THE WOOL CHEQUE
told by Rod Teal
This came from a confession by a colleague who trained as a Postal Clerk in the early 1950’s.
The job of a Postal Clerk was complex. Besides the usual things you might expect to happen in a post office, in those days, money orders were used where today a credit card would pay for purchases and there were many types of mail to be processed. All accounting and record-keeping were done with pen and paper and the Post Office was a branch of the Commonwealth Bank and also represented many other government entities including the tax office. However, the most difficult task they had to learn was to send and receive telegrams accurately using morse code.
Mundiwindi Post Office 1950 – Photo Rod Teal
Morse code is a system where letters and numbers are coded into a combination of dots and dashes. A dot is a very short burst of current on a line and a dash is a slightly longer burst of current. These bursts of current are created using a special switch called a morse key and received on a device called a sounder. A dot would be two clicks of the sounder close together and a dash two clicks slightly further apart. When a telegram was received it was typed onto a telegram form and delivered by a boy on a bike.
Our friend, who we can call Ken to protect the guilty, managed to pass out of the training school as a Postal Clerk grade one and was posted to the farming community of Wyalkatchem in the Western Australian Wheatbelt. This was when the Korean War was raging. Wool was in high demand for military uniforms as Korean winters are very cold. Quality wool was selling at auction for a pound (£) a pound (lb) and a merino sheep could provide ten pounds of wool. A farmworker would be paid less than 10 pounds a week plus keep, and many farmers had thousands of sheep. It was an exceptionally good time to be a wool grower. Wool sold at auction and the price was quoted in pence per pound. There were 240 pennies to the pound.
When young Ken arrived at Wyalkatchem, his boss was a skilled Postmaster close to retirement. One thing Ken noted was that this old man could listen to the telegraph sounder clicking in the background while he dealt with a customer at the counter and once the customer left, he would type out the telegram, word perfect. Ken thought if this old fellow could do this then so could he.
The Telegram Boy by kevin Rogers
He soon got his chance when the Postmaster went to lunch. While young Ken was selling a stamp a telegram came through for a farmer who lived in town advising that his wool had sold at auction for an average price of 280 pence per pound. The farmer was delighted and rushed down to the pub and instructed that several kegs were to be set up on the footpath. The whole town was invited to a big celebration where the guest of honour would be that nice young man who had just started work in the post office and had brought him that wonderful news.
A few days later the farmer received the usual paperwork and cheque associated with a wool sale. His wool had sold for 180 pence per pound.
Now the Post Office prided itself on the accuracy of the telegraph system so there was embarrassment and recriminations aplenty, but let’s not be too harsh on young Ken. Morse code for figure one is dot dash dash dash dash and figure two is dot dot dash dash dash. He never admitted how the mistake occurred and he was eventually excused because of his lack of experience but he never ever tried to do two jobs at once ever again. That’s a skill best left to the ladies.
Moya Sharp
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