"This item was found in a suitcase of rubbish along Axe Creek Road, Longlea, in the mid 1970s. It has been stored in my photo album ever since. Code's had a property along Axe Creek/McIvor Highway and there is a Code's Lane there now. Anecdotal, and possibly quite untrue, they had a vineyard and were wiped out by phylloxera." ( Rodney Edwards, donor, 26th August 2024) One page document, parchment colour. Written across of document 'Borough of Raywood". Letter signed by Jacob Philip Balk Mayor, November 13th. 1888, outlining the employment details for Frederick George Code as 'the Officer of Herdsman of the Raywood Borough and Common at a nominal salary of one pound per annum and a commission of eighty per cent on fees received'. Handwritten on back of document: 'Bendigo Jam Factory 1902, January 11th. (indecipherable) lot Plums ten cases 2 ct 2 gr @ 40/-, 5.'frederick code, raywood pound, raywood common, axe creek, axedale, axedale pound

The set consisted of a key battery and buzzer it was used for training potential radio operators in the Morse code. It was manufactured by blue point in the 1950s. The company was founded in the Sydney suburb of Erksville in 1936 by a German immigrant, Frederick Boyd Dirks who named his company F Dirks. The company produced Bakelite products such as ashtrays single strip heaters, and Morse key components, In 1946 the company named was changed to Blue Point products Pty Ltd. The name was inspired by the name “Blau Punkt” a German electrical supplier. in 1973 the company was purchased by Gerard Industries which was known for its line o Clipsal products, An item made in Australia for training purposes of new radio operators and is significant in that it is part of Australia's social history and shows the development of Australian electrical manufacturing. Australian blue point telegraph practice /training set XX20A circa 1950 Bakelite, stamped XX20A under, three terminals - two marked "+" and "-".flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village

This tape is from the first telegram ever sent in Western Australia. This important event occurred on 21 June 1869. At this time the transmitted message was received on paper tape and later transcribed onto a telegram form for delivery. The original tape was presented to the Honourable Frederick Palgrave Barlee, Colonial Secretary of Western Australia, as a souvenir. "FPB" appears on an engraved shield on the lid. James Coats Fleming, the first telegraphist and later Superintendent of Telegraphs, sent the telegram. During 1875, Colonial Secretary Barlee transferred from Perth to Belize and then to Trinidad where he died in 1884. The fate of the case and spool, souvenir of that first telegram, was unknown. In July 1940, the WA Agent-General in London advised the Premier's Department in Western Australia that a Mrs EW Hillyer of Hertfordshire had the spool and case and was willing to sell it for ten guineas ($21). The Postmaster General's Department agree to the purchase and it duly arrived by registered mail. As a communications museum was planned in Melbourne, it was sent there to be included in the collection. Nothing more was heard until early 1980s when the relic arrived at the Post and Telecommunication museum in Perth. The case had been found in an old Melbourne strongroom where it had apparently been placed for safe-keeping and then forgotten. Initial attempts to decode the message on the tape were unsuccessful. Eventually, it was discovered that the Western Australian Telegraph Company, responsible for that first transmission, had devised its own code. A copy was obtained from the Battye Library and the message deciphered.This Morse tape is of historic significance as the first telegram ever sent in Western Australia. The occasion was momentous as the transition point between isolation and ease of connection for business and personal communications. The case is of aesthetic interest for the craftsmanship involved in the engraved text. Further, the tape has research potential owing to the unique information contained within this tape; that is, the code of the Western Australian Telegraph Company. This tape, may in turn be used to decode further messages sent by the Western Australian Telegraph Company. As the first telegraph message sent in Western Australia, this tape is rare. Despite a tumultuous journey from 1869 to the early 1980s, the tape's ceremonial wooden case provides provenance information which supports the tape's historic importance.Small wooden case (.1) holding a length of morse tape (.2) which was the first telegram ever sent in Western Australia . Wound onto a mother of pearl reel (.3). Accompanying signs and decoded message (.4,.5)..1 engraved on a metal shield shaped plaque on the lid: "WESTERN AUSTRALIAN / TELEGRAPHS / FPB" Inside: 'TRANSLATION OF REGISTER / TO THE CHAIRMAN OF FREMANTLE TOWN TRUST / His Excellency Colonel Bruce heartily congratulates the / inhabitants of Fremantle on this annihilation of distance / between the Port and the Capital, and he requests that this, / the first message, may be made publicly known. / GOVERNMENT HOUSE, / PERTH, June 21, 1869 / Transmitted 11 am / J.C.F."|.2: "Instrument Register / of the First / Telegraphic Message / in / Western Australia"|.3: "The first Telegraph Pole / in / WESTERN AUSTRALIA / was erected by / The Hon. Frederick P. Barlee / Colonial Secretary / on 19th Febr. 1869"telegram, commemorative item, morse inker, morse tape, morse code, code, postmaster-general's department