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Magneto switchboard operators, Central Manual Telephone Exchange situated at the
Brisbane General
Post Office, circa 1890
The Telephone System was introduced into Queensland in the year 1880, In August of that year the Postmaster General gave instructions that all Government Offices should be placed in telephone communication with each other through a central exchange at the Head Office.
The necessary instruments were procured and on the 8th of October 1880 five of the principal offices were given intercommunication and others were brought into the system as soon as the wires could be layed.
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First female telephonists in Queensland, who commenced at the
Brisbane telephone exchange on 5 June 1899
It was announced that the public would be allowed to participate in the benefits of the system, several applications were received from private firms for the erection of lines, the first being from messrs Quinlan Gray & Co at
Milton and this was as a matter of fact the first telephone service installed in Queensland. The instruments in use were the Edison carbon transmitter and bell, coupled with the "Bell" receiver or telephone. Edison's pole changer was used in the Exchange room for the purpose of ringing the bells of various Instruments connected with the central office. The system worked
well and gave general satisfaction and by June 1881, 36 instruments were connected to the Exchange.
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The charge for the service was 5 pound p.a. for the first mile or fraction thereof, and for distances beyond 1 mile a proportionate rate for every quarter or part of a quarter of a mile. for distances over 5miles special arrangements had to be made.
In 1889 a new Central Exchange was completed in
Brisbane and a multiplex switchboard fitted.
In 1895 the total number of subscribers reached 779,with 562 in
Brisbane showing very little progress had been made in the country.
On 30th June 1907 a total of 936 lines had been connected to Exchanges,
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Up to 1889 the attendants employed were all males but was then decided to employ females for work in the
Brisbane Central Exchange. In June 0f that year 13 female attendants and a lady supervisor took up duty, females worked from 8am to 6pm, at other times male attendants were on duty, By a re-arrangement of duties, females worked as late as 9pm, The introduction of girls to the telephone work was considered, especially for dealing with heavy traffic, and the
Brisbane Exchange was staffed by one lady supervisor, 6 monitresses, and 58 female attendants, Only 9 males were employed and they attended the night work.
A major step in the modernisation of the
Brisbane telephone system was completed at 2pm on 30th of November 1929 when Central and Paddington automatic exchanges were brought into service, the many 1000's of subscribers,
services, and miscellaneous
services were transferred from the former manual system to the new automatic exchange, at the time this was the most complicated works attempted by the P.M.G's Department of Australia.
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I have a 1925 plan of the Exchange , it is too large to add here , so I have added it to my webpage for viewing,
VIEW HERE
.