by Mr. Stiff from Stiff and Gannon, Wodonga.This item has local and national significance. It was used in a local Wodonga business and is representative of domestic appliances used in the 1950s. It also has national significance as it is an excellent example of good produced by the manufacturing industry in Australia during that period.Model 30 Airzone Vacuum Cleaner and accessories. Manufactured in AustraliaMetal logo for Airzone including engine specificationsdomestic appliances, standard telephones and cables pty ltd

Metal box with hinged lid containing Morse code equipment – batteries, bell, transmission key. Remains of webbing carry straps on back (see photo). This item has been modified from the original design. The item has a battery box located behind the Morse key but the original battery has been replaced by two rectangular 1.5 V batteries which were placed in the shelf below the Morse key. That shelf was initially intended to store the audio telephone hand piece which is no longer with the device. Hence, the final use of the item was as a Morse key only.Stencilled on outside lid (see photo): TELE SET D M (3 or 4 other indecipherable faint letters/numbers; likely "D. MK V." with star) YA. 6371 Inside (on movable frame, for holding hand piece): PRESS KEY WHEN FINISHED Stamped into metal lid of battery box (behind Morse key): PX SERIAL NO. (no actual serial no. stamped on lid)

1. Metal cased field phone. it has a bell, 2 line terminals, a battery compartment, a morse key and a 2 knob buzzer assembly. Coming out from inside is a Bakelite earpiece. On a lead on the lid a field modification has been made to support the handset (2) externally. I rear holding strap is missing. 2. Black Bakelite hand piece, press to talk switch and a heavy duty 4 pin plug.Stamped inside is “1668”, Stamped “serial 25969”ww2, signals, telephones

This photograph was one of ten photographs donated to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village by Fred Trewartha. Frederick John Fox Trewartha (Fred) was a well-known Warrnambool businessman. He was born in Beeac near Geelong in 1920 and came to Warrnambool with his family as a very young child. He was apprenticed to his father John, as a saddler and later opened his own shop on Raglan Parade. He then moved into working with tarpaulins and canvases for the trucking industry. Fred was keenly interested in photography (and was a member of the Warrnambool Cine Club), yachting and boat building. He kept his yacht moored at Port Fairy for many years and participated in sailing events locally and interstate. He also built boats with his sons. He had the opportunity to meet many older sailors and it's thought this photo (and others in the set) may have been given to him by one of these men. Fred Trewartha died in 2016 in Warrnambool. The S.S. Casino was a passenger and freight steamer built in Dundee, Scotland, in 1882 for the Newcastle and Hunter River Steam Navigation Company of N.S.W. She weighed 425 tons gross with a length of 160.4 feet, beam of 24.1 feet and a depth of 10.2 feet. She had saloon accommodation for 35 people, a fore cabin for 25 more people, and she carried 300 tons of cargo. While on her delivery journey on May 30th 1882, the S.S. Casino called in at the Port of Warrnambool for coal, narrowly escaping going ashore in gale force winds due to the quick action of the pilot. At that time, still at anchor, she impressed the directors of the Belfast and Koroit Steam Navigation Company so much that they bought her immediately; she was ideal for trade along the West Coast of Victoria. (The Belfast and Koroit Steam Navigation Company was first managed by Messers. Saltau and Osburne and after the passing of Mr. Osburne, by produce merchants Messers H. Sautau and Sons, who had a hay and corn store and shipping agency on the corner of Liebig and Koroit Streets in Warrnambool. ) The S.S. Casino became “the most famous steamer to operate in Victorian waters along the West Coast” by author Jack Loney. Captain Boyd was her first Master, followed by Captain Chapman, who stayed with her from 1890 until 1924. Captain W. Robertson followed for a short term, and then Captain Middleton then took command from 1925 - 1932. An article published on Monday 11th June 1932 in The Sun News Pictorial (Melbourne) giving a detailed history of S. S. Casino said "owned by Port Fairy interests, she was an integral part of the town's development ... for a long time, her arrival in Port Fairy was an event, the townspeople going down to the wharf to see her come in". It also said "Except when the weather was bad, the Casino hugged the coast on her trips and passengers obtained wonderful views of the sandstone terraces and caves. A little time ago every member of her regular crew except one, was a Scotsman." This particular photograph of the S.S. Casino shows it decorated with numerous flags in "holiday rigging". During the years between 1884 and 1915, the Casino would take locals and holiday makers on excursions around the Port Fairy Bay. Local towns such as Terang, Penshurst and Mortlake held their Picnic Days in Port Fairy and excursions on the Casino would be available for them and in 1906 Terang and District Schools held an excursion to Port Fairy (where the Casino was organised to provide a series of trips around the Bay.) In 1916 new regulations introduced by the Marine Board requiring the Casino to carry enough lifebelts for every passenger on board, prevented the steamer from making trips around the Bay on excursion days. The S.S. Casino had several mishaps during her life. One was on 3rd January 1898 when she collided with the S.S. Flinders in Apollo Bay with minor damage. Another was on 24th October 1924 when she grounded on a reef at Point Hawdon near Grey River and most of her cargo (of Christmas goods) had to be dumped into the sea. Then in February 1929 she was ‘holed’ when she struck a submerged object as she entered Lady Bay, Warrnambool. In the years following the turn of the century, the S.S. Casino remained the only regular trader with normal passenger accommodation along the West Coast. From 1882 she had made at least 2,500 voyages on the one run. On the morning of 10th July 1932, after attempting to berth at Apollo Bay jetty in heavy seas, Captain Middleton decided to take her out into the bay and wait until the seas abated. It was not realised that the anchor used to steady her as she manoeuvred to her berth had pierced her hull. She put about and headed for the beach but sank. Captain Middleton and nine others lost their lives; nine people were rescued including the two female passengers. Captain Middleton had been in charge of the S.S. Casino for seven years. He was the first ship’s Master to lose his life in a shipwreck in the West Coast trade. In June 1932, the directors of the Belfast and Koroit Steam Navigation Company had proposed to celebrate the completion of fifty years of trading by the steamer Casino in August, but tragically the Casino was wrecked only one month later (and "was only one month off completing its fifty years of valuable service between Melbourne and Portland.") Flagstaff Hill’s collection has a photograph of a portrait of Captain Chapman, a ship model of the S.S. Casino that shows both forms of power under which she sailed, steam and sail. The ship is painted green and flies three flags. The inscription across the case of the ship model, incorrectly dated, tells the sad story of the wreck of the ship and the loss of lives on July 10th 1932 at Apollo Bay. A print in the Collection shows S.S. Casino underway in the heavy sea off Point Lonsdale, another two photographs show her at the Port of Warrnambool, leaving from the Breakwater in Lady Bay and another identifies the S.S. Casino as a ship from the Belfast and Koroit Steam Navigation Company. (Belfast is the original name for the township of Port Fairy).This photograph is significant because of its association with the coastal trader S.S. Casino and its significance to trade along Victoria's West Coast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The wreck of the S.S. Casino is considered an important part of Victorian and Australian cultural heritage and as such has been declared and protected as an Historic Shipwreck under State and Commonwealth Law in the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act (1976).A black and white photograph showing a small steamer with decorative flags on both masts, coming into up a river towards a pier where a small crowd is waiting. The pier on the left of the photograph has several buildings and a bell on it. Three small boats are tied up to the dock. Low lying land with several buildings scattered on it can be seen on the right hand side. On the back of the photograph are handwritten labels. One is printed in dark blue ink and one is written in cursive writing in biro. There is also the number 6944 stamped in the centre of the photograph.Back - Donors name, address and telephone number 6944 "CASINO IN HOLIDAY RIG" "at Port Fairy"flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, warrnambool, great ocean road, shipwreck coast, s. s. casino, steamer casino, casino, port fairy, captain chapman, belfast and koroit steam navigation company, saltau and osburne, captain middleton, apollo bay, apollo bay shipwreck, lady bay

Used to communicate with the local telephone exchange and for connection to other subscribers. The introduction of automatic exchanges saw the their demise. This phone was used in the family home of the donor at Caboolture (aboriginal for carpet snake) during the 1940s and 1950s.A magneto telephone for communication with a manual telephone exchange. The handle on the right hand side, which was turned to rotate the magneto to call the exchange - ask operator for a number and then to be connected. Telephone enclosed in a specially designed box for mounting on the wall. There was a bell on top which rang when the magneto ringer at the exchange was turned. Fitted with a carbon microphone mounted on the front of the box for the transmission of the spoken word and an electro- magnet. A receiver which hangs on the left hand side on a hook. The hook acts as the on and off switch to answer the call and to switch on the battery to provide power for the receiver and energize the transmitter. There is an angled ledge for writing any messages. There is no battery. The circuit for the phone is on the inside of the door to the interior of the phone. pHone is type CDA116 - PMG Registered - Ericsson.communication, telephonic