Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

Party Line Wall Phone 1930s

Subcollections
Communications Gallery - Centenary of Royal Australian Corps of Signals
Overview

Postmaster-General supplied wall phone for rural party-line. Funding shortages and production issues saw the local reworking of components of returned telephones for subsequent re-issue during the 1930s.

Historical information

The party line (multiparty line, shared service line, party wire) is a local loop telephone circuit that is shared by multiple telephone service subscribers.
Party line systems were widely used to provide telephone service, starting with the first commercial switchboards in 1878. The service was common in sparsely populated areas where subscribers were spread across large distances. In Australia party-lines were operated by the Government Postmaster General's Department. In rural areas in the early 20th century, additional subscribers and telephones, often numbering several dozen, were frequently connected to the single loop available.
Party lines provided no privacy in communication. They were frequently used as a source of entertainment and gossip, as well as a means of quickly alerting entire neighbourhoods of emergencies such as fires, becoming a cultural fixture of rural areas for many decades.

Details

Details

Registration number
cwa-org-32-54-496
Contextual Information

This telephone is located in the Communications Gallery commissioned by the Australian Army Museum of Western Australia as part of the Centenary commemorations of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals. Communication devices used by the Australian Army also are presented in their operational context throughout the Museum.

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

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Wall phone

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