March 10: 150 years since the first phone call and the decline of landlines in Australia
If you were born before the 2000s, you probably still remember the sound of a rotary dial, the tangled cord, and that classic yell: "I'm going to hang up on you!" That's right, March 10 isn't just any old day. Today marks exactly 150 years since Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call in history, summoning his assistant with the famous words: "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you." What many people don't realise is that the very device which revolutionised the world is slowly becoming a museum piece.
Here in Australia, the decline in landline use is staggering. Since 2010, the number of active fixed-line phones has halved. If you're over 40, you'll remember a time when having a home phone was a luxury — and now, kids look at public payphones like they're relics from another era. Technology has moved on, and so have our habits. But have we lost something along the way?
The collector keeping history alive
It was this very thought that prompted YouTuber João Víctor de Melo, from Belo Horizonte, to start gathering telephone memorabilia. On his channel, he showcases everything from vintage Telecom Australia models to rarities like the Aqua-air Aqpm-10 De Março Ac-5c-md 115V March, a piece of industrial equipment from the 1980s that few even remember existed. "It's a way of keeping the memory of how we used to communicate alive," João explains in one of his recent videos. His YouTube channel has gained popularity precisely by unearthing these objects that defined generations.
The last gasp of the landline
A symbolic moment in this farewell occurred on 10 March 2019, when the city of São Paulo removed its last public telephone from Avenida Paulista. The event went almost unnoticed at the time, but for those in the know, it marked the end of an era. The glass phone booths, once bustling with people using coins and phone cards, have made way for Wi-Fi hotspots and mobile phone charging stations. The way we communicate has changed its clothes, but the essence remains the same: the human need to connect.
From Graham Bell to WhatsApp: a timeline of connection
To understand the scale of this shift, it's worth looking at the key milestones of these 150 years:
- 1876: Graham Bell makes the first telephone call in Boston.
- 1922: The first telephone arrives in Australia, a far cry from the connected nation we are today.
- 1990: Mobile phones hit the Australian market – they were absolute bricks, weighing over a kilo.
- 2010: Smartphones start to become mainstream, and landline usage goes into freefall.
- 2026: We mark 150 years since that first phone call, and fixed-line phones are becoming an increasingly rare sight.
Despite all of today's technology – with Zoom, WhatsApp and satellite calls – the simple act of calling someone still carries a certain warmth. Maybe that's why people still search YouTube for old Telecom Australia commercials or the nostalgic sound of a dial tone. March 10 reminds us that, deep down, the medium may change, but the desire to say "g'day" is here to stay.