50-YEAR HISTORY OF 111

FACTS & FIGURES

  • In 1968, New Zealand had the world's third-highest density of phones per 100 of population, after USA and Sweden.

PHOTO GALLERY

 

D M (Doug) Burns, Post and Telegraph District Engineer

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D M (Doug) Burns, Post and Telegraph District Engineer
Photo courtesy Robyn Blackett

Arthur Varley, Chief Fire Service Officer, Wellington

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Arthur Varley, Chief Fire Service Officer, Wellington
Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, NZ

Superintendent Frank Aplin

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Superintendent Frank Aplin.
Courtesy of the New Zealand Police Museum

Chas Sturton, head of the Police Telecommunications Section

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Chas Sturton, head of the Police Telecommunications Section.
Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, NZ
 

Operators working at the temporary telephone exchange, Masterton

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Operators working at the temporary telephone exchange, Masterton. The temporary exchange operated from 1951 until 1956, when the new exchange opened.
From botton to top: Madge Mallows, Judy Curne, Melva Palmer, Beryl Isles, Barbara Haeata, Mrs Ratter.
Jenny Borman Collection, Wairarapa Archive

An Austin A35, parked outside the recently-opened Masterton telephone exchange

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An Austin A35, parked outside the recently-opened Masterton telephone exchange.
Jenny Borman Collection, Wairarapa Archive

Interior of the recently-built telephone exchange, Masterton

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Interior of the recently-built telephone exchange, Masterton.
Jenny Borman Collection, Wairarapa Archive

Interior of the recently-built Masterton telephone exchange

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Interior of the recently-built Masterton telephone exchange. Operators are: Mr Petrie standing at desk, Audrey O'Connor on floor, Judy Burne, Mrs Ratter, Margaret Connolly, Pansy Hemi, Dorothy Swinn, Mrs Jones and Jackie Stewart (partly obscured) and Melva Palmer at the information desk.
Jenny Borman Collection, Wairarapa Archive
 

Interior of the recently-built Masterton telephone exchange

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Interior of the recently-built Masterton telephone exchange. The supervisor, Miss Leach, is standing while nine operators are sitting with their backs to the camera.
Jenny Borman Collection, Wairarapa Archive

Four operators working at the recently-built telephone exchange, Lincoln Road, Masterton

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Four operators working at the recently-built telephone exchange, Lincoln Road, Masterton.
Jenny Borman Collection, Wairarapa Archive

Masterton toll exchange supervisor Ellen Leach

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Masterton toll exchange supervisor Ellen Leach (standing). In the foreground the operator is taking calls including any 111 emergencies.
Photo courtesy of Ellen Hodges

The dispatch part of the Auckland Operations room in the 1960s

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The dispatch part of the Auckland Operations room in the 1960s. The dispatcher is on the left equipped with two Tait-type Radio Control Units on the top shelf. On the right is the senior sergeant, who vetted all jobs which came through on cards from the call takers beyond the glass panel. These arrived via a conveyor belt, which emerged between the consoles (behind the telephone at centre).
Courtesy NZ Police Museum
 

Tony Lane (standing) and Les Sword (sitting), Peterborough Street Ambulance Control Room Christchurch, 1967

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Tony Lane (standing) and Les Sword (sitting), Ambulance Control Room 1967

Fire Control Room

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Fire Control room

Fire Control Room

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Fire Control room

Wellington Free Ambulance control room, 1960s

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Wellington Free Ambulance control room, 1960s
 

Tait-type radio control unit

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Tait-type radio control unit fitted with a Pye PTC4001 base station microphone installed in a police station office, late 1960-70s.
Courtesy of NZ Police Museum

Auckland Operations Room

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Auckland Operations Room, viewed from the call takers' side of the window. Shows the Senior Sergeant in the background and the conveyor belt up the middle of the table.
NZ Police Bulletin

Wellington Control Room, 1970s

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Wellington Control Room, 1970s.
Courtesy NZ Police Museum

Wellington Control Room, 1970s

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Wellington Control Room, 1970s.
Courtesy NZ Police Museum
 

Early model Pye Continental AM25 radio installed in a Holden HQ patrol car, early 1970s

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Early model Pye Continental AM25 radio installed in a Holden HQ patrol car, early 1970s.
Courtesy NZ Police Museum

A TSC002 communications panel used in Police Control and Operations rooms during the late 1970s-1980s

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A TSC002 communications panel used in Police Control and Operations rooms during the late 1970s-1980s. The panels were designed, manufactured and installed by the NZ Police Engineering Section. The square buttons with the 10 small black knobs underneath select and control radio channels. The rest of the square buttons are for 111 lines and a range of pre-programmed telephone numbers.
Courtesy NZ Police Museum

Senior Sergeant Joe Howie shows Police Minister Mick Connelly the changing face of Police communications during this 1972 visit

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Senior Sergeant Joe Howie shows Police Minister Mick Connelly the changing face of Police communications during this 1972 visit to the newly renovated Auckland Operations Room. Sergeant Fletcher Clague-Christian is on the left.
NZ Police

Mr Whittaker at the switchboard, Peterborough Street Ambulance Control Room, Christchurch, July 1972

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Mr Whittaker at the switchboard, Ambulance Control Room, July 1972 (photo courtesy of the Christchurch Star and Canterbury Museum)
 

Miss M.G. Ferguson, Peterborough Street Ambulance Control Room, Christchurch

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Miss M.G. Ferguson, Ambulance Control Room, Christchurch, photograph taken at time of her retirement after 25 years service, November 1975 (photo courtesy of the Christchurch Star and Canterbury Museum)

Patrol crew using a Pye radio, pre-1976

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Patrol crew using a Pye radio, pre-1976.
Courtesy of NZ Police Museum

Constable working in a control room, late 1970s - early 1980s

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Constable working in a control room, late 1970s - early 1980s.
Courtesy NZ Police Museum

Rodney Farrant, Peterborough Street Ambulance Control Room, Christchurch, 1982

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Rodney Farrant, Ambulance Control Room, 1982
 

Gary Schumacher, Peterborough Street Ambulance Control Room, Christchurch, 1982

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Gary Schumacher, Ambulance Control Room, 1982

Greg Biggars at the console, Peterborough Street Ambulance Control Room, Christchurch, 1985

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Greg Biggans at the console, Ambulance Control Room,  1985

Peterborough Street Ambulance Control Room, Christchurch, 1986

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Ambulance Control Room,  1986

Close-up of the AM25 radio

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Close-up of the AM25 radio.
Courtesy Inspector Andy Brill
 

The Wellington Police Control Room, 1984

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The Wellington Police Control Room, 1984.
Courtesy NZ Police Museum

Auckland District Control Room, 1980s

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Auckland District Control Room, 1980s. Note the gap down the middle of the consoles designed for a conveyor belt to carry message cards, made redundant by the introduction of Computer Assisted Dispatch.
Auckland Police Photography Section

Police officers in Wellington’s CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) control room

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Police officers in Wellington’s CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) control room, part of Wellington Police Station, using terminals directly hooked into the Wanganui Computer.

Chas Sturton, head of the Police Telecommunications Section

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Wellington Fire Control room 1980-1988
 

Superintendent Frank Aplin

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Wellington Fire Control room 1988-1998

Wellington Fire Control room

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Wellington Fire Control room 1980-1988