Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 24—Communications and information technology 829
Introduction
This chapter begins with an article outlining
the history of communications in Australia.
It then addresses the performance of the closely
related industries involved in communication
services and information technology, and
canvasses the use of information technology by
businesses, governments, farms and households.
History of communications in Australia
(This article was provided by Communications Research Unit, Department of Communications,
Information Technology and the Arts.)
Communications before
Federation
From the earliest days of European settlement
in Australia, communication services have been
seen as the almost exclusive responsibility of
government. For the first decades of British
governance no reliable mail service existed on
the new continent. Messages, both between the
colonies and internationally, were sent primarily
by an ad hoc system of favours and paid
messengers. It was not until 1821 that the first
regular postal service began, initially operating
only within New South Wales. Even then there
were no truly reliable postal services within the
new colonies until 1832, when Tasmania
established the first post office as a Government
Department. The other colonies quickly
followed and soon Australia’s fledgling mail
network was entirely run and regulated by
government. This began a pattern that was to
dominate the communication industry for the
next 150 years—almost complete government
control of Australia’s communications services.
The postal service within the colonies grew
quickly, thanks mainly to the gold rush of the
1850s. As people flooded into Australia in search
of fortune, sizeable townships built up where
previously there had been nothing but the
occasional squatter’s hut. The sudden increase in
population meant a need for more and better
communications networks, and post offices
began to spring up throughout the country. Soon
every major rural centre had a postmaster of its
own. These offices became an important part of
the social system, providing a link to friends and
family often many years distant. They also
provided an important link to the authorities of
the colonies, becoming the principal symbol of
civil governance in the most isolated of areas.
However, in a country as large and isolated as
Australia a communication system that relied on
horseback could only go so far. When the
telegraph first appeared in Europe in 1844, the
young country was quick to adopt the new
technology. Morse code was brought to
Australia in 1853 by Samuel McGowan, and by
1859 telegraph cables linked Melbourne,
Adelaide, Sydney and even Tasmania. By the
mid-1860s all regional centres in the south east
of the country were part of a virtually
instantaneous communications network
owned, maintained and managed by
government. The final and most significant
breakthrough was made in 1872, when Sturt’s
crossing of the Northern Territory enabled the
establishment of Australia’s first international
telecommunications system, a telegraph link to
Asia. This in turn linked Australia to the
European and American lines, and the great
southern land finally ended its isolation from
the rest of the world.
Over the next few years Australia’s dependence
on the new telecommunications industry
rapidly grew. The population quickly embraced
all new technological developments in what
would become the historical norm. In the final
years of the nineteenth century Australia sent
more telegraphs per capita than any other
nation. Telephones quickly followed the
telegraph, and in 1882 the first public telephone
exchange, based in Sydney, made personal
communication available to the average
Australian, just six years after Alexander Graham
Bell took out his patent.
The years up to WWII—from
individual communications to the
wireless
Over this period of rapid development the
Australian Government had been careful to
retain control over the development of the new
systems. Adequate communication services