1983

Under Bondi Beach lay a series of cables which helped connect Bondi to the rest of the world. The ANZCAM system was one of the world's largest telecommunications projects at the time with a cost of $400 million. In 1983, the beach at the southern end of Bondi was dug up with the cable being hauled up through the sand and then joined to an underground cable running from the Overseas Telecommunications Commission building in Paddington. The ANZCAM cable carried 1,380 simultaneous telephone calls replacing the 20 year old COMPAC cable that could only carry 60 simultaneous telephone calls. The ANZCAM cable was Australia's main terrestrial link with Europe. From Canada calls went by another cable to Britain and then on by microwave across Europe. Australia produced most of the required equipment and financed half the cost of the project.

Images courtesy the Waverley Library Local Studies Collection.