Ernie sends message of generosity with donation of morse key
A priceless piece of Yeppoon’s history has today been formally presented to Livingstone Shire Council for display at Fig Tree Galleries.
Former Yeppoon postal manager, Ernie O’Sullivan generously donated the Simplex Auto morse key which was used at the former Yeppoon Post Office from the 1950s until morse was phased out in the late 1960s.
The morse key was invented in 1844 and revolutionised communications by allowing long-distance messages, called telegrams, to be transmitted from point to point via electrical pulses.
Mr O’Sullivan said that the morse key was used to send telegrams written in morse code, an alphabet where different combinations of dots and dashes represented different letters and numbers.
“This particular type of morse key is a semi-automatic, right-angle key used by tapping side to side instead of up and down like the original morse key, and there are very few of this type around,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
“Post office customers would fill in a form with the words they wanted to be sent and would pay per word for us to send their telegram, which was picked up by a receiver at the other end.
“The post office was the centre of everything back in the day and the postal manager was the agent for almost every Commonwealth department.”
When asked why he chose to donate the morse key, Mr O’Sullivan said “I saw one in a museum down south and since I spent 18 years in Yeppoon before retiring 34 years ago I thought I’d leave the morse key to keep some history of the post office.”
Portfolio Holder of Vibrant Community (Tourism, Arts Culture), Councillor Rhodes Watson, said the old post office in Normanby Street, which was built in 1924, was transformed into Fig Tree Galleries in 2021 – a vibrant and welcoming space for artists and visitors to enjoy.
“Ernie’s donation of the morse key means we can preserve a key period of our shire’s heritage at the former post office,” Cr Watson said.
“The donation means a great deal to Council and our gratitude goes to Ernie for allowing us to display this piece of post office history for the community and visitors to see.
“Council officers have done a fantastic job of creating a dedicated display box for the morse key in the postal manager’s old office, alongside a photo of the 1983 post office team.
“Also on display at the Fig Tree Galleries is interactive signage about morse code.
“Today’s installation of the morse key signals the completion of recent refurbishments proudly funded by the Queensland Government in association with Council, including new exterior paint, an accessible toilet, a revitalised workshop and a retail space currently occupied by Paint Pot Gallery.”
History of the Simplex Auto morse key:
Australian telegraphist, Leopold Gilbert Cohen invented the Simplex Auto semi-automatic Morse sending machine around 1920.
In 1923 it was adopted by the Postmaster-General's Department as a standard sending aid for the Commonwealth of Australia.
Morse code has been in place since the late 19th century and is still used today, despite our digitally dominated communications.