Postmaster-General's Department
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The Postmaster-General's Department (PMG) was created at Federation in 1901 to control all postal (and later, telecommunications) services within Australia. In mid-1975 it was disaggregated into the Australian Telecommunications Commission (trading as Telecom Australia) and the Australian Postal Commission (trading as Australia Post). It also controlled radio and television broadcast licensing, which is now controlled by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
[edit] Early History (telephony)
The earliest telephone exchanges in Australia date back to 1880. All phone calls were manually switched by human operators. The Melbourne exchange opened with just 44 customers.
The first automatic exchange did not open until 1912, featuring electromechanical switching equipment. So-called "cross-bar" systems started appearing in 1960. Electronic switching began in the late 1970s.
The Victorian Telecommunications Museum houses examples of old technology used since the PMG's inception.
[edit] Reference
"Switching Tomorrow", issued by the HQ Information and Publicity office of Telecom Australia, 1979.
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Current and former telecommunications and postal organisations of the Commonwealth Government |  |
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Postmaster-General's Department | Overseas Telecommunications Commission | Australian and Overseas Telecommunications Corporation | Telstra Telecom Australia (official names: ATC (commission) | ATC (corporation)) Australia Post (official names: APC (commission) | APC (corporation)) |
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