Thread: When we didn't have Comm. Satellites what did we have?

Pretty well covered above. Prior to 1872 communications with the rest of the world (and within Australia, pretty much, was by letter, carried by ship, or within Australia by horse, coach, river steamer, or later railway). From 1872 direct telegrams were possible from all capital cities to most parts of the world.

Telegrams became available within much of Australia from the 1850s, and remained the long distance instant messaging system of choice into the 1950s. They were supplemented by telex from the 1920s. Telephones came to Australia around 1900, but were primarily local services only until the 1920s when long distance (trunk) calls became possible, but expensive. Few homes had telephones until after WW2.

Overseas telephone calls became possible (using HF radio) in the 1920s, but were hugely expensive, poor quality and had to be booked in advance.

In the 1960s direct dialling of long distance calls became possible, at least for some people, and I think the last manual phone exchange was closed in 1973(?), although I can remember having to book long distance calls from Surat in Qld in 1978.

As noted above, voice capable cables were introduced from the 1960s, and good quality overseas calls became possible, if expensive. From the 1970s, cheaper long distance phone calls and the proliferation of home phones led rapidly to the eclipse of telegrams, and they died altogether by the 1990s.

Satellite communications meant affordable overseas phone calls from the 1990s, around the same time as the internet came to Australia, helped by the fibre optic cables being laid which rapidly replaced satellites for both telecommunications and internet.

Thanks, I think the 1973 must have been the exchange here!