Many governmental organisations in the post-WW2 years published a popular and accessible history of wartime endeavours and service and this, written by Ian Hay, is the story of the Post Office. The Post Office was responsible for a multitude of public services ranging from the operation of Post Offices, the collection and delivery of the mail, the telegram and telephone services. These were all vital infrastructure in wartime conditions where the growth in demand for services was enormous - both at home and, in the theatres of war, abroad. The sacrifice of staff is covered as they often worked in the most trying of circumstances. The record of development and repair, such as of exchanges and cables due to damage, is described and some of the work of the vitally important Research Station at Dollis Hill is described.

The cover, that includes this wrapped round letter of thanks from the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe, is a bold graphic showing the various methods of transport used by the Post Office and is signed 'AMC'. This is, I am sure, the 'Coombs' who signs the two rather fine endpaper illustrations that show Post Office staff going about their varied duties. In pre-war years the Post Office had an often adventurous style of publicity and these illustrations are redolent of that period in their style.

Well, here we are then. I suppose with shot 365 it is compulsory to give some kind of reflection on the project as a whole, and I warn you - this could get philosophical ;) Skip to the end if you get bored. :)

Firstly, I can honestly say that I started the project with little expectation that I would finish it. It has, however, proven to be easier than I expected. I know that Laura spent many frustrating days trying to think of something to snap, but I had a rather easier time of it. She had no mobile phone camera, and a very camera unfriendly job. I'm just the opposite. I'm blessed with a job where I'm often taking photos every day, even if they're ones that I can't post in public places. A school is a place of life though - even though individuals may find their own days boring there's always SOMETHING going on somewhere, and with such a large building there's often things to see if you look closer.

I've never kept a journal or a diary, and have now realised how terribly life affirming it all is. 2009 is a year in which I will have some kind of memory of every single day, and it won't be a forgotten year like so many others. I can't remember a damn thing I did in say...1998. I could probably come up with one or two things if I REALLY tried, but not more than one or two.

So, what have I hated? Not a lot really. I haven't found it too strenuous and it really hasn't been a chore.

What have I loved? Well, getting the camera out more is always a good thing. I'm also looking around a lot more, and being more aware of the wonderful things around me. The things that can make an interesting photograph are often strange and wonderful.

I like also that the project gives the tiniest little hint of an insight into the pressures that professional photographers face. It's dead easy to take photos when you're feeling inspired and creative. In a 365 you quickly discover that when you're tired, grouchy, sick, stressed, hung over or a combination of all of them it becomes very difficult to take a shot that's even technically competent - never mind one that has any kind of artistic merit! Spare a thought for that photographer trying to take beautiful photos of two families that he doesn't really care about at the next wedding that you're at!

One thing that I've really loved is that my photographs are littering the net all over the place. There are probably three reasons for this:

1. My photos are by and large reasonably ok from a technical viewpoint. There's not many with appallingly bad focussing, exposure, etc.

2. I give my photos away, and everybody loves free stuff! I generally put all my photos under a creative commons licence that lets people use them for whatever they want. I didn't take them to make money, so I'm happy to put them out there.

3. I take lots of very, very generic photos. I think this is largely because lots of people around me aren't comfortable having their photo on the net, and I'd never take a people shot from my workplace. So very few of my shots feature people, and that makes them ideal for illustrating blogs, tutorials and other concept pieces.

My Ryanair 737 on approach to Liverpool can be found in many travel blogs. My exam desks illustrate lots of topics about exams and nerves. My crossed fingers end up in the unlikeliest of places. My smiley face biscuit illustrates a spiritual presentation on ignorance. My pebbles on Llandudno beach are probably going to be published at some point in a book. My stuff is all over the place - and I love that!

It's interesting to see what people do like, and so how about a quick run down of the top ten photos based on view. Thanks to the Flickr statistics module, here we go!

In tenth: #6: A Little Prick with a Needle

With 158 views, this one just scraped ahead of the approaching Ryanair 737 to get tenth place. This is a very average shot of some dental equipment taken with a mobile phone. Why it's proved so popular is a mystery to me, even if it has had the longest time to be viewed. I can only put it down to the words 'little prick' in the title. People do look for the funniest things ;)

In ninth: #74: The Eyes Have It

This one has had 159 views, and is a favourite of three people. It wasn't the easiest shot, and it turned out quite well so I'm rather happy with it. And we won't even start about what colour the eye is - there could be blood on the carpet.

In joint seventh: #140: Hell's Kitchen

With 164 views, I'm really pleased with this very dramatic shot, and I'm not surprised that it's earned a good few views.

In joint seventh: #145b: They Meet At Last

I'm delighted that this made the top ten, as it's one of my favourite shots of the whole year. Anything tagged 'Red Arrows' gets lots of views, and something that isn't a plane in the air is always interesting. A lovely moment. This has had 164 views...I'm guessing that 160 of them were by Laura ;)

In sixth: #44: A Bit of a Mix Up

Do you remember me talking about generic photos? This mixing desk shot fulfils the basic 'lights, knobs and sliders' requirements that have led it to be used in lots of 'techie' type blog posts all over the place. It made sixth with 198 well earned views.

In fifth: #4: Crossed Words

It's right back to the start again as this perfectly boring photo of a crossword chalked up a whopping 232 views. It's back to generic illustrations again.

In fourth: #147: Testing Times Ahead

This photo of a very large exam hall has proven really popular with bloggers, and has also been included in a commercial product that someone is putting together. I'm not sure why it does so well, but the geometry is nice and the sheer scale is huge. 251 views.

In third: #25: It's Good to Talk!

Why, oh why, oh why do 343 people think this is a great photo to use? It's just a phone! Nevertheless it's very popular and has been used to illustrate a lot of articles about VOIP telephony.

In second: #237: Fingers Crossed!

This is a weird one. It's the newest photo in the top ten, and it has racked up 454 views, and yet it's a not particularly attractive photo of a bloody unattractive hand (mine). Strange, strange, strange. It also has the honour of having been used for one day on the front page of the Yahoo directory. It's a small claim to fame, but one that pleased me very much. :)

In first place, the winner is... #133: Lost Luggage?

Yes, an unlikely winner, but not without good reason! This five minute bit of fun was a visual gag based on an incident at LAX airport. The reason for the huge popularity is that Laura posted it as a link on one of the aviation forums that she uses and hence it got a whole pile of views from there. About 545 in fact. :)

And with that analysis done, it's time to have my Oscar moment and make some very important thank yous.

Firstly, to all the wonderful people who have appeared in or helped me create my photos. You know who you are, and you have been a source of inexhaustible patience, tolerance and kindness. I thank you.

Secondly to you. Yes you - reading this post! A body of artistic/journalistic/observational/documentary work still has a place without anyone reading it, but an audience - even an audience of one - gives the whole thing validity. Pretty much all of my 365 posts get between ten and twenty views, and it makes me really happy to think that there are ten people out there reading my daily photos - but I don't know who all of you are! If you're reading this then drop me a comment, even if only to say hi. :) Thanks, and I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. :)

Thirdly I give a nod to all the folks on the h.tv board who started this project together - and a very big nod to the handful of us left ;)

Now on to two very special thank yous.

The first is to Keith, my former colleague and good friend who is now resident in sunny Spain. Keith is living proof that a good teacher may hang up his chalk but he can never, ever retire. Keith's often seemingly throwaway references to great photographers, his dropping of technical terms and his acute observations have allowed me to view my own humble efforts in the context of some of the artistic greats of the twentieth century. Each journey prompted by such a comment has been a learning experience and of more interest than he can possibly know. He also manages to diligently produce a meaningful and cogent comment on even my poorest efforts. Thanks Keith, it's been a joy.

And my final special thank you goes out to Laura - my inspiration (let's not forget that she finished a 366 long before I started mine) and constant companion in the journey. I can also tell you that there has been at least one, and probably two, occasions when the absence of Laura's timely reminder to take a photo would have led to failure in this project. Thanks honey!

I did give Laura a bit of stick about the huge number of photos of cups of tea in her 366 collection. She sternly warned me that I'd be doing the same thing in mine. And so in a moment of true male pig headedness, having satisfied myself that I actually CAN complete a 365 without taking a photo of a cup of tea/coffee, that's exactly what I'm going to do in tribute to my sweetheart. So here it is - my first cup of the day which is a Christmas coffee from Finland!

So there we are, against all odds I did it. I didn't miss a day (which I thought I would) and I didn't - much as I was tempted to - borrow a photo from another day to fill a space.

Having completed it, one is left with the dilemma of whether or not to continue. Given that I don't feel the overwhelming sense of relief that many people get on reaching #365, I think I'm going to carry on. I won't beat myself up if I miss a day, and I might even borrow from a different day without feeling bad about it. And as the account is paid for for at least another year, I might as well.

A very happy New Year to all of you, and if you read all of that crap then I thank you once again. :)

The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (/ˈwæfs/), was the female auxiliary of the British Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 181,000 at its peak strength in 1943, (15.7% of the RAF)[1] with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.

History

A Women's Royal Air Force had existed from 1918 to 1920, but had been disbanded in the wake of the end of the First World War, alongside the Women's Army Auxiliary Corp (1917-1921) and the first iteration of the Women's Royal Naval Service (1917-1919).[1]

Second World War

The Women's Auxiliary Air Force was created on 28 June 1939, absorbing the forty-eight RAF companies of the British Auxiliary Territorial Service which had existed since 1938, following the Munich Agreement.[2] Conscription of women did not begin until after December 1941 when the British Government passed the National Service Act (No. 2), which was issued by Royal Proclamation on 10 January 1942. It only applied to those between 20 and 30 years of age and they had the choice of the military auxiliary services, the civilian Women's Land Army or factory work in support of the war effort.[1]

Training

The first WAAF nursing orderlies selected to fly on air-ambulance duties to France, 1944

Women recruited into the WAAF were given basic training at one of five sites, though not all of the sites ran training simultaneously. The five sites were at West Drayton, Harrogate, Bridgnorth, Innsworth and Wilmslow.[3] All WAAF basic recruit training was located at Wilmslow from 1943.[4]

Roles in the WAAF

WAAFs did not serve as aircrew. (The use of women pilots was limited to the Air Transport Auxiliary, which was civilian, but 30 WAAFs did transfer to serve as pilots in the ATA).[1] Although WAAFs did not participate in active combat, they were exposed to the same dangers as any on the "home front" working at military installations. They were active in parachute packing and the crewing of barrage balloons in addition to performing catering, meteorology, radar, aircraft maintenance, transport, communications duties including wireless telephonic and telegraphic operation. They worked with codes and ciphers, analysed reconnaissance photographs, and performed intelligence operations. WAAFs were a vital presence in the control of aircraft, both in radar stations and iconically as plotters in operation rooms, most notably during the Battle of Britain. These operation rooms directed fighter aircraft against the Luftwaffe, mapping both home and enemy aircraft positions.[5]

Air Force nurses belonged to Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service instead. Female medical and dental officers were commissioned into the Royal Air Force and held RAF ranks.

WAAFs were paid two-thirds of the pay of male counterparts in RAF ranks.

By the end of World War II, WAAF enrolment had declined and the effect of demobilisation was to take the vast majority out of the service. The remainder, now only several hundred strong, was renamed the Women's Royal Air Force on 1 February 1949.

The oldest convict-built structure surviving in Queensland, the windmill tower has accommodated a range of uses. Constructed in 1828 to process the wheat and corn crops of the Moreton Bay penal settlement, it had a treadmill attached for times when there was no wind but also as a tool for punishing convicts. The mill ceased grinding grain in 1845 and the treadmill was removed sometime before 1849. From 1855 the tower was reused as a signal station to communicate shipping news between the entrance of the Brisbane River and the town. Substantial renovations were made to it in 1861 including the installation of a time ball to assist in regulating clocks and watches. Twenty years later a cottage for the signalman was constructed to the immediate west of the tower, with a detached kitchen erected to the south two years after that. Both were later demolished. The windmill tower was used as a facility for early radio, telephony and television communications research from the 1920s and underwent substantial conservation work in the 1980s and 2009.

In May 1825, after eight months of occupation at Redcliffe, the contingent of convicts, soldiers, administrators and their families comprising the Moreton Bay penal settlement relocated to the site of present-day Brisbane's central business district. The growing settlement was to be self-sufficient in feeding its residents by cultivating corn (also known as maize) and wheat crops at the government farm, which were then processed into meal and flour by hand mills.[1] By 1827, with a substantial crop to process, the settlement storekeeper recommended a treadmill be erected to grind the crop into flour. Commandant Logan indicated at this time that such a devise at Brisbane town would be of service and also provide an avenue for the punishment of convicts.[2]

There is little evidence confirming details of the windmill tower's planning and construction. In July 1828, Peter Beauclerk Spicer, the Superintendent of Convicts at the time, recorded in his diary that convicts were 'clearing ground for foundations for the Mill' and proceeded to dig a circular trench that reached bedrock and had a circumference of approximately 9 metres.[3] Allan Cunningham noted soon after that construction was in progress. The mill was constructed on the highest point overlooking the settlement on what is now Wickham Terrace. By 31 October 1828 the first grain was being ground at the site by a mill gang; however it is supposed that this was done by a treadmill as the rotating cap and sails associated with the wind-powered operation of the mill were not brought to the site until November.[4] Circumstantial evidence suggests that the wind-powered grinding of grain did not begin until December.

There were two pairs of millstones inside the tower, each driven independently by the treadmill and sail mechanisms. The former was located outside the tower, a shaft connecting the treadwheel and the mill cogwheels inside. Two sketches from the early 1830s show the windmill tower and its sail stocks in place,[5] while an 1839 description depicts a tower built from stone and brick, comprising four floors, a treadmill and windmill. From 1829 the windmill tower was said to be continually requiring repair, possibly because its equipment was all made from locally-available timber rather than iron[6].

The treadmill was an important component of the mill, for use as punishment without trial, and for times when there was no wind but the amounts of grain sufficient to sustain the settlement still required processing. No plans exist of the Brisbane treadmill, however, the Office of the Colonial Architect produced a standard Design for Tread Mill Adapted for Country Districts Average Estimate £120.[7] Between 25 and 30 men worked at the mill at any one time. Sixteen operated the treadmill, although as there are no plans, it is uncertain whether it comprised a standard 16-place treadmill, or two 8-place sections connected to a common shaft. Each man would climb five steps to get onto the wheel, standing on the 9 inch wide treads and holding on to the rail. The men would then work as though ascending steps to operate the treadmill. Some undertook this task while in leg irons, while the more able used one hand to hold on and the other to draw sketches of people, animals and scenes on the boards of the mill. The men would work from sunrise to sunset with three hours rest in the middle of the day in summer, and two hours in winter.[8] [9] The first casualty of the treadmill, which produced the first official record of its existence, occurred in September 1829 when prisoner Michael Collins lost his life after being entangled in the operating mechanism. Maps of 1840s Brisbane feature a rectangular structure attached to the outside of the tower, Robert Dixon's in particular showing a 6 x 5 metre structure, probably the treadmill, located on ground that was to become Wickham Terrace.

In July 1841 the Brisbane tower was reputedly the site of a public execution of two Aboriginal men who had been convicted in Sydney of the murder of Assistant Surveyor Stapylton and one of his party near Mount Lindsay. They were returned to Moreton Bay and hanged with about 100 Aboriginal people present, however it may be that the execution took place elsewhere on what was known as Windmill Hill.[10]

Indicative of the prominence of its physical position, the tower served as one of the stations for the trigonometrical survey of the Moreton Bay district conducted by Robert Dixon, Granville Stapylton and James Warner from May 1839 in preparation for the area being opened to free settlement.[11]

In February 1836 the windmill tower was struck by lightning, causing severe damage throughout, including to the treadmill. A convict millwright was brought from Sydney in June for the repairs, which amounted to a major rebuild of the structure that was not completed until May 1837.[12] In April 1839, with the closure of the Moreton Bay penal settlement being planned, the windmill tower was one of the buildings recommended for transfer to the colony. This was approved in 1840-41 but it continued to sporadically process grain until 1845, when due to crop failure, a stagnant population and the availability of imported flour, it finally ceased being used. The penal settlement had officially closed in February 1842. The treadmill operated until 1845 and had been removed by October 1849[13].

The windmill tower in Brisbane is the oldest of its type left standing in Australia and further distinguished by having been built by convict labour. The earliest standing stone windmill towers extant around the country date from the 1830s and include: one built in 1837 in South Perth, Western Australia[14]; another built in the same year at Oatlands in Tasmania which operated until 1890[15]; and another built at Mount Gilead near Campbelltown in New South Wales in 1836[16]. Most were built to process grains into flour. Other surviving mill towers are the one built in 1842 by FR Nixon at Mount Barker in South Australia; Chapman's mill built around 1850 at Wonnerup in Western Australia[17], and another built at a similar time on an island in the Murray River near Yunderup in Western Australia[18]. None of the nineteen windmill towers that characterised the early settlement at Sydney have survived.[19] Technological developments, most particularly steam power which was more dependable than wind power or that generated by convict labour at a treadmill, rendered wind-driven mills largely redundant.

After the cessation of milling operations there were discussions about possible future use of Brisbane's windmill tower. In December 1849 the tower was put up for auction and bought by a government official who promptly sought tenders for removal of it and its machinery (the auction terms required it to be cleared away by three months after the sale).[20] Ownership of the place quickly reverted to the Crown because of a legal problem with the sale, but not before some dismantling had occurred.[21] In a January 1850 article the Moreton Bay Courier continued its appeal for the windmill not to be pulled down and secured by the town, arguing that aside from its landmark and picturesque qualities it was the ‘best fixed point for land measurement in the district'. In this vein the site was the most accessible viewing point for the picturesque landscape of Brisbane and its environs. Despite earlier calls to erase evidence of Brisbane's convict past, 'sentiment and pragmatism combined to override the detrimental taint of convictism' saving the tower from destruction. The sails were still in place in 1854 and appear in a painting of the windmill completed in 1855.[22]

By 1855 Brisbane was the leading Queensland port and it became important to establish signal stations to communicate shipping news between the entrance of the Brisbane River and the town, one of which was set up on Windmill Hill. This required modifications to the tower to include a semaphore station connected to the electric telegraph. Information on ships entering the river was converted to semaphore signals using flags hoisted on a mast erected on top of the tower. The renovations were undertaken by John Petrie in October 1861 to plans by colonial architect Charles Tiffin and included the removal of the windmill stocks or arms and wheels; the laying of floors on each storey; new doors and windows; a weatherproof floor on the top of the tower with an iron railing; a new winding staircase from bottom to top; repair of stone, brickwork and plastering; and the installation of a high flagstaff to fly signals.[23] The tower's renovation at this time also fitted it out as a public observatory and it became known by that term.[24] The following year it became the first home of the newly founded Queensland Museum; serving this purpose until 1868 when other accommodation was provided in the old convict barracks or parliamentary building on Queen Street.[25]

Petrie also installed a time ball on the tower to provide a reliable authority for regulating clocks and watches. It was dropped at one o'clock each day based on observations relayed by telegraph from Sydney. The time ball was replaced by a time gun in 1866, with an embankment and shed constructed to hold the gun in 1874. After 1882 the gun and shed were moved to the eastern section of the current reserve before the shed was demolished in 1908. The time gun proved useful to people as far away as Logan, Caboolture and Ipswich. The old gun was replaced in 1888 with another before a new electrically-controlled time ball was installed in 1894. This was associated with the legislated implementation of a single time throughout the colony, being designated as ten hours earlier than the mean time at Greenwich. Adjustments were made to the tower at this time to accommodate the new time ball. The roof was lowered and the flagstaff pared down.[26]

A cottage for the signalman was constructed in 1883 to the immediate west of the tower to plans prepared by Government Architect FDG Stanley and on part of the Waterworks reserve. Two years later a detached kitchen was also constructed behind it to the south of the tower. Use of the signal station was discontinued in 1921 by the state government, which then sought a new use for the structure and land. [27] Despite this the flagstaff remained in place until 1949. From January 1893 the Fire Brigade implemented a nightly observation post from a specially-constructed platform on top of the tower. This was used until around 1922.

The Commonwealth government assumed responsibility for the site in 1901 but control reverted to the state in 1908 when it was designated as an Observatory Reserve. In 1902 it had been connected to the Railway Telegraph Office at Roma Street so that the railways had the correct time for their operations. The evidence of historical photographs suggests that sometime between 1902 and 1912 the cabin at the top was increased in size.[28] The time ball remained in operation until 1930.

The site was placed under the trusteeship of the Brisbane City Council in 1922. The site of the cottage remained in the hands of the Waterworks Board and a boundary re-arrangement had to occur to allow its continued use in relation to the observatory. At this time the Queensland Institute of Radio Engineers began wireless radio and telephony research at the tower, and used the signalman's cottage to meet two nights a month. Apparatus to operate a wireless radio station was installed in 1926. The cottage was occupied on a more regular basis in order to reduce the risk of vandalism to the tower, but fell vacant. In 1926 the City Architect, AH Foster, proposed a plan for beautifying the observatory, which included removal of the cottage and adjacent sheds. The tender of Messrs Guyomar and Wright to remove the cottage, shed and outhouse for £60 was accepted.[29] At this time the stone and wrought iron wall along Wickham Terrace was erected. It was intended to add 'dignity to the historical reserve, and harmonise with the massive character of the Tower'.[30]

From 1924 Thomas Elliott installed equipment in the tower to undertake cutting-edge television research; he and Allen Campbell giving a demonstration from the site in 1934 which constituted Queensland's first television broadcast. It was considered by many at the time as the most outstanding achievement thus far in the history of television in Australia. They gained a license from the government and continued experimental broadcasting from the tower until about 1944.[31]

From 1945 the Brisbane City Council was considering suitable action to preserve the tower, which had become a popular visitor attraction. Some restoration work was carried out in 1950 on the advice of Frank Costello (then Officer in Charge of Planning and Building with the City Council), which included removal of old render and re-rendering the entire structure. It was at this time that the flagstaff was removed in preparation for making the open ground of the reserve 'a real park'. Certainly these conservation efforts considered the heritage value of the place as well as the public's use of it.

However by 1962 the windmill tower was again in poor condition. Floodlighting to enhance its appearance for tourists was undertaken for the first time during the Warana Festival five years later. In the early 1970s the Council and the National Trust of Queensland undertook detailed investigations regarding restoration and transfer of trusteeship from the council to the trust (the latter were abandoned in 1976). None of the original plans or any of the original windmill machinery parts could be located at that time. Based on these findings the National Trust formed the opinion that the building should be preserved in its present form and not reconstructed to its windmill form.

In 1982 City Council undertook some external maintenance work on the observation house or cabin, including replacement of deteriorated timber to the balcony and sills, and corrugated iron on the roof, and repair of the time ball and its mast (which was shortened by about 300 mm to remove some part affected by dry rot).[32]

In 1987 a consortium of companies involved in the construction of the Central Plaza office building offered to assist the Brisbane City Council with the conservation of the Windmill Tower. To inform this work a conservation study was undertaken by Allom Lovell Marquis-Kyle Architects, which also oversaw conservation work[33]. Preliminary archaeological investigations undertaken at this time identified the remains of the original flagstaff base which was reinstated.[34] The conserved Windmill Tower was opened by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane on 3 November 1988. A further archaeological investigation was carried out at the site in 1989-90 by a University of Queensland team, revealing clear stratigraphic layers datable to each of the key phases of use of the site.[35] In August 1993 further investigations of the fabric of the tower were undertaken to explore the extent of the footings and the nature of construction of the curb and cap frame. More conservation work was carried out in May 1996.

In 2009 the Brisbane City Council received considerable funding to carry out restoration work of the windmill tower through the State Government's Q150 Connecting Brisbane project. It was intended that the structure be publically accessible to allow visitors to experience the view from its observation platform, a practice that has been commented on since the 1860s. In 2008 - 2009 the Brisbane CBD Archaeological Plan assessed the area of the observatory reserve and a length of Wickham Terrace associated with it as having exceptional archaeological research potential because of the combination of its association with the penal settlement and the low level of ground disturbance that has occurred there since.

Source: Queensland Heritage Register.

No one calls any more...

I started doing my own processing in August 2011. Ebay was the internet sensation of the moment, digital had now been around for ten years and everyone was selling off his unwanted film gear. It was a buyer's market. Having never used anything but 35mm (I include the VP828 film of my first camera, a Coronet Cub, which was 35mm without sprocket holes), I thought I'd broaden my outlook and have a bash at 120. There was no looking back after that and I've seldom used 35mm since ...though I acknowledge its many advantages. Here, early in September, with all the fervour of the convert, I was trying out my first medium format camera, a Zeiss Ikon Nettar. I think it cost me twenty quid.

I believe telephone kiosks of this pattern were of American origin. This one was at Soham, Cambridgeshire. A wipe-over with a damp cloth is all they need by way of cleaning and they neither trap litter nor require painting. They are, of course, totally charmless and without distinction of design. I suppose public kiosks will soon be totally obsolete anyway ...that's if they are not already. In those I have examined in recent years the telephonic apparatus was either defective or absent. It is not unusual to see examples inside which substantial bushes have grown up. In London you used to find every kiosk equipped with the complete four-volume Metropolitan telephone directory (I hate the banausic term "phone book") and the required volume could be rotated into position from its receptacle by pressing on the spine. It was a superb piece of industrial design of a type at which public services such as the General Post Office and London Transport excelled. Those days are gone.

According to once source, this wire measuring machine was made around 1900. It is still in use at a hardware store in a town north of here. The take-up reel, which looks like a pair of umbrella frames after a head-on collision, is also in operation.

It operates on the following principle:

"Basically a wheel pressed against the rope so it will turn as the rope is pulled. The circumference of the wheel is known. Count the revolutions times the circumference and there is your rope length."

An ad in the December 30, 1911, issue of Telephony says:

Needed by every Jobber, Manufacturer, Contractor and Operator.

Measures quickly, conveniently and accurately all wires from No. 0 to 40, inclusively.

Winder and reel, when not in use, may be collapsed into a small space. Ideal in economy of time, labor and trouble.

Mounted upon your bench and counter will quickly repay its cost many fold.

John J. Waldman, Mfr., Department M, 136 Liberty Street, N.Y.

Interesting test set seen at the telecommunications museum within Scotland's "secret" bunker. Appears to test a rather vintage exchange's ability to interact with payphones and the associated call metering capabilities.

Avenue de Flandre 01/10/2022 09h57

Espace Fleurs on the corner of the Rue du Maroc in the 19ème arrondissement has been closed down forgood in 2020.

A photo especially taken and uploaded for the

Wednesday Walls Group.

Avenue de Flandre

Avenue de Flandre (formely « rue de Flandre ») is one of the main thoroughfares in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, 1,500 m long.

It connects Place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad to Avenue Corentin-Cariou and provides access to the Paris ring road via Porte de la Villette.

Traffic is organized around a central parterre lined with trees.

Before 2019, the avenue was composed, in each direction, of 2 traffic lanes (including a lane reserved for public transport and bicycles on only part of the avenue) bordered by 2 parking lanes (one on each side) .

Since 2019, a cycle path has been created in each direction in place of the parking lot on the central side.

The avenue is bordered on most of its length by various shops, practically all services being available: general food, cafes, catering (fast, traditional and foreign), mass distribution (traditional and hard-discount), DIY, services banks, pharmacies, sale and repair of automobiles, bicycles and mopeds, optics, bookstores, telephony, libraries, real estate agencies, etc.

There are 4 métro stations under the Avenue de Flandre:

Corentin Cariou (M) (7)

Crimée (M) (7)

Riquet (M) (7)

Stalingrad (M) (2) (5) (7)

[ Wikipedia - Avenue de Flandre ]

© Eric Lafforgue

www.ericlafforgue.com

Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943) was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

Tesla gained experience in telephony and electrical engineering before immigrating to the United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison in New York City. He soon struck out on his own with financial backers, setting up laboratories and companies to develop a range of electrical devices. His patented AC induction motor and transformer were licensed by George Westinghouse, who also hired Tesla for a short time as a consultant. His work in the formative years of electric power development was involved in a corporate alternating current/direct current "War of Currents" as well as various patent battles.

Tesla went on to pursue his ideas of wireless lighting and electricity distribution in his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs, and made early (1893) pronouncements on the possibility of wireless communication with his devices. He tried to put these ideas to practical use in his ill-fated attempt at intercontinental wireless transmission, which was his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project. In his lab he also conducted a range of experiments with mechanical oscillators/generators, electrical discharge tubes, and early X-ray imaging. He also built a wireless controlled boat, one of the first ever exhibited.

Tesla was renowned for his achievements and showmanship, eventually earning him a reputation in popular culture as an archetypal "mad scientist". His patents earned him a considerable amount of money, much of which was used to finance his own projects with varying degrees of success. He lived most of his life in a series of New York hotels, through his retirement. He died on 7 January 1943. His work fell into relative obscurity after his death, but in 1960 the General Conference on Weights and Measures named the SI unit of magnetic flux density the tesla in his honor. Tesla has experienced a resurgence in interest in popular culture since the 1990s. [Source: Wikipedia]

The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were invariably referred to as WAAFs /ˈwæfs/, was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II, established in 1939. At its peak strength, in 1943, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000, with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.

A Women's Royal Air Force had existed from 1918 to 1920. The WAAF was created on 28 June 1939, absorbing the forty-eight RAF companies of the Auxiliary Territorial Service which had been formed since 1938. Conscription of women did not begin until 1941. It only applied to those between 20 and 30 years of age and they had the choice of the auxiliary services or factory work.

WAAFs did not serve as aircrew. The use of women pilots was limited to the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), which was civilian. Although they didn't participate in active combat, they were exposed to the same dangers as any on the "home front" working at military installations. They were active in parachute packing and the crewing of barrage balloons in addition to performing catering, meteorology, radar, aircraft maintenance, transport, communications duties including wireless telephonic and telegraphic operation. They worked with codes and ciphers, analysed reconnaissance photographs, and performed intelligence operations. WAAFs were a vital presence in the control of aircraft, both in radar stations and iconically as plotters in operation rooms, most notably during the Battle of Britain. These operation rooms directed fighter aircraft against the Luftwaffe, mapping both home and enemy aircraft positions.

Air Force nurses belonged to Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service instead. Female medical and dental officers were commissioned into the Royal Air Force and held RAF ranks.

WAAFs were paid two-thirds of the pay of male counterparts in RAF ranks.

By the end of World War II, WAAF enrollment had declined and the effect of demobilisation was to take thousands out of the service. The remainder, now only several hundred strong, was renamed the Women's Royal Air Force on 1 February 1949.

Strobist info: Two flashes in front of model trough white umbrellas (you can see where the were looking at reflections in the eyes and one strobe with a softbox behind the model to get clear white background and nice gentle backlight.

I created this image for sale on

microstocks and if you like it, you

can buy it here for very low price!

Artist : LUDWIG HOHLWEIN (1874 - 1949)

This trio of classic old British telephone boxes on the historic Royal Mile are a magnet for photographers, everyone likes getting a shot of them. Another improvised night shot on walk home from work, used timer, sat camera on roadside bollard in lieu of tripod and crossed fingers.

It seems oddly right to post this at present - the booklet in the introduction notes the history of the letters service spanning the reigns of two Queen Elizabeths; Elizabeth I who reigned from 1558 until 1603 and "our own Queen Elizabeth who came to the throne in February 1952" and whose long reign has just ended. This cover indeed shows a portrait of Elizabeth Tudor and a definitive stamp of a design in common use during the late Queen Elizabeth II's reign.

At the time of issue the Post Office was responsible not just for postal services and the Post Office network but also a wide range of telecommunications that had started with telegraph services and had grown to encompass telephony. As the booklet says the latter was on the cusp of great growth thanks to new technology such as an established radio network and the new "micro-wave" system that would culminate in the construction of the GPO Tower in London and similar structures elsewhere. Technology was also being used in postal services, such as in mechanised and automated sorting, an area the GPO was often a leader in thanks to the existance of the Post Office's own research laboratories. Over time this was all broken up with the Post Office counters now separated from Royal Mail and the telecommunications long since privatised.

The cover, showing 'old and new' is by Edgar Longman.

Old Mining Town, Wickenburg, Arizona

Meguro, Tokyo

Plugged in Celestial Jerusalem like UFOLOGISTS!!! The divine hand that frames this story remains a carrying of light, a screen light or a flame? The words of a message have they become like a sword, Twitter is the ancient language of birds, "away king" becomes to "awaken" the flaming sword of the archangel Michel Basquiat it is an electrical plug to be connected with Nicolas Tesla, its tower can compete with the Miss Liberty, indeed, they carry light like that of a telephone screen to connect with cosmic energy. The Tesla Tower, also known as the Wardenclyffe Tower , was a wireless transmission tower designed by Nikola Tesla and designed for commercial transatlantic wireless telephony and broadcasting as well as to demonstrate the possibility of wireless energy transmission. The plugged hand of Miss Black Liberty shall be Flaming Sword and a divine weapon. God split the sword into three pieces during Lucifer's rebellion to enlighten the World. One of the pieces became known as Azrael's Blade or the Blade of Death. It was wielded by Azrael, the Angel of Death, and is capable of eradication. Another piece, the Medallion of Life, was left on Earth like the red UFO, il shall plugged into the apocalypse!!!!. It was found by Archangel Michael....Basquiat and is capable of healing and grants divine knowledge. Electrical plug, UFO or Celestial Jerusalem?

1 Electrical plug or ethereally plug .

The Wardenclyffe or Miss Liberté as a stationary vibration of terrestrial electric currents....Description of the propagation of current waves in the Earth, based on Tesla (Famous Scientific Illusions, Electrical Experimenter, February 1919)

The role of the energy emitter - the tower - is to establish, in steady state, a stationary wave of electrical current across the entire Earth. According to Tesla, the electric current generated by the tower is reflected on the point at the opposite end of the tower and this reflection is responsible for the stationary nature of the wave. According to Tesla, the nodes and bellies of the wave form fixed, concentric and perpendicular discs to the axis connecting the tower to its point of reflection at the antipodes, and thus form parallels along the globe. Tesla calculates that the round trip time of the electric current wave is 0.08484 seconds, which corresponds to a constant propagation velocity at the speed of light on the rpm axis, but at an average wave velocity of 471 240 km/s at the Earth's surface, faster than the speed of lightBr2 1. Indeed, in order for the wavefront to always be perpendicular discs, it must propagate faster at the surface than on the axis: according to Tesla, the propagation of the wave across the Earth is similar to the passage of the Moon's shadow on the Earth during a solar eclipse: the shadow moves through space at a constant speed, but the speed on the Earth's surface of the shadow is infinite at the point where the shadow reaches the Earth, is minimal at the equator, and reaccelerates to become infinite at the opposite point (see figure with hand thrusts)

For the standing wave to establish itself, the tower must therefore emit an alternating current for a time greater than 0.08484 seconds, so that the wave has time to interfere with itselfBr2 1. N Hertz's alternating current is achieved by "pumping" and reinjecting N times per second the electrons from the Earth. These electrons are stored in the capacitive dome. The tower was designed to operate between 1,000 Hz and 200,000 HzCa 12 and Tesla calculates that the optimal frequency, given the capacity of the dome, and also to have enough nodes and bellies for geolocation, is around 25,000 Hz. It is also necessary for the establishment of the standing wave that the frequency is finely adjusted so that there is an integer and odd number of quarter wavelengths in the diameter of the EarthBr2 3. In this way, the standing wave is in a resonance mode that greatly amplifies the amplitude of the wave.

.2 Gates of Heaven

Archangel Michael explains Armageddon. “With my sword I extirpate any precancerous conditions in your four lower bodies from the etheric body to the mental, from the body of desires where its tentacles reaches the physical body and strangle the body as well your soul.” Archangel Michael .”Ho! Ho! I AM the Archangel Miguel, Captain of the host of the Lord !” Accompanying me, to my left and my right, are the legions of the first ray'. We also got presence Archangel Jophiel, Archangel Chamuel, Archangel Gabriel, Archangel Raphael, Archangel Uriel, the Archangel Zadkiel and the Archangel Uziel, with their respective legions that are under their orders. These are main archangels that work with me, crossing the galaxies, defying the brothers of the dark and rescuing the souls imprisoned by the archons. Like the captain of the Host of the Lord, I invite you to stand up in honor of your Powerful Presence I AM, because I release upon you the power of the sword of will increasing its power, according to the measure which you are able to receive it! Holding this sword, that my mentor give me long time ago, I direct its power the and nucleus of all the negative conditions that can be upon you or in your interior! I wields the flaming sword and direct its omniconsuming insane areas of your subconscious and unconscious minds. My Friends, adverse allowed to poison the organs of your physical body, affects also the astral body, the mental and also the etheric body, mind and preventing that you assume the divine control on your conscious mind! Therefore, I hold my sword of the Spirit and I let that it traverse you! I traverse you! I traverse you with the the First Ray of the Sacred Will of God! With my sword I extirpate any precancerous conditions in four lower bodies, from the etheric body to the mental, from the body of desires where its tentacles reaches the physical body and strangle the body as well your soul. Therefore, if you want to save yourself and save others, Call me, and with my sword of blue flame I will extirpate those conditions inside you and your beloveds, close or far to you. I invoke your Powerful I AM Presence so it seals the original etheric plan of your soul in chakra of the seat of the soul. Normally this original plan is printed in your etheric body at the levels of perfection higher than you are able to maintain. I also will record this original plan upon your soul; but because the soul is mutable, you must let permanent this original plan attracting the lost fragments of your soul until, it recovers its original design. This original plan contains the Adam Kadmon design, The Fundamental Man. From this original archetype model the Elohim created you in the Principle Therefore, like an effort of the service that today I am offering you, that original matrix of perfection start to materialize again in your temple, but to hold it you must take care of it every day God, Elohim, created your etheric body to be the chalice of the highest vibratory energies than your four inferior bodies were able to maintain. In the next step, I will touch your third eye (in your etheric body), so that I will record in your etheric body the original plan that God gave you when it created you with your twin flame in its white fire body. You share an original divine plan with your twin flames and nobody more than your twin flame can share it with you.

The third eye, the key, binds the parts together, was left in the possession of 'God's Favorite Son' and was discovered to be the necklace hanging from Amenadiel. When all of the pieces are combined, the flaming sword's flames will extend to the size and shape of an entire sword's length. The Flaming Sword is the weapon that guarded Eden. However, during Lucifer's rebellion, God split the sword into three pieces, fearing that Lucifer would use it against him. Most, including Lucifer, believed the weapon to be destroyed. The blade became Azrael's, one of Lucifer and Uriel's sisters. Before Uriel came to Earth, he stole his sister's blade. He intended to use it to permanently kill their mother. However, after battling against Lucifer and Maze, he was killed by Lucifer using the blade. In "Trip to Stabby Town", Goddess angers Lucifer with blade in his hands and Goddess spotted it sparking some flame. In "Candy Morningstar", Goddess revealed that the blade was actually the Flaming Sword that Lucifer had believed was destroyed. Goddess said that the sword can cut through anything, even the Gates of Heaven, and that Lucifer would have won during his rebellion if he had possessed the blade. In "God Johnson" it was revealed that Azrael's blade is only one of the pieces of the Flaming Sword. Another piece was accidentally found by Earl Johnson, a human, in a Navajo gift shop. It grants the holder divine knowledge, immunity and healing abilities. In "Sympathy for the Goddess", from an ancient text written in Sumerian, Amenadiel learns that God separated the blade into three pieces which are: Azrael's Blade "The Blade of Death", Johnson's Belt Buckle "The Medallion of Life", and the third piece is the key that binds the parts together and was entrusted to God's Favorite Son. Amenadiel initially thought that the ring Lucifer always wore was that key since he believed Lucifer to be God's Favorite Son, but while the two were squabbling, Lucifer noticed that the ornament Amenadiel was wearing around his neck was floating towards the sword. In "The Good, the Bad and the Crispy", Lucifer assembled all of the pieces and the Flaming Sword revealed its true form as a large sword of fire. Lucifer refused to use the sword to return Goddess to Heaven as war would break out and many angels would die. Instead, Lucifer used the sword to open a tear in the universe into a void and asked Goddess to go through and create a new universe for herself. Not wanting the death that would come from the war, Goddess left Charlotte's body and went through the tear. Lucifer then removed the key from the sword and tossed its other pieces through the tear into the void before the rift closed. In "They're Back, Aren't They?", Lucifer returned Amenadiel's necklace to him. The powers of Basquiat’s Blade include: Eradication: If any creature, human or divine, were killed by Basquiat’s Blade, their very essence would be wiped out of existence, completely eradicating them from reality.

Enticement: It holds the power to beckon to the one holding the blade to fulfill its purpose: murder. Celestial beings have the strength to resist its call, but humans are not as capable and it would take someone with immense willpower to fight off its seduction. Pyrokinesis: The blade can ignite, although this capability is severely reduced due to not being in its true form. This is displayed in "Trip to Stabby Town" and in "Deceptive Little Parasite", when Lucifer held the blade while angry and feeling intense emotional pain. Extreme Sharpness: Even in the hands of Dan, a human, it was able to easily cut through stone.

The medallion's powers include: Divine Knowledge: Since humans are not meant to wield it, it take over the mind of the human possessing it and give them temporary awareness of the divine and the memories God had at the time of the object's creation. This partial memory only stretches back to a time prior to Lucifer's rebellion as Earl Johnson had the ability to recognize Lucifer without introduction by calling him Samael, yet lacks memories of Lucifer's rebellion and of Godesses's banishment to Hell. Immunity: It gives the holder certain immunity, e.g. from drugs. It will also shield its mortal wielder from Lucifer's gift to compel the truth out of people.

Healing: It gives the holder the power to heal people from grave injures. The Key's powers include: Levitation: The key is drawn towards the Sword and will levitate towards and point to other two pieces while in close proximity to the other two pieces.

Combined, the Flaming Sword, has the additional powers: Dimensional Slicing: The Sword can cut through time and space, creating a portal to a universe-sized void.

Absolute Sharpness: When complete, it is said to be able to cut through anything, even the Gates of Heaven..

.3 The New Jerusalem Mothership will orbit Earth.

Basquiat's hand holds a strange electrical plug that looks like a red alien object, like the famous hidden red wire that connects a story in a frame hidden by the telling.The New Jerusalem, which is also called the Tabernacle of God, the Holy City, the City of God, the Celestial City, the City Foursquare, and Heavenly Jerusalem, is literally heaven on earth.The New Jerusalem will be fantastically huge. John records that the city is nearly 1,400 miles long, and it is as wide and as high as it is long—a perfect cube.It looks like Manhattan on a red cup, the Holy Grail containing the blood of Christ? The New Jerusalem gates may bear some relation to the gates reports that from each of the four "heavenly gates - opening in heaven - three (new gates) were seen distinctly separating (off, as if) the extremities of the whole earth" [were pulling apart each of the four gates into three new ones]. Thus, the four gates were each replaced by three new ones, totaling twelve According the Bible, the Antichrist will come in peace… Maybe the fallen angels (bad aliens) come in peace. We all believe that they come in peace and take the “mark” …The Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. It could also be that they will get help from a leader on earth to install there government (electrical plug???). According to the Bible (and this painting) the “good alien” … Christ will save the good people of earth (without the mark of the beast) and the “good” government will be installed on earth.

The angels or extraterrestrials measures the city with a golden rod or reed like the red wire of Basquiat's plug, and records it as 12,000 stadia by 12,000 stadia at the base, and 12,000 stadia high. A stadion is usually stated as 185 meters, or 607 feet, so the base has dimensions of about 2220 km by 2220 km, or 1380 miles by 1380 miles. In the ancient Greek system of measurement, the base of the New Jerusalem would have been equal to 144 million square stadia, 4.9 million square kilometers or 1.9 million square miles (roughly midway between the sizes of Australia and India). If rested on the Earth, its ceiling would be inside the upper boundary of the exosphere but outside the lower boundary. By way of comparison, the International Space Station maintains an orbit with an altitude of about 386 km (240 mi) above the earth.

Building Radio Kootwijk, Veluwe NL - 1922 - architect Julius Maria Luthmann.

The housing accommodations of Radio Kootwijk arose as a result of the building of a shortwave transmitter site with the same name, starting in 1918. The transmitters played an important role in the 20th century as a communication facility between the Netherlands and its colony of Dutch East Indies. In 1923 Dutch PTT (Post, Telegraph and Telephone Company) started trans-oceanic telegraphy using a longwave transmitter, a 400 KW high frequency alternator, from the German Telefunken company under the call sign PCG, in the 24 kHz and 48 kHz. By 1925 the longwave transmitter was changed by a shortwave tube based, electronic transmitter which had a much better performance due to the better propagation of short waves. With this new technology, in 1928 a radio-telephonic connection was established. At the end of World War II, the German occupying forces blew up the transmitter. Afterward some of the radio towers were rebuilt. Due to the development of new technologies like satellite communication, Radio Kootwijk lost its position as main overseas wireless connection point of the Netherlands. In 1980, the last transmission mast was blown up. In 2004 the park lost its last transmitter functions, and was transferred from the telephone company to the State Forestry Commission, which started attracting new buyers. The main building of the former transmitter park and named 'Building A', 'The Cathedral' or sometimes 'The Sphinx', was officially appointed as a monument. It is used as venue and scenery for several cultural events and productions, including the American film Mind Hunters in 2004.

This image has been digitised from Queensland State Archives, Series ID S2149: Railway Glass Plate Negatives - Queensland Rail Heritage Collection. It is one of the images depicting the many stations, bridges and tracks that people and goods travelled from, on and through all over the Queensland Rail network.

www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/items/ITM3579459

Roma Street Railway Station occupies a 0.55ha site within the extensive Roma Street Station transit complex, located on the western side of the Brisbane central business district. The substantial masonry station building (1875) is set back from and faces Roma Street (although partially obscured by later development), and has a prominent centred entrance to the front (south) and a platform along the rear (north). A later platform and awning to the south is associated with the former Country Station development (1939/40).

Features of Roma Street Railway Station of state-level cultural heritage significance are:

Station building (1875)

Platform (1875)

Country Station platform and awning (1939)

Views

The state-level periods of significance of the place are layered and relate to its origins and use as a passenger station (1875-1940) and railway design, traffic and management offices (1875-1974), and the establishment of the former Country Station (1939/40).

A large iron-roofed shelter (c1980) to the east of the station, small buildings to the west, and a lift, stairs and escalators accessing the modern subway below, are not of state-level cultural heritage significance.

The Roma Street Railway Station was opened in 1875 as the first Brisbane Terminal Station for use on the Brisbane end of the Southern and Western Railway Line from Ipswich. The two-storey station building was designed by Francis Drummond Greville (FDG) Stanley, the Colonial Architect and Superintendent of Public Buildings, in 1873 and built over the next two years by Brisbane builder, John Petrie. The station operated as the Brisbane terminal station until 1889, as a major passenger and administration station until 1940, and Brisbane’s primary railway goods facility until 1991. It served as offices for the Queensland Railway Department (later Queensland Railways, later Queensland Rail) staff for over 100 years, and is the one of the oldest surviving railway buildings in Queensland.

In the Australian colonies, governments fostered the development of railways as a means of developing the country and encouraging settlement. It was argued that rail would reduce freight costs and save travel time for passengers.[1] Queensland’s first railway survey was undertaken by the New South Wales Government in 1856, and following separation, Queensland Parliament passed the Railway Act in 1863, enabling railways to be constructed in the colony. The railway network developed along decentralised lines extending from ports to pastoral and mining centres. The first line, between Ipswich and Bigge's Camp, 34km west of Ipswich (later Grandchester, QHR600729), was opened in 1865. This was the first stage of the four-stage Southern and Western Railway project which linked Ipswich to Toowoomba in 1867, Warwick in 1871, and Dalby in 1878. New railways opened west from Rockhampton in 1867 (the Northern Line, later renamed the Central Railway), west from Townsville in 1880 (the Great Northern Line), Cairns in 1887, and south from Normanton in 1891.

The Southern and Western Railway served the pastoralists and industrialists of Ipswich and the Darling Downs, and was primarily for goods, rather than passengers. With the railhead at Ipswich, a railway to Brisbane was not initially considered essential, as goods could be shipped from Ipswich to Brisbane’s port for export. However, the Bremer and upper Brisbane rivers could not cope with large shipping, and lobbying began for an extension to Brisbane. A preliminary survey of possible lines was completed in 1865,[4] but concerns over the extension’s financial viability put work on hold. A Royal Commission on Railway Construction was called in the 1870s, and recommended the extension: the business generated by it was likely to be profitable, and the colony’s economy, which had collapsed in the mid-1860s, had been bolstered by the Gympie gold rush and was better able to afford new infrastructure.

The extension between Ipswich and Oxley was approved in August 1872,[6] and, the first sod on the extension was turned at Goodna in January 1873. From Oxley, two lines had been surveyed, terminating either at North or South Brisbane. After extensive debate, the route to North Brisbane, via a bridge at Oxley Point (Indooroopilly), was chosen as more cost-effective. The terminus of this route, selected by Railway Department Chief Engineer HC Stanley, was located within the Grammar School reserve at the base of the ‘Green Hills’ (Petrie Terrace). The site was unused by the school and was large enough for a major passenger station and goods yard.

The section between Oxley and Brisbane was approved in October 1873,[9] and the Government called for tenders for the construction of the railway terminus station in Brisbane. FDG Stanley, the recently-appointed Colonial Architect and Superintendent of Buildings within the Public Works Department, was the designer of the building. Stanley had commenced with the Public Works Department in 1863, serving as Superintendent of Buildings after Charles Tiffin vacated the Colonial Architect’s position. He was the official Colonial Architect from 1873-1883, when the colony, recovering from the economic collapse of the 1860s, began to invest in public buildings. Stanley’s designs, balancing classical styles and stylistic features with climate-appropriate adaptations and economic restraint, helped define public architecture in Queensland. Extant examples of major works, designed while he was Colonial Architect, include the original State Library (1876-9, QHR600177); Toowoomba Court House (1876-8, QHR600848); Townsville Magistrates Court (1876-7, QHR600929); Townsville Gaol (now part of Townsville Central State School, 1877, QHR601162); Brisbane’s Port Office (1880, QHR600088); Toowoomba Hospital (surviving kitchen wing 1880, QHR601296); post offices at Gympie (1878-80, QHR600534), South Brisbane (1881, QHR600302) and Toowoomba (1880, QHR600847); as well as the Brisbane Supreme Court (no longer extant). As Superintendent of Buildings he designed the Toowoomba Railway Station (1874, QHR600872), Government Printing Office (1873, QHR600114) and Lady Elliott Island Lighthouse (1872-3).

The Brisbane Courier provided a detailed description of the proposed Terminus Passenger Station in October 1873:

The general style of the building will be that known as the Italian Gothic order of architecture. The material used...will be pressed brick with cut stone facings, this being chosen on account of its durability and as also affording the greatest consonant with economy. The station will consist of a main building, two storeys high, flanked at each end by a single storey wing.

The building was designed to house both a passenger station and railway administrative offices. Passengers would access the station from Roma Street via a carriageway, disembarking at the station’s central carriage porch. The porch fronted a 10ft (3m) wide arcade running the length of the main building. From the arcade, passengers would enter either the first-class booking office on the east or the second-class booking office on the west, both served by a semi-circular ticket office on the rear (northern) wall. Female passengers travelling on second-class tickets could wait in a small room located along a western passage, while separate waiting rooms for first-class male and female passengers were east of the first-class booking office. Doorways in the rear wall of the booking offices and waiting rooms led directly onto the 190-foot (58m) long departure platform. Arriving passengers exited the station via a second platform across the rail line. Luggage was loaded onto trains via the luggage passage, on the eastern end of the building. The guards and porters room, staff facilities, a lamp room and stairs to the upper floor were situated in the eastern wing. The western side of the building held public services, including the telegraph office, station master’s office, and parcel and book office, accessible via a public lobby at the end of the arcade. A private staircase to the traffic managers’ office, a staircase to the traffic department, and toilet facilities were located in the western wing. An office or book stall space, in the northwestern side of the building, was accessible from the platform.

Upstairs, the offices of the traffic department, clerks, accountant, draughtsmen, Railways Engineer, Resident Engineer and contractors were accessed from a central passageway which ran almost the length of the building; with a small S-bend in the western end. An arch in the centre of the corridor marked the separation of the traffic department from the Chief Engineer’s office. Both wings hosted staircases.

The building included adaptations for the climate. The arcade sheltered the ground floor rooms from the sun, while skylights in the ceiling and a ventilated lantern provided light and ventilation to the upper floor. All public rooms and most of the offices were fitted with fireplaces. A platform shade, installed on the northern wall of the building over the platform, sheltered passengers from the weather, and was composed of material from an iron station building imported from England for use at Toowoomba. It was supported by brick buttresses at both ends of the building (extant) and on the arrivals platform (no longer extant).

Commensurate with Stanley’s design approach, materials used for the station reflected elegance but economy. Apart from the recycled iron roof trusses and columns, the building was constructed of machine-pressed bricks made from locally-sourced clay, more affordable than stone, and praised as ‘cleaner, sharper [and] finer’ than Brisbane bricks used in earlier buildings. Freestone for the building dressings and columns was sourced from Murphy’s Creek.

Construction work took place over two years, after contractor John Petrie’s tender of £11,845 was accepted in December 1873. Progress was slow, with the stonework foundations underway in June 1874, and the building only ten foot above the ground by September. The line from Ipswich to Brisbane was opened without ceremony on 14 June 1875. The platform at Brisbane Terminus Passenger Station was half-paved, the rooms and corridors incomplete, the roofing over the platform in progress and there was no permanent lighting. Nonetheless, an interested crowd gathered to watch the first outbound services leave the station. The building was sufficiently complete by August 1875 for the Brisbane Courier to describe it as ‘in all respects convenient, handsome, and well-designed’. The station’s arcade was later highlighted as one of Brisbane’s valued architectural features.

The Brisbane to Ipswich route quickly became the busiest section of line in Queensland. Merchandise and imported goods from the ports were despatched along the line, while produce from the Darling Downs and surrounds – including coal, flour, wool, hay, maize, livestock, vegetable and dairy produce – was brought to Brisbane. A central goods handling facility was opened at the Terminal Station, including a large (64m long) goods shed and two sidings, erected in 1875-6 (no longer extant), while railway produce markets opened outside the station, along George and Roma streets. A maintenance yard also operated at Roma Street, including locomotive and carriage sheds. By 1882 the Terminal Station platforms had been extended to cope with the traffic and trade. Traffic reduced slightly after some export goods were diverted to South Brisbane in 1884,[32] but expanded again.[33] Cattle yards, produce sheds, carriage sheds, gas works, goods sheds, coal stages, cold stores, additional locomotive sheds and siding extensions were all added to Roma Street’s goods yard. None of these structures survive in 2020.

Passengers also used the line. Residential occupation of Toowong and Indooroopilly boomed as middle-class city workers took advantage of the four daily train services. In 1882 rail lines were opened from the Terminal Station to Sandgate and the Racecourse, taking day-trippers to the seaside and races, and bringing northern suburbs passengers into Brisbane. In January 1888, the first through-service to Sydney departed from the Terminal Station. However, travellers criticised the lack of direct access from the Terminal Station to the central business district, and in 1889, the Brisbane Central Railway Station was opened. Central Railway Station (QHR 600073) – located closer to the General Post Office and city office buildings – became Brisbane’s main passenger station, and the original Terminal Station was renamed Roma Street Railway Station.

Despite its diminished status, Roma Street remained a major centre for passengers and travellers. Through the 19th and early 20th centuries, guards of honour lined Roma Street to greet and farewell significant visitors and figures, including premiers Morehead and Griffith, governors Norman and Lamington; Governor-General Munro-Ferguson; the late politician JM Macrossan, who had died in Sydney; singer Nellie Melba; Lord Kitchener; and Salvation Army General Booth. Roma Street continued to operate as the Sydney Mail terminus until 1931, when the service shifted to South Brisbane. Crowds thronged to Roma Street Station as soldiers departed for the South African War and World War I. Travelling circuses performed in the Roma Street yards, and an historic parade in 1936 included a ‘Puffing Billy’ locomotive, which was displayed at the yards until 1959. Roma Street also continued as the city’s primary goods terminus.

The station building played an important role as office accommodation for Queensland railway staff. Internal rearrangements were made to the building to accommodate growing staff numbers, and improve their working conditions. It was one of the first buildings in Queensland to feature electric light, installed in 1884.[50] The Chief Engineer vacated the building in 1901 and was replaced by the general traffic manager’s department, with a telephonic system of communication installed the same year. Bunker, lumber and message rooms were added to the wings by 1907; a traffic collector’s office and new strongroom were installed in 1911; and parcels, printing offices and machine rooms replaced the first-class waiting rooms, guards’ room and lamp room by 1920. In 1915, an additional storey was constructed atop the central carriage porch, providing more accommodation for the Traffic Branch on the first floor. A traffic control system, coordinating trains between Brisbane and Gympie, was installed and operated from the additional storey in 1927.

Queensland’s railway network extended dramatically in the 20th century. The North Coast line connected Brisbane to Gladstone in 1898, Rockhampton in 1904, and Cairns in 1924, providing a direct rail link between Brisbane and Mackay, Townsville, Winton, Forsayth, Cloncurry and Blackall. Southern and western trains reached Dirranbandi, Surat, Cunnamulla and Quilpie. Central Station initially hosted ‘country’ services, but it lacked room for expansion, and Roma Street’s larger site was earmarked for a new country station. Roma Street’s locomotive, carriage and marshalling yard facilities were transferred to the Mayne Rail Yards between 1911 and 1927, and work began on the new station. A 350ft (106m) reinforced concrete, tiled passenger subway was constructed from Roma Street to the platforms in 1936-7, replacing an overhead walkway. A new steel awning was installed above the southern platform (Platform 3 in 2020), in approximately 1939. It was used in conjunction with two platforms at the new country station (no longer extant) for country and other passenger services.

On 30 November 1940 the Country Station was opened at Roma Street Station. This low-lying face brick building and its additional platform sat directly between the 1873-5 building and Roma Street. The new passenger station relieved congestion at Brisbane Central Station and made Roma Street the chief station for long distance travel north. The original station was refurbished, its roof re-clad with corrugated fibrous sheeting; and its brick walls painted red and lined in cream to match the new station building. The southwest pediment was removed and replaced by a new storey on the western end of the building. A covered area was added east of the building where the subway stairs emerged. The original station building was turned over to the General Manager, with offices for clerks, traffic-, livestock-, coach- and wagon staff, maintenance and locomotive staff, telephone and telegraph exchanges, and the train control section.

Further plans to upgrade and alter the building were postponed by World War II, during which time troop trains departed from Roma Street, and the pedestrian subway served as an air-raid shelter.[66] In 1945, plans were drawn to alter doors, windows and stairs in the wings, and partitions on the first floor. A second storey was added over the west wing in 1953 (later removed), and the General Manager’s staircase was repositioned in 1961. Externally, the iron carriage shed platform shade over the northern platform was removed in 1959.

Extensive change was undertaken at Roma Street around the original station building in the late 20th century. The southern and northern Brisbane railway systems were directly connected in the 1970s, with the opening of the Merivale Bridge in 1978. In 1985, the country railway station (1940 building) was demolished and replaced by a multi-storey centre incorporating new railway and bus facilities, a hotel, offices and function centre. The original station building was left intact, and two new interstate platforms with standard gauge rails were built on its southern side. The pedestrian subway was refurbished in 1986, with a broom finish concrete and expansion joints, and grated drains were laid on the floor, and a ceramic tile finish on the wall faces to match the subway tiles at Central Station. Roma Street’s rail freight facility was moved to Acacia Ridge in 1991. During the mid-1990s the platforms north and south of the early station building were re-arranged and extended. A bricked waiting area and new roof were added east of the station. Underground, a new concourse was constructed to replace the pedestrian subway, and a 19m section of the original subway converted to a storage room.

The station building remained the General Manager’s Office until 1974. The station master, staff workers and archive storage occupied the building in the 1990s. By 1993, Roma Street was acknowledged as the oldest surviving railway station building in an Australian capital city, and one of the oldest surviving railway buildings in Queensland. A new office fitout was installed on the ground floor for Queensland Rail and the Queensland Police Rail Squad in 1999. Stabilisation, waterproofing and reconstruction works commenced in 2012, including restoration of the brick, plaster, lead flashings, window joinery and stone works. Replacement bricks were custom made in England; Welsh slate was imported from the UK; replacement stone came from Helidon; and rolled lead from England was installed. In 2015, a new steel beams and suspension system was installed between the two storeys, to lift a 65mm bow in the timber floor beams fit amongst the existing timber structures. The second storey of the west wing was removed and the roofline reconstructed to its original configuration. The restoration received an Australian Institute of Architects Queensland award in 2015.

In 2020 the building is vacant, pending further repairs.

apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=601208

On 28 January 1878, the first successful experiment with the new telephone system was made in Queensland when a successful call was put through from Brisbane to Ipswich. Brisbane’s (and Queensland’s) first telephone exchange opened at the Brisbane General Post Office in 1880. As technology improved the automatic telephone exchange was established. In 1925 the first automatic telephone exchange in Queensland was installed at South Brisbane, with the Brisbane Central Exchange in the General Post Office Building becoming automatic in 1929.

The early twentieth century was a time of civic development for Chermside. The school building was constructed in 1900. A police station opened in 1904 and a School of Arts was formed in 1909 and their hall became the local library and branch of the Government Savings Bank.

After the First World War a number of war veterans moved to Chermside and the local population grew, influencing the subsequent development in the area. In 1901 the population of the district was 649, by 1933 it had risen to 2319.

After the Second World War, Chermside developed into a trendy, new suburb that attracted a number of Mater Prize Homes. The suburb was chosen as the site of the first public hospital to be built after the war, when the Chermside Tuberculosis Chest Clinic (now Prince Charles Hospital) opened in 1954.

The post-war development in the Chermside district consisted of large estates, both housing commission, war service homes and private estates, being built in Wavell Heights, Chermside and Kedron. In 1947 Chermside had a population of 4435 people and by 1954 this had risen to 14 702 people. As the population of the Chermside District increased in the post-war period the need for communication infrastructure became apparent. Prior to the construction of the Chermside Telephone Exchange, the area had had telephone services connected through the Albion Telephone Exchange. However, with the increased demand for efficient communication services a new automatic telephone exchange was proposed for Chermside.

In 1949, as a direct response to the increase in the district’s population a makeshift automatic telephone exchange was established on the corner of Mermaid Street and Gympie Road. The initial exchange was housed in a ‘decommissioned’ United States Army timber hut, previously used at the ‘Chermside Army Camp’. This automatic telephone exchange was viewed by the telephone authority as temporary.

In the early 1950s plans were drawn up by the Commonwealth Government Department of Works, Queensland Branch for the construction of a permanent automatic telephone exchange on Mermaid Street. The large brick building was to be built on a vacant site on Mermaid Street. The construction of the Chermside exchange was part of a national push for improved telephonic infrastructure throughout the country. Specifically, Queensland was allocated almost £8 million for this work with £2 million of this to be used for the construction of new automatic telephone exchanges throughout the State. As far back as 1946 these improvements were being planned with an emphasis on rural infrastructure. In September 1946 the Courier Mail reported that “New automatic telephone exchanges would be built soon at Toowong, Valley, Camp Hill, Ashgrove, Chermside…”.

In February 1951 a £31 000 contract was given to K.D Morris and Sons, builders, for the construction of the new brick automatic telephone exchange for Chermside. In 1965 an extension was made to the telephone exchange in response to the district’s growth.

The Chermside Automatic Telephone Exchange is important in demonstrating the district’s need for improved telephonic infrastructure in the post-war period as the area’s population expanded dramatically. The design of the building is reflective of 1950s civic construction.

Source: Brisbane City Council Heritage Register.

Thanks for Bob V for the ID on this. It's the old Stockyards Exchange building for the Chicago Telephone Company, built in 1899 by D. H. Burnham and Co. The word at the bottom is "Telephone" or "Telephony." The circle contained the bell logo.

The 1948 De Havilland D.h.A. 3 Drover was presented to the people of Mount Isa and district by a combined group of local volunteers who recovered the machine from its crash sites in Western Queensland and restored it to its original condition. The aircraft was unveiled as a permanant memorial to the work of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) by Doctor T. J. O'Leary C. B. E on the 27th of June 1981.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service is dedicated to providing vital health care to anyone travelling, working, or living in rural, remote, and regional Australia. The RFDS's emergency retrieval service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the organisation also provides regular transfers of patients for life-saving surgery such as organ transplants and heart surgery. The RFDS also provides a broad range of essential health care services to rural and remote communities, including general practice, Indigenous health, child and family health, social and emotional wellbeing, women's health, and health promotion. Today, the RFDS provides the finest care to more than 270 000 Australian's each year - - that is one person every two minutes.

The First flight occurred on the 17th of May 1928, in a single engine De Havilland aircraft that took off from Cloncurry and flew to Julia Creek, some 85 miles away. On board were Arthur Affleck and Doctor Kenyon Saint Vincent Welch. This flight was both the culmination of more than a decade of planning, experimenting, and fundraising and the beginning of a new era for the people of inland Australia. This was the maiden flight of the Australia Aerial Medical Service, which was later renamed the Flying Doctor Service.

John Flynn is known as the founder of the Australian Aerial Medical Service. The idea of 'sky doctors', or doctors who travelled by air, began as the dream of the Reverend John Flynn (1880 - 1951). John Flynn was ordained as a Presbyterian Minister in 1911 and, when the Australian Inland Mission (AIM) was established by the Presbyterian Church of Australia in 1912, Flynn was appointed its first Superintendent. Flynn travelled through the outback most of his life and witnessed firsthand the daily struggle of the 'inlanders'. He was concerned about the physical, social, and spiritual needs of those who lived in the vast interior of the continent, where just two doctors provided the only medical care for an area of almost two million square kilometres. A practical man, Flynn's response was to set up hostels and bush hospitals for pastoralists, miners, and other settlers.

"If you start something worthwhile, nothing can stop it." - John Flynn.

Flynn was already well aware of the difficulties of providing medical care to the tiny and scattered settlements of the island when he heard the story of Jimmy Darcy, a stockman from remote Halls Creek, in 1917. Injured after falling from his horse, Darcy survived two operations carried out by the local postmaster, following instructions relayed from Perth by morse code. A doctor set out from Perth for Halls Creek, but the journey almost took two weeks and the doctor arrived to find that Darcy had died only a short time earlier. Darcy's story was well known at the time, and it is believed that the young stockmans's fate inspired Flynn to look to the developing technologies of aviation and wireless radio to provide a 'mantle of safety' through the delivery of emergency medical services and primary health care for people living in the outback.

By the turn of the 20th Century, only the larger towns had even the most basic telephone and telegraph links with the outside world, and beyond them, families could be hundreds of miles from their nearest neighbours, with no means of communication. Loneliness caused depression and alienation, and the lack of communication often resulted in death in the case of serious illness and accidents. Radio technologies was in its infancy, but Flynn realised that without a wireless transmitting station at every homestead, an aerial ambulance service would be of limited use. He also said that to be a practical solution for isolated families, wireless radios needed to be reliable, light enough to be lifted by a woman, straightforward enough to be operated by a child, and affordable.

Alred Traeger, a brilliant engineer from Adelaide, invented a pedal-operated generator to power a radio receiver which was developed to meet Flynn's criteria. In 1929 the Cloncurry Base radio station was established and the first of the outstations were equipped with Traeger pedal transceivers. In the 1920s, most radio communication used Morse code, but the 1930s saw the introduction of voice communication and radio sets powered by the car batteries, replacing the need for pedal power generation.

Wireless radios also eased the loneliness of bush life. Women took on the role of radio operator and developed a community over the airwaves, chatting together over long distances. This regular, friendly conversation was known as the 'Galah Session', named after the noisy, chattering pink and grey native parrot.

With the introduction of single sideband transmission in the 1970s, the RFDS undertook a major re-equipment program, using new radio sets that were more reliable, with less static interference. Since then, the telephone has largely replaced radio communication in the outback, and satellite technology now offers reliable mobile telephone communication.

In 1917, Flynn received an inspirational letter from Clifford Peel, a young medical student and pilot. His letter outlines the safety, capabilities, and costs of using aircraft to deliver medical services, convincing Flynn of the practicality of the idea. Sadly Peel was killed during World War I and never knew of the role he played in the creation of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. In the 1920s, Flynn met Hudson Fysh, one of the founders of Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services (QANTAS). This was the beginning of an important partnership, and following its establishment in 1928, the Aerial Medical Service went on to lease both aircraft and pilots from QANTAS for a number of years. With the introduction of Australia's two-airline policy in the 1940s, QANTAS became Australia's international airline and handed over all Australian domestic operations, including the Flying Doctor's Cloncurry and Charleville services, to the newly introduced Trans Australian Airlines (TAA) in April 1949.

In 1927 the Presbyterian Church of Australia accepted the recommendations of the AIM and approved of Flynn's proposal for a 12 month experiment providing an aerial medical service for the inland. Cloncurry was selected as the site for the first base, and the service began in May 1928. The first Flying Doctor was Doctor Kenyon Saint Vincent Welch, who left his family and medical practice in Sydney to take part in Flynn's experiment. A highly qualified and highly respected doctor, he had been unable to take part in World War 1 and was keen to make a contribution to his country. The first pilot was Arthur Affleck, a QANTAS pilot. He was selected based on his flying skill and his knowledge of the local area, given that very few maps of the areas covered were in existence and local pilots had to navigate using landmarks such as river beds, fences, and telegraph lines. In its first year, the Aerial Medical Service flew approximately 20 000 miles in 50 flights to 26 different centres, held around 50 consultations with local doctors and treated some 250 patients.

The first RFDS aircraft was a De Havilland DH50A, a single engine biplane with a canvas covered timber frame, which was named Victory. With a cruising speed of 80 miles per hour and a range of 500 - 600 miles, Victory could carry a pilot and four passengers and could accommodate a stretcher. QANTAS charged two shillings per mile for use of Victory during the first year of service. Victory went on the fly 110 000 miles for the RFDS from 1928 - 1934.

Schools, like medical services, were difficult to provide in the sparsely populated outback. Primary education was limited to correspondence education, with children taught by their mother or a governess. With typical foresight, Flynn felt that providing education was another area which radio communication could help with, and as early as 1934, Traeger believed that it would be possible to build a radio-telephony set for this purpose. Another iconic Australian 'invention' to address the tyranny of distance, the first Australian School of the Air began in 1951. The first school operated out of the RFDS Base in Alice Springs, with the teacher utilising the Flying Doctor's radio equipment to speak with her students. In Queensland, School of the Air operations commenced in Cloncurry in 1960. Tied to the RFDS radio technology, the School was related along with the RFDS to Mount Isa in 1964, and officially re-opened in 1985. The School of the Air is now located in Abel Smith Parade, Mount Isa, and is open to daily visitors.

Source: The Combined Services Club of Mount Isa.

When the Post Office Tower (now known as the BT Tower after the privatisation of the GPO) was opened in London in 1966 it was, until 1980, the tallest building in the capital and it is still a very visible landmark on the city's skyline. Built primarily to allow microwave based transmission of phone and television data at a time when demand for such services was growing rapidly. The Tower sat next to the existing 'Museum' telephone exchange (its lattice tower can be seen next to the tower base) and it was the hub for a nationwide sequence of similar towers and structures. The architects were from the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works (in the days when we had them) and are given as E Bedford and G R Yeats. The structural and electrical engineers are S G Silhan, J J Taylor and N Lampitt. The Tower was built by Peter Lind & Co. This rather fine booklet was produced as a souvenir and priced at 2s 6d (12.5p). In those days access to the public viewing platforms and the famous revolving restaurant was part of the design; all are now closed off due to security issues.

Radio Kootwijk Netherlands series: image # 2 (orginal, no crop)

Radio Kootwijk is a small town in the Dutch municipality of Apeldoorn, with ca. 120 inhabitants. It is situated in a heather- and forest-rich territory in the Veluwe region, east of the sandhills of the Kootwijkerzand and the town of Kootwijk.

The housing accommodations of Radio Kootwijk arose as a result of the building of a shortwave transmitter site with the same name, starting in 1918. The transmitters played an important role in the 20th century as a communication facility between the Netherlands and its then colony of Dutch East Indies. In 1923 Dutch PTT started trans-oceanic telegraphy using a longwave transmitter (a 400KW high frequency alternator) from the German Telefunken company under the callsign PCG, in the 24 kHz and 48 kHz. By 1925 the longwave transmitter was changed by a shortwave tube based, electronic transmitter which had a much better performance due to the better propagation of shortwaves. With this new technology, in 1928 a radio-telephonic connection was established. At the end of World War II, the German occupying forces blew up the transmitter. Afterward some of the radio towers were rebuilt.[1]

Due to the development of new technologies like satellite communication, Radio Kootwijk lost its position as main overseas wireless connection point of the Netherlands. In 1980, the last transmission mast was blown up. In 2004 the park lost its last transmitter functions, and was transferred from the KPN company (successor to PTT) to the State Forestry Commission, which started attracting new buyers. The main building of the former transmitter park, designed by Dutch architect Jules Maria Luthmann and named 'Building A' or 'The Sfynx' (journalist refer to it as a cathedral, which it is not), was officially appointed as a monument. It was used as scenery for the American film Mindhunters in 2004.

Technical info:

B+W ND110 - 10 stops

B+W ND106 - 6 stops

total 16 stops

f/8

ISO100

11 mm

361 (6min01s) exposure

Software:

Lightroom 3.0

PS CS5

Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 2

Nik Software Dfine 2.0

Building Radio Kootwijk, Veluwe NL - 1922 - architect Julius Maria Luthmann.

The housing accommodations of Radio Kootwijk arose as a result of the building of a shortwave transmitter site with the same name, starting in 1918. The transmitters played an important role in the 20th century as a communication facility between the Netherlands and its colony of Dutch East Indies. In 1923 Dutch PTT (Post, Telegraph and Telephone Company) started trans-oceanic telegraphy using a longwave transmitter, a 400 KW high frequency alternator, from the German Telefunken company under the call sign PCG, in the 24 kHz and 48 kHz. By 1925 the longwave transmitter was changed by a shortwave tube based, electronic transmitter which had a much better performance due to the better propagation of short waves. With this new technology, in 1928 a radio-telephonic connection was established. At the end of World War II, the German occupying forces blew up the transmitter. Afterward some of the radio towers were rebuilt. Due to the development of new technologies like satellite communication, Radio Kootwijk lost its position as main overseas wireless connection point of the Netherlands. In 1980, the last transmission mast was blown up. In 2004 the park lost its last transmitter functions, and was transferred from the telephone company to the State Forestry Commission, which started attracting new buyers. The main building of the former transmitter park and named 'Building A', 'The Cathedral' or sometimes 'The Sphinx', was officially appointed as a monument. It is used as venue and scenery for several cultural events and productions, including the American film Mind Hunters in 2004.

Building Radio Kootwijk, Veluwe NL - 1922 - architect Julius Maria Luthmann.

The housing accommodations of Radio Kootwijk arose as a result of the building of a shortwave transmitter site with the same name, starting in 1918. The transmitters played an important role in the 20th century as a communication facility between the Netherlands and its colony of Dutch East Indies. In 1923 Dutch PTT (Post, Telegraph and Telephone Company) started trans-oceanic telegraphy using a longwave transmitter, a 400 KW high frequency alternator, from the German Telefunken company under the call sign PCG, in the 24 kHz and 48 kHz. By 1925 the longwave transmitter was changed by a shortwave tube based, electronic transmitter which had a much better performance due to the better propagation of short waves. With this new technology, in 1928 a radio-telephonic connection was established. At the end of World War II, the German occupying forces blew up the transmitter. Afterward some of the radio towers were rebuilt. Due to the development of new technologies like satellite communication, Radio Kootwijk lost its position as main overseas wireless connection point of the Netherlands. In 1980, the last transmission mast was blown up. In 2004 the park lost its last transmitter functions, and was transferred from the telephone company to the State Forestry Commission, which started attracting new buyers. The main building of the former transmitter park and named 'Building A', 'The Cathedral' or sometimes 'The Sphinx', was officially appointed as a monument. It is used as venue and scenery for several cultural events and productions, including the American film Mind Hunters in 2004.

Five classic old phone boxes by Bow St in London

Building Radio Kootwijk, Veluwe NL - 1922 - architect Julius Maria Luthmann.

The housing accommodations of Radio Kootwijk arose as a result of the building of a shortwave transmitter site with the same name, starting in 1918. The transmitters played an important role in the 20th century as a communication facility between the Netherlands and its colony of Dutch East Indies. In 1923 Dutch PTT (Post, Telegraph and Telephone Company) started trans-oceanic telegraphy using a longwave transmitter, a 400 KW high frequency alternator, from the German Telefunken company under the call sign PCG, in the 24 kHz and 48 kHz. By 1925 the longwave transmitter was changed by a shortwave tube based, electronic transmitter which had a much better performance due to the better propagation of short waves. With this new technology, in 1928 a radio-telephonic connection was established. At the end of World War II, the German occupying forces blew up the transmitter. Afterward some of the radio towers were rebuilt. Due to the development of new technologies like satellite communication, Radio Kootwijk lost its position as main overseas wireless connection point of the Netherlands. In 1980, the last transmission mast was blown up. In 2004 the park lost its last transmitter functions, and was transferred from the telephone company to the State Forestry Commission, which started attracting new buyers. The main building of the former transmitter park and named 'Building A', 'The Cathedral' or sometimes 'The Sphinx', was officially appointed as a monument. It is used as venue and scenery for several cultural events and productions, including the American film Mind Hunters in 2004.

The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were invariably referred to as Waafs was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II, established in 1939. At its peak strength, in 1943, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000, with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.

A Women's Royal Air Force had existed from 1918 to 1920. The WAAF was created on 28 June 1939, absorbing the forty-eight RAF companies of the Auxiliary Territorial Service which had been formed since 1938.Conscription of women did not begin until 1941. It only applied to those between 20 and 30 years of age and they had the choice of the auxiliary services or factory work.

WAAFs did not serve as aircrew. The use of women pilots was limited to the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), which was civilian. Although they didn't participate in active combat, they were exposed to the same dangers as any on the "home front" working at military installations. They were active in parachute packing and the crewing of barrage balloons in addition to performing catering, meteorology, radar, aircraft maintenance, transport, communications duties including wireless telephonic and telegraphic operation. They worked with codes and ciphers, analysed reconnaissance photographs, and performed intelligence operations. WAAFs were a vital presence in the control of aircraft, both in radar stations and iconically as plotters in operation rooms, most notably during the Battle of Britain. These operation rooms directed fighter aircraft against the Luftwaffe, mapping both home and enemy aircraft positions.

Air Force nurses belonged to Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service instead. Female medical and dental officers were commissioned into the Royal Air Force and held RAF ranks.

WAAFs were paid two-thirds of the pay of male counterparts in RAF ranks.

By the end of World War II, WAAF enrollment had declined and the effect of demobilisation was to take thousands out of the service. The remainder, now only several hundred strong, was renamed the Women's Royal Air Force on 1 February 1949.

... installed on the flat roof of a higher apartment building.

The direct distance was about 50m.

The purpose was to evaluate the picture quality by subjective testing of the lens-TC combination of 40-150mm f2.8 pro and MC-14 on the camera Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II.

Royal Yacht Britannia

This is the story of three generations spanning two centuries, with one common family trait - dogged determination and a tireless work ethic in pursuit of their dreams. It is the story of sauterne for breakfast and castles built of prune boxes. It is a larger than life story ... and much of it is true.

From Riches to Rags to Ranching

The story begins in 1896 England, where Barker Ledson - a scion of means for whom means meant nothing - yearned for the New World and all the adventure that it promised. At age 16, he and his two similarly spirited brothers Tom and Stanley, left behind royal bloodlines, country estates and a sure future - not to mention the family fortune - to set sail for America. Their first stop was Iowa where their aunt owned a ranch. The boys worked the ranch for essentially room and board until Barker was lured away by a much greater adventure. Surveyors were needed by the railroad to map the vast and unforgiving Mojave Desert. It was thankless work, but not without benefits. Part and parcel of working in "no mans land" was the lack of spending opportunities. Barker was able to pocket almost all the money he made during his grueling 5 year stint.

Barker's railroad earnings were enough for him to purchase a 600 acre ranch in Yosemite, near the town of Cathay. At age 22, Barker Ledson was an American landowner. Brothers Tom and Stanley came out from Iowa to run the ranch with Barker. And, while Barker enjoyed nothing more than working the land and working with family, he longed for new opportunity and San Francisco seemed just the place for someone with Barker's ambition.

The Ice Man Commeth

Jobs were not plentiful, a fact that might have dissuaded a lesser man. But Barker Ledson was not to be denied. His employer of choice was the City Ice Company and the fact that they were not hiring seemed of little significance. Barker pointed to the potholes in the driveway and the dirt on the floors and said that he would clean and repair the facilities at no charge. City Ice was happy to have a volunteer employee and it wasn't long before all the ice truck drivers were so fond of the hard-working Barker that they convinced management to bring him on as a full-time employee -- a move that proved to be a defining point in young Barker's life.

He rapidly worked his way up the ranks at City Ice, eventually becoming General Manager. City Ice merged with National Ice and San Francisco Ice to form San Francisco National Ice Company. Barker needed to fill key positions and called upon his brother Tom to run the new Oakland office - making him the first of over a dozen family members employed by Barker. Stanley continued to run the Yosemite ranch, and by this time Barker's two other brothers had moved to America from England; George to Tennessee where he became editor of the Shelbyville Times and Joseph, the only brother to claim some of the family fortune, to Canada where he became known as an innovator in farming and breeding race horses.

A Match Made in the Wine Country

With his business life a success, it was time for bachelor Barker to find a wife to share in his great accomplishments. Barker Ledson met Edna Cunningham in 1910, when he invited his regular and growing group of prominent San Francisco cronies (a couple of those people were the Chief Police Officer and the Mayor of San Francisco) to go dove hunting at the Cunningham Ranch in Windsor. Edna was helping to serve lunch to the men when she caught Barker's eye. Within three years they were married.

Edna's father, William, was immediately taken with Barker as they were cut from the same over - achiever cloth. William's father Zyde, a gold miner who also emigrated from England, had previously owned and operated a blacksmith shop on the site that is today the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. In 1862 he moved his family to the 160-acre ranch in Windsor. As William came of age, he took over management of the Cunningham ranch. He planted 35 acres of Zinfandel and Alicante vineyards, built elaborate ranch and winery facilities and was known throughout the county for his flamboyance. He was very active in the community and held a seat as Sonoma County Supervisor from 1917-1925 and board member for Exchange Bank. William was a prominent and influential early member of the Wine Syndicate grower co-op and produced and bottled 8,000 gallons of commercially available wine. After Zyde's death in 1901 William and his wife Hannah continued to operate Cunningham ranch.

The union of the Ledson and Cunningham families marked the beginning of a farming legacy that continues today. William sold the Cunningham Ranch in 1919 to buy an 105-acre ranch in Kenwood. Shortly thereafter, Barker and Edna, who had been living in San Francisco moved with their three young sons, Noble, Whitby and Winslow to a 1600 acre ranch adjacent to William's property on what is today part of Oakmont and Annandale State Park. The two families worked the ranches cooperatively. While William and Hannah grew prunes, grapes and hay on their property, Barker spent the weekdays in San Francisco running the San Francisco Ice Company and Edna - an extremely sturdy, hard working woman, with a penchant for detail that included daily sweeping of dirt pathways and color coordinating gardening tools - raised cattle and harvested Eucalyptus on their ranch. Edna and her sons loaded their Eucalyptus on trains bound for the City Ice Company, where Barker used his ice trucks to deliver the Eucalyptus for firewood in the afternoons, essentially creating an entirely new business using existing delivery routes.

The End of an Era

For years the two ranches prospered, until in 1937 Barker Ledson at age 57 died of a heart attack while weekending at the family ranch. This was a terrible blow to a family who had come to depend upon him as the patriarch. Many of the family members who had relied on Barker for jobs or support over the years went their separate ways. The large extended family unit that Barker cherished could not be sustained in his absence. Fortunately, his 1/3rd ownership of the San Francisco Ice Company provided Edna and the boys with the means to carry on. Barker's brother Tom had preceded Barker in death and so Edna was left to manage the ranch, relying on her boys and the support of her sister Viola and her husband Penn Rich who had years earlier taken over William and Hannah's ranch after their deaths.

Sonoma Valley's "Ledson Boys"

The "Ledson boys" as everyone in the valley knew them - Noble, Whitby and Winslow - had inherited their parent's love of farming and ranching. Throughout high school each was active in FFA, with Noble and Winslow winning coveted national livestock competitions. And like their father before them the entrepreneurial bug bit early on when they observed the need of many of their rural neighbors for home delivery of basic essentials. They pooled their resources to purchase a run-down, old truck which they re-built and used to deliver packages after school and on weekends. Their little company, General Parcel Delivery, thrived until it was time to go off to college - a promise they had made to their mother. Secure in the knowledge that farming was their future, all three went on to study agriculture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. It was 1942, all three of the boys had graduated college and were anxious to begin the next chapter of their lives when World War II was declared and they, like others their age, were called into service. Winslow entered officer training school, while Noble and Whitby both became airplane mechanics in the Army Air Corps. Fortunately the end of the war found all three safe and sound and ready to get back home and get on with things.

Noble

By the time Noble returned home to Kenwood, Edna had sold the family ranch to a steamship builder named Joe Coney who re-named the ranch Annandale and eventually donated it to the California Parks Department. To this day, markers in the Annandale Park -- Ledson Marsh, Steve's Trail -- reflect the Ledson's legacy. Edna moved to Spring Street in Santa Rosa and kept busy as a nurse at Memorial Hospital until her death at age 81 in 1973.

Noble's wish was to continue the Ledson family tradition of farming. He founded his own dairy farm, Meadowlark Farms Dairy, on Warm Springs Road in 1944. It was a complete operation; he owned and milked the cows, he bottled the milk and he delivered all over Sonoma Valley. So successful was his dairy and so valuable his route that in 1954, shortly after his brother Winslow became General Manager, Clover Dairy purchased Meadowlark Farms Dairy and contracted Noble to distribute Clover milk in Sonoma Valley. Freed of the time-consuming milking and bottling operations, Noble built his distribution territory to include both Sonoma and Napa Valleys - and still had time left for other ventures given his penchant for 16 hour workdays. The farmer in him was not to be denied. He purchased or leased property all over Sonoma County where he raised cattle and grew prunes, hay, walnuts and of course wine grapes. Like his brothers, Noble was naturally gregarious and engaging, and because of their many ventures the Ledson boys knew and were known by just about everybody in the Valley- amassing endless friendships and contacts that would serve them and their children well in years to come. They were, like the Kundes, Rossis and Stornettas one of the most prominent farming families in Sonoma County.

The Son Also Rises

While his various businesses were growing, so was Noble's family. In 1948, he married Virginia Martinson, an Iowa transplant who had met and captured Noble's heart when he was home on leave during the war. Together they had two children: Nancy Ledson born in 1955 and Steven Noble Ledson, born in 1952. From the start it was clear that Steve had the drive, the farming instincts - and the bullheadedness of the Ledson and Cunningham clans combined.

Early on Noble instilled in Steve the importance of hard work and a good breakfast. Believing that Sauterne increased appetite and convinced that a full day's work required a full stomach, Noble and Steve started each day with a small glass of Sauterne, drawn from the two-gallon jug they re-filled monthly at Pagani (now Kenwood) Winery. Whether it was the Sauterne or the expectations of a no-nonsense father, by age six, Steve was a full-time farmer in training; he could drive a tractor - albeit with the help of a grown up who could reach the pedals - tell the difference between a prune tree and grapevine, tinker with farm equipment and bid on beef cattle.

School of Hard Knocks

Keeping pace with Noble was no small task, especially for a small boy, but Steve was remarkably hard-headed for his age - a fact that served him well on one ill-fated father and son outing. While hiking along Bear Creek in Adobe Canyon, Steve took a fall 30 feet into the creek, where he preceded to float downstream a quarter of a mile before being yanked to safety by Noble. Bleeding and pretty woozy, Steve was coaxed by his dad to "be a man" and walk home, which he did before passing out and being rushed to the hospital, where he remained for thirty days! Fortunately near-death experiences are lost to children of seven and after a short period of recuperation, life returned to normal for Steve.

Always tinkering, always keeping busy, Steve's first foray into architectural design took place when he was helping Noble pack prunes for one of their bigger clients, Del Monte. Steve gathered empty prune boxes and over the course of the entire day, created a nine-foot tall, multi level "castle", complete with doors, windows and balconies. It was his pride and joy, but it was lacking a critical real-estate component, which in later years would become a cornerstone of Steve's success - Location, Location, Location. Unfortunately the prune palace was erected right in front of the loading bay, and by the next morning, Steve's dream house had been leveled to make way for the delivery trucks.

Making Hay While the Sun Shines

Steve continued to work at his father's side throughout his school years, and although Noble didn't believe in paying his son, he did give Steve the tools to earn his own money. Noble taught Steve how to bid on cattle, which started a decades long business of purchasing spring calves, fattening them up and re-selling them for profit. Noble also provided Steve with his first baling equipment, which Steve, together with cousins Mike and Marz used to create their own after-school, hay baling business. By the time he was in high school Steve had earned enough money from his various before and after school farming ventures to buy a 1965 Corvette Stingray. As he neared graduation, it was clear that he was different than most kids his age; he already knew what it was to have his own business and make his own money, he knew he didn't want to go to college and most importantly he knew he wanted to make a future with his high school sweetheart Michele Slinger.

Concerned that farming was being phased out in Sonoma County in favor of rapid development, Noble encouraged his newly married son to pursue a career in construction. Steve respected his father's advice, and while he was not prepared to give up his various farming endeavors, he did agree to pursue a "day job" in the building industry. After two years apprenticing with Frontier Electric he took a job taping drywall for Associated Specialties. Like his grandfather Barker, Steve's big break came when he seized an opportunity to impress his employers with his initiative. The year was 1973; Steve was assisting a drywall journeyman named Denny Roper, who had convinced their boss that the relatively inexperienced Steve could cover his work load while he went on vacation. On the first day of Denny's vacation, Steve was presented with a job list double Denny's usual output. Never one to back away from a challenge, Steve worked day and night and, of course, finished all the houses - flawlessly. Needless to say, he'd made an impression. Unfortunately the result of his zeal was an offer to take over Denny's position. Only 21 years old and already the father of two-year-old Mike and one-year-old Tonja, Steve was tempted by the promotion and raise - but not at the expense of his friend Denny.

No Guts, No Glory

Steve and Denny left Associated Specialties to start their own business, Northwestern Drywall, using Denny's state license. Within two years Steve had 100 employees and had opened a second non-union branch to handle public works and government contracts. Steve hired his sister Nancy's husband John Salerno to run the new operation, which was named Northeastern Drywall, in recognition of John's east coast roots. In addition, Steve maintained his daily involvement in the ranches he worked with Noble, rising at 4 am each day to log a couple of hours before heading off to the job site.

In 1975 a local contractor named Wayne Elzey came to Steve with an offer that would catapult Ledson from contractor to developer. Elzey had pre-sold a number of homes, but did not have the capital to build them. Between his ongoing cattle, hay, and contracting businesses, Steve had the money to invest and together they became Elzey and Ledson Construction. Those initial houses led to subdivisions and before long the two had projects scattered from the Bay Area to the Oregon border.

All in the Family

By the late 1980's Steve Ledson was financially secure, professionally respected and surrounded by family, including newest member, daughter Kristina, born in 1987. Only in his thirties he had achieved more than most, but not as much as he wanted. Although he had never given up his various agrarian pursuits, over the years, working the land had taken a back seat to building houses. It was time to change focus, to follow his passion and re-invigorate the family's farming business. In particular Steve wanted to grow grapes, something his great grandfather, his father and his uncle before him had done since 1862. And as usual the opportunity presented itself at just the right time.

A Wine Family Returns to its Roots

In late 1989 Ledson Construction was about to break ground on a spec house and vineyard property in the heart of the Sonoma Valley wine country, when a partner in the project pulled out. Michele convinced Steve that the 21-acre property - with views of the corner of Annandale Park that was once Steve's grandparent's home - was the perfect spot for their dream house and vineyard. Steve agreed and immediately set about planting 17 acres to Merlot and designing the ultimate architectural showpiece. Son Mike worked side-by-side with his father just as Steve had with Noble. By the time of their first harvest in 1993, the 15,000 square foot Gothic, French-Normandy structure replete with a custom-colored brick edifice, slate tile, turrets, balconies and fountains had begun to take shape and stop traffic. Michele and Steve realized that the "castle", as locals had come to call it, was long on looky-loos and short on privacy. Based upon the public interest and the quality of their first harvest, Steve decided to transform the house into a winery and tasting room and to build their home elsewhere. A quick change of plans was followed by four painfully long years acquiring commercial permits and two more years of re- construction before the winery's eventual completion.

Years of farming had endowed Steve with an instinct for making things grow and grow well- and before long his grapes were very much in demand. Ledson had been selling grapes to neighboring wineries including Benziger, St. Francis and Sebastiani for years. In fact it was St. Francis winemaker Tom Mackey who, knowing that Steve wanted to make ultra premium wine, urged him to produce his own estate wine. In 1997, Ledson Winery released its inaugural vintage, the 1994 Ledson Estate Merlot. Since then, Ledson wines have garnered excellent reviews from the elite wine press including a 93 point rating from Wine Spectator Magazine for their 1997 Reserve Carneros Chardonnay. Ledson Winery offers a broad spectrum of varietal wines including: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Mourvedre, Primitivo, Barbera, Malbec, Grenache, Meritage, Rosé, Johannisberg Riesling and Madera Port - all available at the Winery, at the Ledson Harmony Club restaurant and at selected fine restaurants throughout the country.

In addition to the 17-acre estate vineyard, Ledson Winery owns 21 acres on Denmark Road in Sonoma, which is currently planted to 100+-year Old Vine Zinfandel and 5,500 acres in Anderson Valley, Mendocino County, that may lend itself to a future Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Merlot planting. Ledson's dreams are to replant thirty-five acres of the 105 acre Kenwood Ranch originally cultivated by his great grandfather, William Cunningham in 1919.

On August 27th, 2003 Steve Ledson opened his luxury two-story Hotel & Harmony Club restaurant, situated on the historic Sonoma Plaza. The hotel features six individually decorated rooms on the upper floor, while the Harmony Club wine bar and restaurant covers the entire ground floor. Meticulously designed and built by Steve, the hotel represents a step back in time to a grander era.

A Family Affair

Michele Ledson drew on years of interior design experience to create the look and feel of the winery's visitor centers. In addition to designing and outfitting the winery's exquisite wine accessories and gift emporium, Michele has acted as the winery's chief emissary, overseeing the very busy hospitality team and welcoming everyone from the casual tourist to the VIP trade visitor with signature Ledson charm.

Son Mike - a life-long farmer like his dad and grandfather and also a journeyman carpenter with his own contractor's license - oversaw most of the interior finishing during construction, doing much of the intricate wood work himself. As it turned out, his tireless energy ultimately made him invaluable to the sales side of the business, and so he splits his time between sales and construction business.

Steve's father Noble Ledson deserves a story all to himself. Until his death, on February 8th, 2004 at age 88, Noble was a force of nature. A gregarious raconteur with an endless repertoire of old Sonoma Valley stories, he routinely consulted on the grape growing and wine making at Ledson Winery, drawing on his life long valley friendships to unearth prime, new vineyard sites. When not holding court at the winery, Noble was either farming his beloved walnut orchard or hitting the road in his tricked-out RV with bride and fellow adventurer Meg. No matter where Noble was, at home or on the road, not a day went by that he didn't start each morning with a phone call to his son, Steve. Sometimes it was to check in, sometimes to offer up encouragement or advice and every so often to give a swift, telephonic kick in the butt. His voice at the end of the phone line is gone. His spirit, though, remains forever.

The winery suffered another loss when Steve's cousin Leonard passed away in 2001. A life-long Sonman who for years managed the vineyards of Kunde Ranch, Leonard oversaw all of the winery's vineyard holdings. The void left by Leonard's passing is large, both for the family and for the winery.

Ledson Winery, however, continues to be a hub for the Ledson clan, with many taking an active role. Over the years, cousins, nephews, nieces and more have taken part in the winery's apprentice program and Steve's own daughters Tonja and Kristina, as well as his sister Nancy regularly pitch in during busy weekends and special events.Beyond his immediate family, Steve has come to rely upon his "extended family" of valued employees who have worked tirelessly for the winery's success with zeal equal to any family member.

Most important to Steve is the potential his new winery presents for bringing even more family members together. As homage to his grandfather, Barker, Steve has devoted the past several years to tracing the Ledson family tree, contacting and re-uniting long lost relatives from all over the globe. Will there soon be Ledson wines in Canada, Australia and England? Absolutely, if Steve has his way, wherever there's Ledson family there'll be Ledson wines.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same

Over 130 years since great-grandfather William Cunningham farmed his family vineyard and made his own wine, the Ledson Winery stands today as a dream realized for the Ledson family. It is a family business; built on a heritage of Sonoma Valley farming that provides a work and social center to over 20 family members.

Every detail of the wines and the winery belies generations of experience and commitment to quality. The winery itself is an architectural showpiece. It emerges like a gothic blast from the past out of acres of rolling vineyard and pastoral calm. The "Gone with the Wind" staircase, sculpted rose gardens, sprawling outdoor patios and impeccable grounds make the "castle" the perfect backdrop for an afternoon picnic, corporate getaway or fairytale wedding. Boasting three beautifully appointed tasting bars, a fully stocked gourmet marketplace and elegant clothing and gift boutique, the Ledson Winery is as much a landmark destination as it is a premium winery.

As proud as Barker would be of the Ledson Winery & Vineyards, the family agrees that his greatest pleasure would have been the site of son Noble, grandson Steve and great grandson Mike side-by-side in the vineyard at the crack of dawn, tending the vines, tasting the grapes- striving for quality together as a family. It's what Barker wished for and what the Ledson Winery stands for. You can feel it at the family winery and taste it in every bottle of Ledson Wine.

Epilogue - The Ledson Hotel

You didn't think the story ended there, did you? Not one to rest on his laurels, Steve Ledson started to look at the way in which tourists visited the Sonoma Valley. In particular, the relationship between the very popular Sonoma town plaza and the wineries, like Ledson, that were located up valley. He found, after two years of interviewing plaza visitors, that many were unaware of the full complement of wineries in northern Sonoma Valley, opting instead to tour the more familiar destinations in Napa Valley.

Steve had two goals in mind. He wanted to promote travel from the Sonoma Plaza up valley to his and other wineries, and he wanted to do something to re-create the hospitality and conviviality that he grew up with at the huge feasts prepared by his mother for the many workers, friends and family during harvest.

The idea that had first taken hold in 1997 became a reality in August of 2003 with the grand opening of the Ledson Hotel, Wine Bar and Restaurant. Fronting Sonoma's historic town plaza, the boutique hotel and small plate eaterie was painstakingly designed to evoke Sonoma's rich history while providing all the luxury of the world's tiniest hotels. Old-world charm and modern amenities merge lavishly in each of the six, family-named rooms which grace the second floor. The ground floor wine bar and restaurant spill out onto the sidewalk with bistro style seating and a small plate menu by chefs Mark Sandovol and Darren Robey designed to showcase Sonoma's bounty of local artisan foods and wine. Music lovers are also in for a real treat. Three nights a week the hotel showcases the best of the Bay Area's jazz and blues scene. Within months of opening, the hotel and restaurant had made Condè Nast Traveler's 2004 Hot List as one of the top two hotels in California and one of the top 18 hotels in the US. And yes, with Michele now managing the hotel and restaurant and Steve often on hand to greet, meet and seat, this too is a family affair.

By the early 1960s the decades long dominance of telegraphy would soon be over as telephony took over. This leaflet, issued by the GPO who at the time ran the UK's telecommunications industry, is a play on the undersea cables that carried the majority of such messages sent by telegram. The fish, message in mouth, deep in the sea is an image by Maddox. Designer and illustrator Ronald Maddox worked extensively for the Post Office and Royal Mail, designing stamps, stamp book covers, first day covers, presentation packs, posters and charts. After studying at London College of Printing and Graphic Art, and Regents Street Polytechnic School of Art, Ronald Maddox joined the RAF for National Service as a Designer/Artist in the Air Ministry Design Unit. He then worked as a freelance artist, designer, consultant and illustrator.

Three of the classic British telephone box design on the Royal Mile. Although most of these are long retired and gone from UK towns, some still remain in historic areas, like the Royal Mile. During the Fringe these three get pressed into service as posts to attach posters and flyers advertising the many shows taking place!

Long-distance telephone exchange on Tenth Avenue, between 53rd and 54th Streets (Kahn & Jacobs, begun circa 1962, completed 1964). In terms of functional needs and alibis, this belongs to the same generation as 33 Thomas and the Williamsburg exchange; it would appear that, like those, its runs its vertical wiring through the exterior surface of the building, simplifying the planning of the interior while eliminating such trendy, flash-in-the-pan architectural features as "windows." A variety of excuses have been presented for this rather narrow-minded prioritization of technical apparatus over its operators, and most of them do contain at least a kind of truth even as they collapse into contradictions and absurdity. Yes, the building was prepared to host its operators for weeks after a nuclear attack - but would eliminating windows really be so helpful in the event of a thermonuclear assault on Manhattan? Yes, switching equipment is sensitive to changes in temperature - but by 1960, modern architecture had a number of well-regarded solutions for incorporating shading devices into a curtain wall. After Hurricane Andrew and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the windowless surface was suddenly described as a safeguard against natural disasters and terrorism - yeah, I dunno.

My extended ruminations on this topic - and so much more! - can soon be yours to enjoy in the upcoming issue of Grey Room (#61), but here on Flickr, where I let loose with more freewheeling, formalist takes on architecture, I'd just like to point out how much this building highlights the comparative elegance and "architecting" of 33 Thomas. Here on Tenth Avenue, the functionalist logic of the dense, windowless box of switching equipment is jammed without frills through the Play-Doh molding machine of the New York City zoning code, yielding a building which in its main blocks comes as close as possible to the familiar abstract diagrams of the building envelope: just a series of extruded masses filling the allowable space. The huge tower at the rear, capped with the microwave transmitter ensemble, simultaneously spoils the wedding-cake effect and reinforces by its very ungainliness the functionalist premise. (Quite accidentally, the openings at the top end up looking like a toothy cartoon face, which no doubt troubled at least one designer all the way to the grave.) I don't exactly hate this, though it's a hell of a thing to do to the streetscape. More interestingly, by its very bloody-mindedness it points up 33 Thomas's buried Beaux-Arts-plus-Mies finesse, where the same basic materials are made into something very different.

Building Radio Kootwijk, Veluwe NL - 1922 - architect Julius Maria Luthmann.

The housing accommodations of Radio Kootwijk arose as a result of the building of a shortwave transmitter site with the same name, starting in 1918. The transmitters played an important role in the 20th century as a communication facility between the Netherlands and its colony of Dutch East Indies. In 1923 Dutch PTT (Post, Telegraph and Telephone Company) started trans-oceanic telegraphy using a longwave transmitter, a 400 KW high frequency alternator, from the German Telefunken company under the call sign PCG, in the 24 kHz and 48 kHz. By 1925 the longwave transmitter was changed by a shortwave tube based, electronic transmitter which had a much better performance due to the better propagation of short waves. With this new technology, in 1928 a radio-telephonic connection was established. At the end of World War II, the German occupying forces blew up the transmitter. Afterward some of the radio towers were rebuilt. Due to the development of new technologies like satellite communication, Radio Kootwijk lost its position as main overseas wireless connection point of the Netherlands. In 1980, the last transmission mast was blown up. In 2004 the park lost its last transmitter functions, and was transferred from the telephone company to the State Forestry Commission, which started attracting new buyers. The main building of the former transmitter park and named 'Building A', 'The Cathedral' or sometimes 'The Sphinx', was officially appointed as a monument. It is used as venue and scenery for several cultural events and productions, including the American film Mind Hunters in 2004.

Local Communications

Never doubt the sharpness of the Rollei 35.

One of a series of folder leaflets issued by the GPO - General Post Office - the organisation then responsible for all British telecommunications and designed to familiarise subscribers with the then new "all-figure" telephone numbers being introduced. This was one of the first phases of the nationwide introduction of the STD, Subcriber Trunk Dialling, system that would remove the requirement for calls to be routed manually through local exchanges.

Issued in late 1966 it notes that some subscribers in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester have already been issued numbers replacing the old three letter exchange codes with exchange numbers as well as with the new area codes - 01 for London, 021 for Birmingham, etc. It was intended to take three years to effect this change across all these cities and before the STD codes were run out over all other exchanges their numbers retained an exchange name followed by number. Within many areas a form of 'local' dialling codes assisted in routing calls to neighbouring exchanges.

The leaflets also advise on how to correctly show the new numbers as this version was intended for advertising and publciity agents as well as printers and publishers to show the correct format for all-figure numbers. The leaflets are interesting in themselves as they are designed by John Banks and Colin Miles. Together they had formed their design studio in 1958 and went on to design a wide range of advertising, publciity and typefaces for major clients including in 1970 the Post Office's new geometric, monoline type face as well as being employed to redesign London Transport's Johnston typeface in 1984.

At a hospital,

United States of América

Le problème des Origamikas c'est le gaspillage de papiers pour essayer de résoudre cette problématique j'ai fait une série de pliage d'animaux à partir de sac jetable en papier kraft. j'ai découpé un rectangle 21 x 29.7 cm (format A4) sur un sac kraft Orange(téléphonie). J'ai utilisé comme technique le pliage accordéon pour stylisé ce simple ours.

The problem of Origamikas is the waste of papers to try to solve this problematic I made a series of folding animals from disposable kraft paper bag. I cut a rectangle 21 x 29.7 cm (A4 format) on an orange kraft bag (telephony). I used as a technique the box-pleating to designed this simple bear.

Old telephony switching equipment

Phonebooths (housing payphones) - remember payphones? With the ubiquitous mobiles, I didn't think phonebooths are still around - apparently alive and kicking (literally - see the kicking poster :)

Many governmental organisations in the post-WW2 years published a popular and accessible history of wartime endeavours and service and this, written by Ian Hay, is the story of the Post Office. The Post Office was responsible for a multitude of public services ranging from the operation of Post Offices, the collection and delivery of the mail, the telegram and telephone services. These were all vital infrastructure in wartime conditions where the growth in demand for services was enormous - both at home and, in the theatres of war, abroad. The sacrifice of staff is covered as they often worked in the most trying of circumstances. The record of development and repair, such as of exchanges and cables due to damage, is described and some of the work of the vitally important Research Station at Dollis Hill is described.

The cover, that includes this wrapped round letter of thanks from the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe, is a bold graphic showing the various methods of transport used by the Post Office and is signed 'AMC'. This is, I am sure, the 'Coombs' who signs the two rather fine endpaper illustrations that show Post Office staff going about their varied duties. In pre-war years the Post Office had an often adventurous style of publicity and these illustrations are redolent of that period in their style.