Traeger, Alfred Hermann (1895 - 1980)

Summary

Alfred Traeger designed a transceiver for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. In 1933 he also invented a typewriter Morse keyboard, which was widely used as an accessory to the pedal sets until the advent of radio telephony. He began his engineering career with the Metropolitan Tramways Trust and the Postmaster-General's Department (1915-1923) and later formed his own company Traeger Transceivers Pty Ltd. He worked for John Flynn on Northern Territory radio experiments from 1926 and is commemorated by a sports field, a plaque and the Royal Flying Doctor Service aeroplane at Alice Springs.

Details

Chronology

1915

Education - Associate Diploma, South Australian School of Mines and Industries

1915 - 1923

Career position - Metropolitan Tramways Trust and the Postmaster-General's Department

c. 1923

Career position - Hannan Bros Ltd, Adelaide

1944

Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

Published resources

Books

• Knight, Linsay and Cheng, Christopher, Australia's Greatest Inventions and Innovations (North Sydney, N.S.W.: Random House Australia, 2012), 184 pp. Pages 40-41, 45, 46 (Royal Flying Doctor Service 40-46). Details
• McKay, Fred, Traeger: the Pedal Radio Man (Moorooka, Queensland: Boolarong Press, 1995), 108 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Behr, John, 'Traeger, Alfred Hermann (1895-1980), engineer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 12: 1891 - 1939 Smy-Z, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), pp. 251-252. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/traeger-alfred-hermann-8839. Details

Edited Books

• Engineers Australia ed., Anything is possible: 100 Australian engineering leaders (Barton, A.C.T.: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 136 pp, https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/2025-08/EA2_Anything%20is%20possible_0.pdf. 'All praise pedal power - Alf Traeger' p.47. Details

Journal Articles

• Payne, Pauline, 'Alf Traeger and the pedal radio', Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, 46 (2018), 85-98. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q4723533. Details
• 'Traeger, Alfred Hermann (1895-1980)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1464925. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Engineering Heritage : Biographies', in Engineering Heritage Australia : wiki website, Engineering Heritage Australia, 2024, https://heritage.engineersaustralia.org.au/wiki/Person:Traeger,_Alfred. Biography: Alfred Traeger. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_t.html. Details
• Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp, https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/2025-08/EA1_Wonders%20never%20cease.pdf. "Pedal power opens up the outback", pp.122-3. Details
• Ingpen, Robert, Australian inventions and innovations (Rigby Publishers Limited, 1982), 80 pp. "The Pedal Wireless and Flying Doctor - 'The mantle of safety'" pp.62, 64-67, 65. Details