October 2023

Contents

• President’s column and upcoming talks - page 1Society news introduces the history of local telephonists and the Rocky Waterholes railway camp.
• Telephonists’ reunion and heritage study - page 2A 1981 photograph of local telephonists and a contemporary notice about the draft community heritage study.
• Genetic genealogy and heritage events - page 3Introduces speaker Nathan Scudder and events at Berrima and Kangaroo Valley.
• Local telephone services and operators - page 4Philip Morton traces Bowral’s early exchange and local telephonists. Read with the Moss Vale corrections in newsletter 566, page 2.
• The end of the local telephone exchange - page 5Automation, Jean Tebay’s 1981 reunion and the closure of the Bowral Assistance Centre in 1983, with staff photographs.
• Rocky Waterholes railway camp - page 6Frank Mitchell and Philip Morton investigate railway construction near Hill Top, Big Hill cutting and fatal accidents in 1863.
• Railway workers and unpaid wages - page 7Newspaper accounts describe contractor insolvency, workers’ claims and completion of the line; a Trove research list is linked.
• Society information and office bearers - page 8Contact, opening and committee details as printed in October 2023; they may have changed.

Issue highlights

• A forthcoming talk introduces genetic genealogy, and heritage events are listed as planned in October 2023 (p.3).
• The local telephone history follows operators, automation and the Bowral assistance centre; read the Moss Vale correction in issue 566, page 2 (pp.4-5).
• Frank Mitchell and Philip Morton draw on newspaper reports to investigate the Rocky Waterholes railway camp, blasting deaths and workers’ unpaid wages near Hill Top (pp.6-7).
• Philip Morton and Frank Mitchell follow the 1860s Rocky Waterholes railway camp and the construction landscape linking Hill Top and Balmoral (pp.6-7).

Original Society source