The Universal Acoustic Coupler was made and would have been used to connect a telephone to dial a computer remotely. The control panel is under the wooden flap. There is a power switch, full duplex switch, 500 Ma Fuse, CCITT Port. When not in use it can be folded up into a small timber carry case with handle.Wooden box with two sections that open. Top section hinged and folds back. inside are controls and cables for connecting to a computer. Instructions for use are on the lid. Front section has clips and folds down to a phone to placed in "speakers". English maker's plate and Melbourne supplier's plate with A.P.O. Permit No. C74/8/903 Serial No. 775326 moore reed, universal acoustic coupler, telephone, remote connection, computer connection

These reading glasses plus the two additional replacement lenses were highly fashionable in the late 1800's and early 1900's due to their light frames ie. wire. They are of light material and are not as obtrusive, or heavy, as horn rimmed reading glasses.This minimisation of the eye wear was to allow the facial features to be presented without any obstructing eye wear, "au naturel". The "light weight" wire connections to nose and ears was to minimise weight upon those physical areas. It was an eye piece preferred by accountants and all forms of "book worms". This was a period when the "written word" was at its peak. This was well before the light enhanced computer screen and at an age where the "written word" was in the majority as compared to the typed word. These reading glasses are very significant to the Kiewa Valley as they provide additional material which supports the "isolational factors" which were prevalent in the 1800's and early 1900's. Poor lighting and lack of available optical technicians in rural areas, required those suffering with eye troubles in these rural areas to go to Melbourne. An advertisement placed by H B Bissel "eyesight specialist" in the "Independent" Newspaper in 1915 on page 3 " Every person's eyes are liable to be affected by some little weakness or other and these weaknesses, if not corrected at once, are apt to assume a most serious aspect as time goes on". This type of advertisement is putting "the fear of God" on those with slight eyesight problems. It also does not factor the poor lighting used by most in rural areas at this point in time. By the mid to late 1950's, electricity in the Kiewa Valley was available to all households and improved lighting helped nighttime readers. These reading glasses, made in Melbourne, highlight the fact that the Kiewa Valley and its region were still reliant on Melbourne based "specialists" and travel to and from these highly professional health practitioners not only involved a long, and time consuming journey, but also an expensive one.The frames of this oval wire reading glasses is made from gold plated copper wire. There are three nose bridges each with a slightly different angle and shape, each has a different magnification. This may suggest that they were in use at different developmental periods during the wearers ages. Each of the three lenses were fixed onto the frame by a screw and fastened directly onto the glass. Two of the glasses have nose "guides/rests" and one without.. The fine wire ear "loops" has a small "ball" feature at its end (to stop the glasses from slipping off the face).personal effects, spectacles, eye fashion, reading glasses

The Ferranti Sirius is an electronic second-generation transistor computer and is one of three remaining examples of this machine left in the world. It was an important addition to the computing facilities at Monash University in the early 1960s and provided access for computer programming and research for many early computer professionals, academics and teachers. The Ferranti Sirius computer was built in a period of rapid growth in computing technology. The first stored program computers appeared in the late 1940s and used individual designs with valve technology. By the mid-1950s valve technology was replaced by transistors and the first mass produced commercial computers became available. The Ferranti Sirius was announced in 1959 and offered a “small” academic computer. It was designed and built by the English company Ferranti Ltd and sold through a local office of the company in Melbourne. The Sirius was manufactured at the Ferranti Ltd.’s West Gorton, England factory from 1959 to 1963 and, in all, the company produced probably 22 installations although only 16 were actually recorded as sold; this included one at Ferranti’s Bureau in London and one at Ferranti’s Melbourne Bureau. Only 7 were exported and 4 of these 7 were located in Melbourne, Australia. All four were associated with computing at Monash University – the Sirius in the MMoCH collection was purchased by Monash University in 1962, a smaller Ferranti Sirius was used on the Caulfield campus (prior to amalgamation with Monash University) from 1963, the Ferranti company had its own Ferranti Sirius initially temporarily installed at Clayton campus in 1962 and then placed in their office in Queens Road, Melbourne. A fourth computer was purchased by ICIANZ (now Orica) in 1962 and was transferred to Clayton campus in 1967. Only two of these Melbourne examples have survived; one in the MMoCH collection and one at Museums Victoria. There is an example of the Ferranti Sirius in the Science Museum Group collection in the UK as well. The Ferranti Sirius in the MMoCH collection was the first computer purchased by Monash University and it was shipped to Australia to be installed by November 1962. The University had a similar model computer on loan from Ferranti Ltd during the first part of the year and it was returned to the office of the company in Queens Road, Melbourne once the University’s own machine was installed. The computer was placed on site at Clayton campus, Monash University. The computer operated from 1962 until 1972 when it was officially decommissioned. The Ferranti Sirius was sold to Mr Paul Stewart in late 1974 and removed from Monash University. Mr Stewart later donated the computer back to the University in 1988 and it was transferred to the collection of the Monash Museum of Computing History after 2001. The Ferranti Sirius is an electronic second-generation transistor computer and is one of three remaining examples of this machine left in the world. It was an important addition to the computing facilities at Monash University in the early 1960s and provided access for computer programming and research for many early computer professionals, academics and teachers. The Ferranti Sirius is of scientific (technological) significance as one of the early transistor digital computers that transitioned computing from first-generation valve computers to second generation commercial installations. This example of the Sirius is of historical significance in its role as a part of the Computer Centre, Clayton campus, Monash University which provided computing facilities in Melbourne in the early 1960s when there were few installations available for academic, administrative and commercial users. Staff and students were able to undertake investigative research and learn programming techniques. The Computer Centre encouraged the use of the computer across all disciplines and this provided the base to establish computer science as a subject offering and, later, a new department in the University. This growth in computer education eventually culminated in the establishment of the Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University. The Ferranti Sirius in the collection at Monash Museum of Computing History has a main unit with a CPU and memory combined with input/output equipment and one extra cabinet of memory. The Central Processing Unit is a floor-standing unit which contains the computer circuits, power supplies and has a decimal digit display panel and a normal clock. A moveable control panel is placed in front of the Unit (Currently set on a recreated desk/filing cabinet support in the display). The Sirius base unit uses acoustic delay line memory with 1000 word store. An additional 3000 word memory cabinet is set adjacent to the CPU and can be connected to increase the memory. The computer is supported by a range of input/output devices. There is a Ferranti Paper tape reader, located on desk in front of CPU. Red label on front “Ferranti tape reader. Type TR 5. Serial No. 477”. Adjacent to the CPU is a set of Simplified tape editing equipment in three pieces which includes a (1) Table unit with switches on front face. Metal tag on reverse reads “Creed & Co. Model No. S4060. Serial No. 1457. Original Customers Marking GRP7 V706”. The table has a numbered internal tag “Table Serial No. 198579. (2)Creed teletype set on table unit. Metal tag on reverse “Creed & Co. Model No. 75RPR K4M4. Serial No. 5897 Made in England”. (3)Creed paper tape reader set on table unit. This set of equipment could read paper tape and print it, or copy paper tape while allowing it to be edited, or allow a programmer or data preparation person to type and punch a new program or data. It has no electrical connection to the computer. Paper tapes were usually torn off and carried across to the computer. There is also another table unit with switches on front face and changeable setting switch on front right side which holds a Ferranti Westrex paper tape punch set. Label on reverse “Teletype Code BRPE11” This was the Computer’s only output device. BRPE-11 is a teletype model number.

Along with money changing, the purchase os a SIM card is the most used service at the Mission once seafarers arrived.Communication has always been part of the Mission's services: with technology developing the service has changed from letters posting and receiving to installing phones then computers with internet connection to selling SIM cards from the 2000s, aiding seafarers to communicate with their family. go talk, mobile phone, sim card, australia, ship, seafarers, sailors, seamen, international calls, communication, welfare