The Victorian Telecommunications Museum is a small museum located in the Hawthorn Telephone Exchange, Burwood Road, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia.

It houses historical telecommunications equipment that had been used by what originally was called the Postmaster-General's Department

Postmaster-General's Department

The Postmaster-General's Department was created at Federation in 1901 to control all postal services within Australia. Its minister was the Postmaster-General. In mid-1975 it was disaggregated into the Australian Telecommunications Commission and the Australian Postal Commission...

 which in 1975 split into Telecom Australia

Telecom Australia

Telecom Australia was the trading name of the:* Australian Telecommunications Commission * Australian Telecommunications Corporation * Australian and Overseas Telecommunications Corporation...

 and Australia Post

Australia Post

Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...

. In 1993 Telecom Australia was renamed Telstra

Telstra

Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....

.

Apart from thousands of items housed there are a number of items that the visitor can actually use - of which the best example is a working mini telephone exchange with four old phones that can call each other. The visitor can watch the exchange manually step up and click around as the numbers are dialled. The phones have all the original dial tones and rings that were standard for this equipment.
Currently the most significant exhibit is one of the original mechanical Speaking clock

Speaking clock

A speaking clock service is a recorded or simulated human voice service, usually accessed by telephone, that gives the correct time. The first telephone speaking clock service was introduced in France, in association with the Paris Observatory on 14 February 1933.The format of the service is...

made with rotating glass discs, this is one (number 2) of the four mark II machines produced in England for use in Australia and were received in the early 1950s. The discs were originally read using an exciter and a detector made with valve technology. These devices are no longer available and since all the originals had failed, replacements had to be fashioned using digital technology adapted to plug in to the original valve sockets. This development has enabled the speaking clock to be restored to full operation.

The site is managed by volunteers and at present is open to the public by way of appointment only.

A mark II speaking clock is also on display at the Telstra Museum, Bankstown Sydney, 12 Kitchener Parade, next to the Bankstown Telephone Exchange and is open to the public every Wednesday. This museum is also run by volunteers.

The Brisbane Telstra Museum is at Albion Telephone Exchange, corner of Sandgate and Oriel Streets Albion. Volunteers also run this site and is open to the public every Wednesday.