| Name | “Head-Box” Type of Cabinet |
| Date | 1920s |
| Manufacturer | PMG |
| Usage | Public call box- safe or protected locations such as Railway Stations and Post Offices |
| Notes | Very common on main roads of country towns |
| More notes see below- |
Development of the “Head-Box” Type of Cabinet
Head-box types of cabinets were first seen in the 1920s in safe or protected locations such as Railway Stations and Post Offices. Figs. 10 and 11 are examples of early head-box cabinets found in Sydney streets. The problem with these was that they were unpopular with the public. The door tended to close in on you, and your legs got wet in rainy weather, space restrictions were also annoying. On the credit side they were good in locations where space was at a premium. They were cheap to construct and relatively easy to maintain.  The Second World War saw a resurgence in their use due to their mobility, e.g. they were favoured for army camps, airports, dockyards etc., and economy of material in construction whilst still providing good ventilation, protection for the instrument and user. Two types adopted in the war years Figs. 12 and 13 below Fig.12 was known as ‘Red Riding Hood’ |
Half Box PT cabinets
Excerpt from ATCS Newsletter, 2007.
Information on public telephones in Australia is not so-far systematically documented.
The following notes on ‘Half Box’ public phone cabinets are taken from a document kindly copied by AHTS member Ian Soden. The original was put together as disparate collection of extracts from official documents studied by E.N. Walter, Chris Wood and Jim Bateman in Sydney, 1989. The information is excellent, as far as it goes, but is not claimed to be comprehensive.
Private telephone ownership was not common in Australia for many years, although businesses were fairly quick to install them. Public telephones were therefore very important, and calls could even be arranged in advance between public phones, the wanted party being summoned beforehand for a fee.
Early public telephones were on counters in post offices or telegraph offices, or other enclosed public places where a clerk took the money and organised connection on request. Callers usually had to speak loudly to be heard at all, and everything said could be overheard. Although ‘silence cabinets’ ensuring privacy feature in 1800’s American telephone literature, the earliest Australian reference to an enclosed cabinet (called a telephone bureau) for privacy seems to be about 1893, in Sydney Central Post Office.
From about 1900 the newly formed Commonwealth Postmaster General’s Dept. expedited the experiments of various colonial authorities and installed telephones, with coin collectors, in specially designed street cabinets, or phone boxes, for operator-supervised public use, mostly at railway stations and post offices.
These cabinets varied in construction – a 1906 report showed the NSW Public Works Dept making one type a bit different to the PMG specification. These early cabinets were full-length and fully enclosed. The first reference to half length models is from 1911. Another reference from NSW states that during 1920 ‘trial installations’ of the ‘Queensland type’ of public telephone cabinet were made. These, as might be expected from the tropical north, were half length. There was however some public opposition due to lack of privacy – but they were still installed to some extent (in ‘safe’ locations such as railway stations [safe?!]- being cheaper to make at 3 pounds each, against about 7 pounds for the full length item.
A 1927-28 report mentions Australian trials with a half length concrete (no less!) cabinet. (Various alternatives to wood were being tried at the time, due to the high maintenance and rapid deterioration of wood.) Interestingly, trials were also being made of ‘writing slates’ in cabinets to distract graffiti artists who were (surprise) writing on the walls. see AHTS issue 254, which quotes an English report from 1936-7 explaining that mirrors would be trialled to hopefully distract and amuse would-be graffiti artists! Another Australian report, for 1936-37, noted that telephone box exteriors were all going to be uniformly painted red from then on.
A ‘revised Federation style’ wooden cabinet design was introduced in 1933, with ‘either half or full length glazing’ and a ‘galvanised iron clad pagoda type roof. The ‘basic forms were a) glazed half length, 2 sides and door, b) glazed full length 2 sides and door, c) glazed half length, all sides and door and d) glazed full length, all sides and door. The corner (triangular) telephone mounting was used where all sides were glazed.
Half cabinets were also used extensively during World War Two, for economy reasons. Two types are mentioned, one being called ‘Red Riding Hood’ – but no details given (See Jim’s Book, page 75 for photo). In 1956 the temperate style (dome roofed) full length box was introduced.
After the formation of Telecom, in 1975, all existing wood cabinets were re-coloured gold outside, and gold dappled (stippled) with orange inside.
By the early 1980’s all timber cabinets were (officially) gone, in favour of aluminium models. Some half-box descendants were and still can be seen in various designs and evolutions of plastic hoods and domes, mainly but not always in indoor locations.
Summary by Linley Wilson
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