Communications History

In the 1950s mobile phones did not exist, not every one had a phone and TV was not what it is today. Radio and letters were still considered a primary source of information. Colour television did not exist until 1959 and even then it did not come to Australia for another 16 years. The internet was only a dream and there was no success in creating it.

Back in the 50s communication meant talking or letters. Letters were very important. People wrote letters to everyone they knew; it was nothing to write a few letters each day. People wrote monthly letters to there sister in Brisbane, the letter contained everything the family did during the month; it was almost a copy of a diary. Most letters began with “Hope this finds you well….” and finished with “…..Must go if this is to catch the post, TTFN”, and then three x’s if you were an effusive kind of person.

Letters had to be set out properly. The address and date in the right order on the left hand side. You would put the name of the person you were addressing on the right hand side along with there address. Proper margins would be common and hand written letters were considered personal and typed letters were frowned at (yes that is right, there were type writers in the 50s). The proper valediction was yours sincerely or yours faithfully even if were to be your best friend or sister. The husband did not write many letters, they left it up to the wife to keep the family together.

The 50s were important to the history of the telegram. During this decade the telegram became outdated; mainly because of costs. Since people were charged per word and STOP was at the end of each sentence it was more efficient in most cases just to call someone in an emergency or write a letter if it was not urgent. Only in important situations would you telegram someone. If you one had died or you wanted to send a message to be read out at a wedding then it would be ok to send a telegram. Telegrams looked something like this: dad dead STOP tractor broken STOP need new tractor STOP. After receiving this telegram you would wait for a letter giving you all the information about dad’s death and a quote for a tractor or if you had enough money you would call them but still receive a letter.