Australian Post Office
Telephone No. 162

The 162 Bakelite telephone was initially imported from England from c.1932 and were manufactured originally by Siemens (London) and later by local Australian companies such as Standard Telephones & Cables (STC), Amalgamated Wireless Australasia (AWA) and Telephone Manufacturing Company (TMC).  Originally called the type 556, the telephone was renumbered as the type 162.  Later the phone was superseded by the type 232, which was technically improved and became a well known reliable standard, some of which are still in service. Although the original British model came in four colours (chinese red, ivory, jade green and black) only black and ivory were issued in Australia. Colours were not favoured because of severe fading caused by strong sunlight.  But as usual, exceptions can be found - click here

Telephone 162 Red - AWA
This is a picture of an AWA red 162 on a GPO bell-set.  All parts are marked AWA other than the bell-set (which is a Siemens GPO type), but these match perfectly as they are in the D-type late 1930's early acrylic material - It may be assumed that AWA used Siemens to supply the bell-set for this and that they were issued together.

Last revised April 03, 2010

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