Welcome to the Queensland Telecommunications Museum.
About us
The Postal-Telecommunication Historical Society of Queensland Inc was formed in 1952, by a group of Post Office Volunteers dedicated to the preservation of artifacts photographs records and equipment.Throughout these years many donations of memorabilia have been given to the society for safe keeping so that future generations can be sufficiently informed about the history of this vital utility in the development of the state of Queensland.
L to R. Back row: Leo Maloney, Mike Pitman, Greg Curtis-Flynn, John Campling, Anthony Mitchell, Wilfred Claydon, Roland Clark.
Front row: Ronald Tew, Don Wellings, Kevin Oliver.
Committee
| PRESIDENT | Don Wellings |
| VICE PRESIDENT | John Rostron |
| SECRETARY | Mike Pitman |
| TREASURER | Ronald Tew |
| COMMITTEE MEMBERS | Geoff Battersby Leo Maloney |
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The Keith Switch.
Named after Alexander Keith, the engineer who designed it in 1891, this was the first automatic telephone exchange equipment built by Almon Strowger and manufactured by the Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange Co, Chicago.This Uni/Final selector rack was part of the City North Exchange, a 12,000 line exchange servicing Sydney’s inner-city area from 1921 to 1974. In 1974 the customers were cutover to the new Pitt Exchange nearby.
The equipment is the same as what was installed in Australia’s first public automatic telephone exchange installed at Geelong, Victoria in 1912. After it was decommissioned, the “Keith” was packed into a wooden crate and shipped to Nambour Telephone Exchange in Qld. After sitting in Nambour for many years it was discovered by a member of the Brisbane Museum and shipped to Albion, where it sat in a shed for a number of years.
Restoration work began in 2017 with some switches loaned from the Sydney museum, and after two years of volunteer effort, a few adjustments, and some 'oil and dag' it has been brought back to life.
Photo on the left are:
John Campling, and on the right is Leo Molonie.
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So far we have used it for nursing homes, a public library's heritage group, Salvation Army Women's League and the Scouts JOTA. We have more visits booked.
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