“One of our greatest boons”, The Yass Courier said on August 28, 1858, reporting on the arrival of the electrical telegraph to town.
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NSW was the second state to receive the telegraph, after VIC in 1854.
The equipment had been set-up in the morning of the 28th, in a room at The Royal Hotel (now The Yass Hotel). By evening, there had been communication between Yass and Sydney.
This was the first time Yass had been connected to Sydney and Goulburn via telecommunication lines.
The next day, the telegraph was being used to assist commercial operations for ordering goods to be sold in Yass.
Come December 1859, a scale of charges was advertised by the Public Works Department for the transmission of messages by telegraph in NSW and between NSW, VIC, SA, and TAS.
There had been a rapid expansion in the use of the telegraph in little over 12 months.
By 1861, the telegraph was operating from a new building next to the courthouse.
It would have been seen as an appropriate location for the service, but its proximity to Yass River would be a problem later on.
On May 2, 1870, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that a flood had caused great destruction to Yass and the telegraph office.
The dampness of the building had affected the equipment and batteries and a request was sent to the Minister for Works to move the telegraph office with the post office. At that time, the post office was rented in premises elsewhere.
However, unlike the post office, the telegraph office required specialised equipment and could not be housed just anywhere.
The site for the new telegraph office and post office was eventually acquired in 1878.
The building, still in use today, was designed by the Colonial Architect’s Office under James Barnett in a Victorian Italianate style. It opened for business in October 1884 and even today, it stands as a centre of communications, even if the method has changed over the years.
In later years, the building also included the telephone services.
The old telegraph office suffered further flood damage, but was home to the Yass Country Women’s Association Branch in the 1930s and 40s. However, it was demolished some time later.
The Yass and District Historical Society would be pleased to receive photographs or any information you have about the old telegraph office.
- Email yassarchives@gmail.com or call 6226 2115 or 6226 1504. There is more information about the society at yasshistory.org.au