At flood time in 1955, I was the senior technical officer at the Maitland Communication Centre, also known as the Maitland Test Room, situated on the ground and first floors at the rear of Maitland Post Office.
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At the time this centre was the largest, most important country communication centre in NSW, staffed by about 20 expert technical personnel and 25 telephonists.
Technicians worked different shifts around the clock to maintain a reliable 24 hour service, while telephonists worked primarily day and afternoon shifts utilising a number of manually operated switchboards to cope with the demand of around 1200 telephone service subscribers.
There was no radio-telephony at this stage, and all circuits from Sydney were carried on two 24 pair cables under air pressure.
All cable pairs had to work in conjunction with each other to ensure maximum service.
Maitland was an extremely important station as all circuits north, north east and north west, in addition to interstate services to Brisbane, were directed through Maitland.
To convert the frequencies of these circuits to open wire (above ground on telegraph poles) a large amount of heavy duty frequency conversion equipment was required.
This was installed on the first floor of Maitland Test Room.
Radio and broadcast lines carrying news broadcasts, and other significant information were controlled and maintained by Maitland Test Room, and dispersed to all centres.
Any power failure may have resulted in a complete loss of our communication network so every effort to maintain power, particularly in a time of crisis such as the 1955 flood, was not only necessary, but paramount.
As such, we had two 60 KVA (Kilo-Volt-Ampere) diesel powered generators, together with banks of heavy duty batteries that supported the operation of the no-break sets
situated on the ground floor of the building.
As the flood waters rose, the operation of this vital equipment was threatened.
In an effort to block the advance of the rising water, the main doorway into the power room close to the Bourke Steet entrance was blocked off with wooden 3 inch by 3 inch cross arm poles measuring about 4 feet long and sealed with liquid Marfak.
Constructing this to a height of three feet took a great deal of time but resulted in a continued supply of power for the centre.
As a further precautionary measure, additional dieseline for the back-up generators was required.
This was accomplished by a group of fellows who rolled two 44 gallon drums of dieseline along the street and through the flood water all the way from William C. Caines’ establishment near Maitland Railway Station.
Due to the flood conditions all staff were required on deck.
I remember leaving my home at Branxton at 6am, but could not get through the water at High Street (Branxton) because, even then, it was level with the awnings of both hotels.
Reconsidering the situation, I travelled back to North Rothbury and along Rifle Range Road to Greta.
As I came down Harpers Hill at Greta, I noticed the flood water was level with the Luskintyre Bridge.
I headed to Rutherford and left my car opposite the current telephone exchange on the New England Highway.
A flat top truck carried me the rest of the way, moving through 2 feet of water at the court house located at the old Belmore Bridge.
As I arrived at work, knowing that any rise in water at Singleton would arrive in Maitland 24 hours later, it was predicted that the early hours of Saturday morning would be crucial.
As local telephone lines were non-functional due to the flood, communication with radio station 2HR (Hunter River), now at Bolwarra, was maintained via CB radio.
Utilising the usual 2HR radio frequency, test room technical personnel such as myself, were able to communicate directly with station employees to provide regular updates, thereby keeping local residents informed.
I reflect gratefully on the fact that one radio announcer mentioned my name at the end of an update I had provided.
This simple act of kindness served as a notification of my safety to members of my family listening to the broadcast.
Our two technical supervisors, Maurie Schneider and Owen Aspinal, were in control.
Owen had been brought to work from East Maitland on an army duck earlier in the evening.
Around midnight, I distinctly remember Owen stating that all communications north of Maitland had failed.
By 2am the water started seeping into the power room and the water pump, borrowed from the Water Board located opposite the Post Office, did not work so well.
A bucket brigade was formed to remove the water from a deep hole on the Southern side of the power room.
The constant task of passing buckets down the line continued throughout the night.
Between 9pm and10pm, breaking across the serious nature of the events, a nicely dressed mannequin from Coles variety store directly opposite, floated out into the dim light.
At the time it looked like a real body, the sight of which nearly caused an on duty telephonist to faint in her distress.
At about 4am on Saturday morning (26th) Arthur Nichols’ butcher shop required a power connection from the back-up electricity supply for the Test Room, to save his meat stock.
This was accomplished by local electrical supply people.
Paula Bourke and her telephonist assistant kept up a major cooking effort in Cox Brothers’ annexe after the water had partially subsided.
The police prosecutor, Sergeant Ted Cahill, worked at the post office with a small number of police officers until they were later relocated to an area close to Maitland hospital.
A nicely dressed mannequin from Coles variety store floated out into the dim light. At the time it looked like a real body, the sight of which nearly caused an on-duty telephonist to faint
- Robin D. Cotton
Employees trapped in the railway signal box in Baldwin’s Hollow were being rescued by helicopter, but the line holding them became entangled in live electricity wires resulting in the crash of the helicopter.
The signal box was then swept away by the intensity of the flood water, taking with it the remaining railway employees.
A subsequent rescue attempt was made by boat and the survivors were later taken to East Maitland Police Station.
One of the survivors was Tommy Shand whom I met some years later while playing bowls at Telarah Bowling Club, where we reflected upon our experiences of the 1955 Maitland flood.
As I recall, a photograph of the tragedy was taken by a Daily Mirror photographer and forwarded to Sydney by a picturegram machine for publication in the newspaper the following day.
While communication north of Maitland was lost during the flood, and a great deal of repair work was later required to restore services to normal, the primary goal of protecting the power room and associated equipment was ultimately achieved.
This came as a result of the committed team effort of all the staff involved, many of whom had worked continuously for a period of around eight days, sleeping when and where they could.
