APO Candlestick Type 38AT

The specification for these phones was introduced by the British Post Office just before World War I, and it closely followed the proven Western Electric design. Naturally the Australian Post Office followed suit, not having the technical skill or the manufacturing capacity at that time to design its own phones. As in most other countries that used this style of phone, it was not widely popular because of its weight. In spite of this it was used in Australia in fairly large numbers, mostly in the cities. It proved unsuitable for the long rural phone lines. The APO also charged a premium price for it for a while, which did nothing to add to its appeal. It was replaced fairly quickly by the new bakelite models.

This example uses the early alphanumeric dial with the small dial centre, but most were eventually upgraded to the standard APO dial with the large centre and numbers only. .

If you have reached this page through a Search Engine, this will take you to the front page of the website