Sydney–Melbourne Co-axial Cable
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Sydney–Melbourne co-axial cable was a major telecommunications engineering and construction project in south-eastern Australia in the early 1960s, designed to significantly increase telecommunications transmission capacity between
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
and
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
and other centres, along its route including
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
. The cable's route was approximately and roughly followed the Hume Highway as it existed at that time. Key points along the route were Sydney,
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, Campbelltown, Bowral, Goulburn,
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
, Yass, Gundagai,
Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...
, Culcairn,
Albury Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...
,
Wangaratta Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had a population of 29,808 per the 2021 Australian Census. The city is located at the confluence, junction of the Ovens River, ...
,
Benalla Benalla is a small city in the Hume (region), Hume region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town sits on the Broken River (Victoria), Broken River, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. As of the , the population wa ...
,
Euroa Euroa is a town in the Shire of Strathbogie in the north-east of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census in Australia, census, Euroa's population was 3,116. The name Euroa comes from an Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal w ...
, Seymour and Melbourne. It was five years in the making and cost £6.89 million to complete. Its prime purpose was to boost the capacity for telecommunications between the two major cities. The cable was made up of three pairs of tubes, each pair capable of carrying 1,260 simultaneous telephone connections. There was a marker stone commemorating the official opening of the cable at 532 Hume Highway, Casula but it has since been removed. There is a corresponding marker stone in Gordon Reserve near
Parliament House, Melbourne Parliament House is the meeting place of the Parliament of Victoria, one of the eight parliaments of the Australian states and territories. Located on Spring Street on the edge of the Hoddle Grid, the grand colonnaded front dominates t ...
.


Origins

The volume of telephone traffic in Australia increased significantly after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. As a result, by the 1950s the trunk network was becoming congested. The Postmaster-General's Department (PMG) was also pursuing a policy of automating the telephone and telegraph systems, including the introduction of subscriber-to-subscriber (rather than operator-assisted) long-distance calls. It was therefore decided, in 1957, that a new high capacity link would be installed between Sydney and Melbourne (via Canberra). A number of systems were considered, including radio transmission. Eventually the decision was taken to install a 6 tube
coaxial cable Coaxial cable, or coax (pronounced ), is a type of electrical cable consisting of an inner Electrical conductor, conductor surrounded by a concentric conducting Electromagnetic shielding, shield, with the two separated by a dielectric (Insulat ...
. While this provided more capacity than was necessary at the time, it also allowed for the transmission of television signals along the route. The associated carrier equipment (e.g. the active electronics) was to have sufficient capacity for the first 5 years with facilities for readily increasing the number of channels to meet demand for the next 20 years.


Construction

Tenders to supply the cable and other equipment were undertaken and the main supplier, Felten and Guilleaume (West Germany) was selected in early 1959. The details of the contracts were finalised by mid-1959. The cable for the Canberra-Melbourne link was manufactured by a subcontractor (Olympic Cables) in Australia. The remaining cable and carrier equipment were manufactured in West Germany. Construction work was undertaken by staff of the PMG. The initial shipment of cable arrived from Germany at the end of 1959. Cable laying was completed in October 1961 and jointing and testing completed in December 1961. In total, over 960 kilometres of cable were laid and over one million tons of rock and soil excavated to lay the cable. Main repeater stations (which were attended by staff) were constructed every 64 kilometres and minor, unmanned repeater stations every 9 kilometres (103 in total. The main repeater stations also provided break out points to connect minor trunk routes to regional towns (e.g. Goulburn, Yass, Gundagai). Many of the repeater stations remain today along the route, along with cable markers and other reminders of the project.


Opening and impact

The Sydney–Melbourne coaxial cable was officially opened on 9 April 1962 when Prime Minister
Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...
, made an interstate direct dial call. The coaxial cable infrastructure supported the introduction of
subscriber trunk dialling Subscriber trunk dialling (STD), also known as subscriber toll dialing, is a telephone numbering plan feature and telecommunications technology in the United Kingdom and various Commonwealth countries for the dialling of trunk calls by telephon ...
between the cities and live television link-ups. After its commissioning in April 1962 the cable carried telegraph and telephone traffic. It also provided the first inter-city television transmission in Australia, allowing simultaneous television broadcasting in Melbourne and Sydney for the first time. The cable was decommissioned many years ago, superseded by competing optical fibre cables operated by firms such as
Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...
,
Optus Singtel Optus Pty Limited is an Australian Telecommunications in Australia, telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiar ...
and NextGen. A large number of concrete repeater stations remain along the cable's route as a reminder of its past role, for example, at Sutton Forrest, Wollogorang, Collector and Wallaroo. Some repeater stations are still in use as Optic Fibre repeaters for the Telstra network. In April 2012 the Minister Communications, Stephen Conroy, issued a media release commemorating the 50th anniversary of the cable, and drawing a parallel between its forward-looking nature and his proposed National Broadband Network.


Television

TCN9 and GTV9 were connected via the coaxial cable in 1963, allowing the instant sharing of news stories and programs between both cities. The cable supported the simultaneous live broadcast of the 5th test of the 1962–63 Ashes series from the
Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...
to Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne – a major milestone in Australian television history. The cable was also used in 1965 for innovative interstate live split-screen link-ups between Graham Kennedy's '' In Melbourne Tonight'' and Don Lane's ''
Sydney Tonight ''Sydney Tonight'' was an Australian television variety series which aired from December 1956 to early 1959 on Sydney station ATN-7. Originally compered by Keith Walshe, it was later hosted by Roy Hampson and re-titled ''Tonight''. The series fe ...
''.


References


Further reading

*Special issue of the ''Telecommunication Journal of Australia'', v.13 no.3, Feb. 1962., available at the National Library of Australia, catalogue number, Npf 621.38780994 TEL. *Conroy, S
'50th anniversary of the Sydney–Melbourne coaxial cable'
12 April 2012 *http://monumentaustralia.org.au/display/32293-coaxial-cable *http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Search/Home?lookfor=my_parent%3A%22(AKIN)24154127%22&iknowwhatimean=1 *http://www.abc.net.au/tv/50years/didyouknow/firsts.htm *http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/company-overview/history/tele-communications-timeline/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Sydney-Melbourne co-axial cable Telecommunications in Australia Telecommunications-related introductions in 1962 1962 establishments in Australia