1912

It is a little known fact that Bondi Beach was a major telecommunications portal for Australia. In 1912, the twin screw cable steamer Silverton belonged to the India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Company Ltd and came out from England to complete the task of laying 1,400 miles of cable stored on board. The cost of the work was approximately 250,000 pounds. Upon arrival in Bondi Bay and with a southerly wind and the swell, the job of bringing the cable into the beach from the ship was quite a challenge. The cable was attached to ropes and suspended by buoys to assist in bringing it to shore. Smaller boats brought the cable close to the beach where the ropes were run through revolving wheels on the sand and pulled up through a trench to connect to the cable testing room. The latter being located under the partially built bandstand in Bondi Park between the tram loop and the Castle Bathing Pavilion. The cable then travelled below ground to the Paddington Post Office and then into the city through the Commonwealth Government's telephone and telegraph tunnels.

Images courtesy of the Waverley Library Local Studies Collection.