Phone Museum

Lots of photos and I hope you enjoy the memories. 

A new museum opened in Hawthorn, a local area known as Glenferrie. There used to be one at the old Richmond Post Office.

It took me about half an hour of searching to find who owns this. It is still not clear to me who owns the site.

Charity Size:

Small

Who the charity helps:

• Adults - aged 65 and over
• Children - aged 6 to under 15
• Youth - 15 to under 25

Date established:

26 April 2018

Last reported:

20 December 2023

Next report due:

31 January 2025

Financial year end:

30/06

Summary of activities

We operate museums in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, which maintain heritage telecommunications of national significance. We provide programs and educational tours for schools as well as the general public in the area of telecommunications.

It is called the National Communication Museum and is appropriately located in an old telephone exchange (putting you through now caller).  

I certainly remember these public phones. Earlier phones had you rolling a coin into a slot. Press button A to load your coin to speak. Press button B to retrieve your coin if your call did not connect. I recall button B made a kind of buzz noise as it returned your non existent coin. Is below a typewriter with circular typing keys?

We had an Ericofon. You had to be careful when on a call and you put the phone down, as sitting it upright would cut the call. 

This phone was a bit of fun.

An inert phone exchange board.

A very active phone exchange board whereby you plug in cords and operate switches that made many different noises. 

Oh yes. I was more attractive in the 1990s and I remember sending naughty photos using one of these web cams. 

It doesn't seem so long ago.

This does. They keys were fairly light touch.

A proper Post Master General phone box.

They were soundproofed and the interior painting was I guess to deter graffiti. 

James, each person must weigh 79kg. 

The building was nice enough but across the road was the old Post and Telegraph Office. 

A very nice building. 

This was rather trippy to enter.

A Marconi cypher machine. 

A code breaker, I think.

I was there and it was wonderful to see the internet bloom, though so frustrating at times. Apparently one of these computers makes the internet phone lone connection sound, but the area was so busy, I couldn't find out which one. 

I remember this phone style but they were rare.

Ohh, some of these look very familiar.

I was once an avid fan of phone banking, and paying bills by phone was so simple.

An old candlestick phone so often seen in mid twentieth century American films.

The entry fee wasn't cheap, at something like $25 but an annual pass was a bargain and I rather wish I'd bought to revisit.

I filmed some short videos. The first is surveillance cameras, with Big Brother watching you.

The second is, would you believe, is a talking clock machine. "At the third stroke, it will be 5.02 am and ten seconds."

The third is a creepy robot lady I was a little scared of. She did not seem aware of people as obstacles, so people stepped out of the way. Had they not, maybe she would have diverted around them.