Published Resources Details
Journal Article
- Title
- Uniting the Empire: the Australian Beam Wireless Service at Rockbank and Fiskville
- In
- Australian Journal of Multi-disciplinary Engineering
- Imprint
- vol. 6, no. 1, 2008, pp. 97-109
- Url
- https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.167280536979150
- Description
Paper presented at the National Engineering Heritage Conference (14th: 2007 : Perth).
- Abstract
Together with aviation, 'wireless' was the marvel of the early 20th Century. For isolated Australia, its promise of international communication was acutely felt. Its location, the greatest distance possible from Britain, saw it play a critical part in tests for long distance communication. Australia may have initiated at least one of these historic trials, and then raced the world to apply the short-wave system for marine and broadcasting services. Politically, also, Australia pushed the boundaries. Its unyielding opposition to a conservative British Imperial Wireless Chain proposal, in which it would be at the mercy of a series of vulnerable relays, was inspired by the vision of ET Fisk of AWA. Australia's 'one hop' solution was accepted, and the 1927 opening of the Beam Wireless established the world's longest distance radio link. While the Ballan and Rockbank stations arrays and equipment no longer survive, remarkably intact landscaped accommodation quarters and Spanish Mission buildings remain as testament to this achievement.
Related Published resources
isPartOf
- '14th National Engineering Heritage Conference - Selected Papers (2007 : Perth)', Australian Journal of Multi-disciplinary Engineering, 6 (1) (2008), 128, https://search.informit.org/toc/ajmde/6/1. Details