Telegrams

[siznaudin]

What the *#@!! has this got to do with aviation? And could it be that there are some of our younger TAA subscribers out there in cyberspace who don't even know what telegrams are..?

 

I'm part way through a book lent me by Coop ... "That's That" - an absorbing account of one serviceman's experiences during WW2 when he enlisted in Adelaide, finished up flying Catalinas, and post war rose to the position of Supervisor, Air Traffic Control, Adelaide.

 

In it, he mentions that whenever he received a new posting he was able to telegram back home his new address, so that letters would always be able to find him with minimum delay. Quite efficient, if you think about it relative to the technology of the day.

 

I'm from an era (ok, ok...) when we had two letter deliveries each week day, as well as one on Saturday morning.

 

Telegrams were delivered to the recipient's address by bicycle - most often ridden by a Post Master General's junior.

 

It all got me wondering just when the telegram service finally died out. Well here it is - and it wasn't the internet which did it in ... turns out it was the telephone which struck the first blow.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_telegraphic_history#Post_Federation:_peak_and_decline

 

 

[Guest Michael Coates]

Telegrams ?? Cant say i have heard of those ? Do you somehow put the message on a pigeon ?? Or is it the message which is dot, dot dash, dash ??

 

AHH... you must be born before colour television, that explains it.

 

 

[Guest aviatrix27]

Michael, Michael, Michael, behave! :p

 

I still have the one and only telegram I ever received, a greeting for my 21st birthday.

 

Nancy-Bird spoke of using telegraph lines as navigation aids, and if she had to do an emergency landing, next to a telegraph line was the place of choice. Shimmy up a pole and cut the line, within a couple of days someone would be out to repair the line, and she would be rescued.

 

 

[winsor68]

Brilliant post!

 

 

[willedoo]

1993, hard to believe it was that long ago. No wonder I haven't received any for a while. And morse code gone as well. Next thing you know they'll have portable telephones.

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

 

[cficare]

probably the start of texting...u had to get the maximum words and information in the least amount of letters...

 

I got one to say i had been selected for my first job...gen x,y,z? ...we did it before u thought of it!

 

 

[winsor68]

The tradition seems to be upheld still at weddings???

 

 

[siznaudin]

The tradition seems to be upheld still at weddings???

I have to say that it's a long while since I last experienced the reading out of "telegrams" at a wedding but yes, even after the end of genuine telegrams it was done - and not infrequently of course, the content was calculated to embarass the lucky couple.

Maybe someone here could let us know of the last time they heard a wedding "telegram" read at a wedding?

 

Careful with the contents ... this is a family show!