In the last post I put up some pages for Cranbourne from an Interim Telephone Directory, produced when the new automatic exchanges were installed. Click here to read this post. I have since been provided with some images from the Pakenham Gazette of June 20, 1973 showing the last days of the Pakenham Manual Exchange. The staff at the manual exchange consisted of fifteen 'girls' and the Officer-in-charge. Three of the staff were to be re-deployed and the rest retrenched.
Last day of the manual telephone exchange at Pakenham, from the Pakenham Gazette of June 20, 1973. Featured in the photo are - Post Master Ray Wallis, Monitor Mrs S. Mitchell and some of the'girls' on the old exchange Mrs C. Nicholls, Mrs D. Stone, Mrs S. Cameron, Miss P. Methven and Mrs M. Lowe. Image courtesy of Andrew Trotter.
Sunday is National STD day - that was Sunday June 24, 1973. This was the day telephone subscribers from Bayles, Beaconsfield Upper, Koo-Wee-Rup, Lang Lang, Nar Nar Goon, Nar Nar Goon North, Officer, Pakenham, Pakenham South, Pakenham Upper, The Gurdies and Yannathan South would be able to 'dial their own calls to many Victorian and Interstate centres just as easily as they dial local calls'. Image courtesy of Andrew Trotter, from the Pakenham Gazette of June 20, 1973.
Here are the Pakenham pages from the Interim Telephone Directory produced in 1973 - about 1,000 subscribers in all. Click to enlarge images.
If you want to look at the pages from the Interim Telephone Directory for Cranbourne, click here.
