Members of the Postmaster General's Department, Queensland, 1900. Collection of the National Archives of Australia. Left to right, W H Whale, E P Scott, H Nelson, S A Thorn, F B Jefferies, F Walker, J W Palmer, P Gourgard, Mrs Dick, F Watson, S H Smith, J R Bradford, John Hesketh, J Power, G Matthews, F Reisz, J W Sutton, J Lawton. 

In 1896 John Hesketh (1868-1917) became Chief Electrical Engineer for the Queensland Post and Telegraph Department. He was the first British Post Office engineer to be recruited to an Australian Post Office. In Queensland he laid the way for several reforms including the adoption of underground metallic wires (by 1910 practically all city-lines were running underground), the provision of standard telephones and the setting of telephone rates. In 1901 he was nominated as the Queensland delegate for the Departmental Electrical Committee which reported on the communication system in the newly established federal government. Through an inspection of the Brisbane telephone system he concluded that Queensland’s telecommunications system was the best within Australia and therefore did not require major reforms. Five years later Hesketh became Chief Electrical Engineer of the Commonwealth Government’s Postmaster General’s Department and in this function he supported the idea of automatic switching and started to set up automatic exchanges for the Australian capital city networks. This was a bold decision. At this time only two large networks in the world had an automatic exchange - Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Collection of the National Archives of Australia

Electoral Districts of East & West Moreton, Northern, Western & Eastern Downs, Queensland

QLD
Australia
1 January 1865

Location

QLD
Australia
Brisbane
Office of the Surveyor General, Queensland
16 miles to 1 inch
Electoral Districts of East & West Moreton, Northern, Western & Eastern Downs, Queensland from Office of the Surveyor General, Queensland, 'Atlas of the Colony of Queensland, Australia', Brisbane, Government Printing Office, 1865. Described in the Government Notice of 1 February 1866: 'EAST and WEST MORETON, and the EASTERN, WESTERN, and NORTHERN DOWNS, with portion of the LEICHHARDT and WIDE BAY DISTRICTS. Showing Towns, Railways, Electric Telegraph Lines, Principal Bush Roads and Tracks, Rivers, Creeks, Ranges, Agricultural and Village Reserves, Boundaries of Surveyed Areas, Principal Squatting Stations, &c., &c, with more than 200 miles of Coast ; also Bays, Ports, Islands, &c., according to the most recent Surveys. Scale, 16 miles to 1 inch ; size, 27 inches by 20 inches. Printed on fine paper, and colored. Price, 2s. per copy.'

General Map of Queensland, showing Districts proclaimed as Electorates, &c.

QLD
Australia
1 January 1866

Location

QLD
Australia
Brisbane
Government Printing Office
85 miles to 1 inch

General Map of Queensland, showing Districts proclaimed as Electorates, &c. from Office of the Surveyor General, Queensland, 'Atlas of the Colony of Queensland, Australia', Brisbane, Government Printing Office, 1865. Described in the Government Notice of 1 February 1866: 'SKETCH MAP OF THE COLONY OF QUEENSLAND. Showing Electoral and Pastoral Districts, Telegraph Lines, Postal Routes, &c, &c., &c. ; colored. Price, 2s.'

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