Description
These telephones, introduced into Australia in 1939, were manufactured in the U.K. by the Telephone Manufacturing Company, GEC and Ericsson Telephones Ltd (ETL). It was largely developed by Ericsson Telephones Ltd in Britain and called the Telephone No. 332 by the BPO.
Large quantities of these (black) telephones were imported to cope with the ever increasing demand for these telephones in Australia. A sliding drawer in the base provided for note paper which allowed frequently called numbers to be recorded. Because of sticking drawers and subsequent breakages, later orders placed by the APO PMG with the U.K. manufacturers requested that the drawers not be fitted, and hence dummy plates were substituted in their place. Limited purchases of red, green and ivory telephones were made by the PMG Department prior to World War 2, but no purchases of the red and green phones were made after the war, as the fading problem encountered with earlier coloured telephones remained unsolved.
