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1920 - 1949
2000 - Present
The telephone had as big an impact on the 20th century as the Industrial Revolution had on the 19th century. It changed the way we live, work and play--and contributed to the invention of television, computers, pagers, fax machines, e-mail, the Internet, online stock trading and more. In the next decade we can expect wireless Internet connections in your car or briefcase, phone numbers you keep for life and voice activated dialing at the touch of a button at home, work, or on the go.
1920Postmaster Generals Department takes back control of wireless from the Navy.
1922The Australian Government grants AWA exclusive rights to operate the Coastal radio Service with a 49% shareholding
1922The Sydney-Brisbane telephone trunk line opens following the introduction of thermionic repeaters.
1923The first Australian radio broadcasting stations, 2BL and 2FC, open in Sydney. The conversion is made from Morse to machine operation on main telegraph routes.
1925Australia's first telephone carrier system (with three channels) is installed between Melbourne and Sydney enabling one wire to carry more than one conversation.
1930The Australia-UK beam wireless service starts and a year later international manual exchanges open in various Australian States.
1934 The first wireless beam picturegram service opens between England and Australia.
1936 A submarine cable is laid between Tasmania and mainland Australia, and at this time it is the longest in the world.
1946 The Australian Government passes and act of Passes an act establishing the Overseas Telecommunications commission and buys back the radio service from AWA.
1946 The Commonwealth Government establishes the Overseas Telecommunications Commission which becomes a monopoly provider of all forms of telecommunications linking Australia and the rest of the world.
1948 A telephone service to ships at sea is established and the same year a direct radio telephone service links Australia and the Antarctic expedition stations at Heard Island and Macquarie Isla
1890 - 1919
2000 BigPond introduces ADSL, which is to become the most popular broadband service in the country.
2000 Optical fibres are installed into the domestic network. High Definition TV (HDTV) and multi-media equipment become cost-effective for domestic use.
2004 BigPond Movies and BigPond Music are launched.
2004 Broadband becomes available at dial-up prices enabling wider consumer access.
2004 Telstra launches an Australian first with its Talking Text messaging to fixed lines.
2006 Australia's first online movies download service launches in February.
2006 In September of this year 3G850 Wireless Network is rolled out across Australia.
2006 Telstra's Next G™ network is launched in October providing the world's fastest 3G mobile network.
2007 Telstra launches its Next IP™ network - the largest fully integrated wireline and wireless national Internet Protocol (IP) network in the world
1980 -1999
1907 The Sydney-Melbourne trunk telephone line opens.
1911The Postmaster General’s department
appoints J G Balsillie engineer for wireless telegraphy to build the coastal wireless service.
1911Balsillie contracts the Shaw Wireless Works at Randwick to construct his apparatus.
1912The 1st of 19 coastal wireless station opens in Melbourne.
1912 The first public automated exchange is introduced in Geelong, Victoria.
1912 Automated telephone switching came into place.
1914 The first automatic exchange opens in New South Wales, in the suburb of Newtown.
1914 Edouard Belin establishes the concept for remote fax photo/news reporting.
1916 During WW1 the Department of the Navy takes control of wireless from the PMG.
1893 The first public telephone is opened at Sydney GPO.
1898 The Overland Telegraph Line, also known as the Magic Chain, is made from a single strand of iron wire. A second copper wire is added to the telegraphic connection with Europe and it remains a vital link for decades.
1900 30,000 telephone services are operating in Australia.
1901 The newly formed Commonwealth Government takes over all phone, telegraph and postal services.
1902 Dr Arthur Korn invents and improves a practical facsimile machine: the photoelectric system.
1905The parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia passes the wireless telegraphy act giving control of all wireless to the Postmaster General’s department.
2008 Telstra Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Hugh Bradlow demonstrates the first hologram transmission beamed live from Melbourne to Adelaide.
2008
In April, Telstra's CDMA network is switched off after extensively drive testing proves the Next G™ network offers equal or superior coverage throughout Australia.
2008
A new international submarine cable from Sydney to Hawaii goes live in October. The 9,120-kilometre-long cable is capable of carrying up to 1.28 Terabits of data traffic per second.
2009
Telstra removes the beeps heard at the start of national long distance Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) calls. The STD beeps were first introduced in Australia in 1956, and Telstra was the last carrier in the world to retain these.
2009
Telstra launches the Mobile Exchange on Wheels (MEOW), a portable, fully-functional telephone exchange designed to provide communications to disaster areas.
2009
n August, Telstra and Nortel successfully complete world-first trials of next generation 100Gbps and 40Gbps transmission over the longest distance ever attempted.
2009
In December of this year, Telstra announces completion of Arnhem Land Fibre Project, connecting nine Indigenous communities and the township of Nhulunbuy to high-speed broadband and other advanced communications services.
2009
Telstra launches Australia's fastest cable broadband network with the completion of an upgrade of the hybrid fibre coaxial broadband in Melbourne
2010
Launch of Telstra Emergency Communications Kits (TECK). TECKs are small, portable wireless communications units providing immediate voice, data and broadband services to disaster-affected communities over Telstra's Next G™ network.
2010
In February, Telstra completes the upgrade of the Next G™ HSPA+ network with Dual Carrier technology.
2010
In March, Telstra launches the Satellite cell on Wheels, a highly portable mobile base station for use in areas without any infrastructure that uses satellite transmission to connect to Telstra's terrestrial network and provide Next G™ network coverage to the surrounding area
2010
Telstra T-Hub™ a new generation of home phone that works like a mobile phone by combining the features of telephony, information and entertainment becomes available in stores in April.
1990 Phonecards are introduced with cards available in $2, $5, $10 and $20 denominations.
1992 On February 1st, Telecom and the Overseas Telecommunications Corporation (OTC) are merged to become the Australian and Overseas Telecommunications Corporation.
1993 Telecom changes its trading name for trading overseas to Telstra Corporation Limited in April.
1993 The last mail-delivered lettergram was sent in Melbourne by Australia Post on 1st October at 5pm EST.
1995 On 1st July 1995 Telecom changes it's trading name to Telstra for domestic trading.
1996 High speed broadband is available to the public through Telstra's Cable service.
1996 Telstra launches BigPond (internet provider service) in November.
1997 The first Telstra shares are sold to the Australian public by the Commonwealth, Telstra is listed on the Australian stock exchange for the first time.
1999Telstra launches the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) mobile network.
1980 The internet makes its appearance: an electronic code that enables computers across the world to communicate with each other via a phone line.
1981 The first fully computerised telephone exchange opens in Victoria.
1981Telecom launches the country's first mobile network – the Public Automatic Mobile Telephone System (PAMTS) – and car phone, a significant development in communication for travelling workers.
1983 The conference phone is introduced to the public, a phone that can store numbers, have abbreviated dialling and call-back facilities.
1985 Computerised customer billing starts.
1987 Cardphone payphones which accept major credit cards are introduced.
1988 The Electronic White Pages are introduced to provide direct access to a constantly updated national White Pages database.
1989 The first data network phase of the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) launches.
1830 -1889
1950 - 1979
1869 The first successful submarine telegraphic cable linking Tasmania to the mainland is laid.
1872 The 2000 mile Overland Telegraphic Cable line is completed under the direction of South Australian Post-Master General Charles Todd. At Darwin it later connects with a submarine cable in Java, putting Australia in touch with the rest of the world.
1876 At the age of 29 Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.
1877 The Perth-Adelaide telegraph line opens. South Australia becomes the first Australian colony to join the International Telegraph Union later to become the Telecommunication Union.
1878 Following the invention of the telephone, several long-distance transmission experiments are successfully conducted in Australia, at distances of up to 400 km.
1880 Only two years after the first exchange in the world is built, Australia's first telephone exchanges open in Melbourne and Brisbane, followed by Sydney in 1881.
1883 Exchanges open in Adelaide and Hobart, the Perth exchange opens in 1887.
1830 Joseph Henry constructs the first long distance telegraphic device, by sending electronic currents across over a mile of wire, subsequently activating an electromagnet, causing a bell to ring.
1835 Samuel Morse builds the first American telegraph (which is also being developed independently in Europe).
1837Samuel Morse patents a working telegraph machine, using a dots and spaces code in place of the letters of the alphabet.
1838 Samuel Morse successfully sends up to 10 words per minute through his new system.
1842Alexander Bain invents the first facsimile machine, capable of receiving signals from a telegraph wire and translating them into images on paper. He uses a clock mechanism to transfer an image from one sheet of electrically conductive paper to another.
1850 Samuel Morse and his assistant evolve the simple code of dots and dashes, now internationally known as 'Morse code'.
1858 The first inter-colony telegraph links are built between Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. Three years later, Brisbane is linked with Sydney.
1861 The Sydney-Brisbane telegraph line is inaugurate
1969 NASA's moon landing is seen on Australian television through joint participation of OverseasTelecommunications Commission and the PMG.
1970 Transistors enable most coaxial cable equipment to be placed in small underground containers, accessible through a manhole.
1970 Optical fibres are commercially produced for the first time.
1974 Videotex links three already well-established technologies of television, computer and telephone into a new tool, an interactive system that includes the possibility of purchasing goods, booking travel, sending messages and transferring money at the touch of a button.
1975 On 12 June, the Australian Telecommunications
Commission was established, trading as Telecom Australia - separating the Australian Postal Commission and the Australian Telecommunications Commission.
1976 Automated direct dialing is introduced in Australia, giving access to 13 countries. Its popularity is such that by the end of the decade its use has grown eightfold. This international dialing is now called IDD and has universal acceptance.
1977 $222 million is spent on telecommunications materials in this year alone.
1978 Push button dialing is introduced to Australia.
1979 The first major solar powered trunk system in the world opens between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek.
1952 Temporary services are established between Australia and Finland for the duration of the Helsinki Olympic Games. Permanent services are to follow.
1953 Perth becomes the first capital city to have an all automatic telephone network. By 1957, 98% of telephones in capital cities are automatic.
1954 Australia's first teleprinter exchange service opens in Melbourne and Sydney with 80 customers.
1956 The Melbourne Olympic Games proves a starting point for all forms of telecommunications growth in Australia with the Overseas Telecommunications Commission developing many resources and facilities to cater for the unprecedented demand. A new radio telephone exchange is established linking Perth to London.
1959 Growing telegram traffic makes the APO apply a message switching system called Teleprinter Reperforator Exchange Switching System (TRESS). It was an innovation which hastened the end of morse telegraphy.
1964 Australia becomes a founding member of International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (INTELSAT).
1964 The first major installation of coaxial cable opens and links Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. It has a potential capacity of thousands of simultaneous phone calls, with the added possibility of relaying television programs.
1966 The telex service is converted to fully automatic. It is linked to 100 overseas countries and about 4000 customers throughout Australia.
1966 The first international satellite broadcast between Australia and the UK takes place.
1967 First direct satellite broadcast from North America to Australia. Australia is one of the first 22 countries to participate in a world-wide live television link-up via satellite during the 'Our World' program.