Living History

Frank's story - The 60s

After 18 months in Canberra I went to Campbelltown from there I moved to the Newcastle suburb of Wallsend. In September 1962 the Telephone Exchange in the Canberra suburb of Civic was destroyed by fire. We were two weeks from completion at Wallsend and our supervisor told us we had 36 hours to finish the job as they need the transportable Exchange that we were replacing for use as a temporary unit in Canberra. Working in shifts non-stop we finished on time and the next day the majority of us headed to Canberra. In those days a 10,000 line telephone exchange took a crew of up to 15 staff about 14-15 months to complete. With some 200 staff working 12-hour shifts a 10,000 line exchange was installed in a temporary building in 12 weeks. After 17 days in Canberra the P.M.G. sent all of us Trainees back to Sydney as we had final exams coming up, I was sent to Blacktown. Here I worked in place like St Marys, Penrith, Glenbrook and the RAAF base at the start of the Blue Mountains. From there I worked on the Central coast at Toukley and Gorokan before being sent to the Dalley St Trunk exchange in Sydney near Circular Quay. Dally St was the Building were all the Country exchanges were linked to as well as connections to overseas were made. While I enjoyed the work I did not relish being stuck in Sydney. Every one around those days has a story of when President John F Kennedy was assassinated I was playing golf with my workplace social club we played on different courses throughout the metropolitan area on this particular Saturday I had to get up early as we were playing at Mona Vale on the northern side of Sydney. I had booked a taxi for 5.30am and my alarm did not go off the taxi driver woke me up and I raced to the cab in my underpants carrying my clothes and golf clubs. While I was getting dressed it was announced on the taxi driver’s radio. I was astounded that any one could do such a thing. The other big event was when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon. I had worked on installing some of the telecommunications equipment that relayed the signals from the Parkes Telescope to Sydney then onto Nasa in America and I watched the event on television in a hotel in Trangie near Dubbo in western NSW. At the end of 1963 I told my supervisor I would rather resign than stay in Sydney any longer.

When I look back Sydney in the late fifties and early sixties was far different from today. Kings Cross had always been an area of excitement and action but it was relatively safe to walk around. The Boxing stadium in Rushcutters Bay a short walk from the Cross was known as the Tin Shed. Fights were held on Monday nights and overseas entertainers performed there. The boxing ring was removed and a revolving stage was set up. I was fortunate to see acts like Buddy Holly and the Crickets, The Platters, Harry Belafonte and Sammy Davis Jr. Walking back through the Cross to the City was an experience, the sharpies and spivs offering all sorts of invitations to strip shows and the street girls offering all sorts of action for a price but I was never offered drugs in the street. Fights or brawls were rare and I never saw a knife or weapon used when a fight broke out and a man was never kicked when he was down on the ground.

In January 1964 I was offered the chance of a temporary transfer to a different section and went to Dubbo. Here I began working on the installation of the transmission equipment that provided the links from each town to another. I relished in this new environment and when my six months was up I requested the transfer be made permanent. It was and for the next ten years I worked all over western NSW in places like Bourke, Broken Hill, Tibooburra, Wanaaring, Louth, Tilpa Brewarrina, Nyngan, Cobar, Warren, Forbes, West Wyalong, Gilgandra, Coonabarrabran, Baradine and dozens of small villages and spots not even on the Map.

Frank

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