FORMER switchboard operators from the office of the Postmaster-General, or PMG, in Ballarat will soon return to the region for the first mass reunion in a decade.<\/p>\n
While about half a dozen ex-employees still meet regularly, the meetup is set to attract attendees from across Victoria and even New Zealand.<\/p>\n
One of the organisers Joan Duffy was part of the gathering 10 years ago, which was the telephonists\u2019 first major reunion, and saw about 60 people attend.<\/p>\n
She said she\u2019s excited to reminisce again with her former colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be good to see the people we haven\u2019t kept in contact with and to see the directions they went in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m also looking forward to hearing about what happened in those later years after I left because I know a lot did happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Duffy said being a telephonist, or switchboard operator, was a vital career during its heyday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose were the days where say, if someone from the hospital wanted to speak to someone from another hospital, we would pick up the phone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey couldn\u2019t ring them unless it was through one of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d get the number they wanted to ring, answered with a plug, and put in the other cord connecting to them, then dial that number and put them through.\u201d<\/p>\n
PMG Ballarat, which was the first regional telephone exchange in Victoria, operated for nearly a century at the Old Post Office\u2019s upstairs space until 1982 when nearly 50 staff were moved to Doveton Street before closing in 1994.<\/p>\n
Since advertising the event, more than 100 photographs and items of memorabilia have been collected for the event.<\/p>\n
Having worked at PMG Ballarat from 1964 to 1968, Ms Duffy said she has many fond memories to look back on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did things like play basketball and football against other telephonists from around Victoria,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d also have floats in the Begonia Festival which I was in for three years. For the first one, they had this huge big old-fashioned telephone, a big love heart and bride and groom theme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were fantastic days. I remember it was a fair hike upstirs and two rooms with huge switchboards. It was always extremely busy, and we were side by side by side by side.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reunion will take place from 12pm on Saturday 18 November at the Robin Hood Hotel and for enquiries, call 0417 503 076, 0412 872 767 or 0439 038 187.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FORMER switchboard operators from the office of the Postmaster-General, or PMG, in Ballarat will soon return to the region for the first mass reunion in a decade. While about half a dozen ex-employees still meet regularly, the meetup is set to attract attendees from across Victoria and even New Zealand. One of the organisers Joan […]<\/p>\n