Singing their songs at the Central Telegraph Office, Elizabeth St, early 1920s

Cheryl Griffin’s latest story in CBD News has hit the streets: check it out here  (scroll down to P20)

Based on a photo from the RHSV collection of a group of telegraph dispatch operators at the Central Telegraph Office at Elizabeth St, taken in the early 1920s before its removal to Post Office Place. It looks like the a contender for the ‘Worst Workplace Award’ – everything looks dark, uncomfortable, cold and gloomy – but it is a great story of a technology that transformed Australia. The first telegraph message to Melbourne brought the news of Eureka Stockade in December 1854 and the telegraph service thrived for the next 90 years before telephones started to take over in the mid-20th century. Read more by following the link