["Commonwealth Wireless System", The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA), Monday 12 February 1912, page 15]
COMMONWEALTH WIRELESS SYSTEM.
MELBOURNE STATION OPENED.
LORD DENAM SENDS FIRST MESSAGE.
Melbourne, February 10.
To celebrate the inauguration of the Commonwealth wireless system the Federal Government entertained a large party yesterday at the new wireless station in the Domain-road. Among those present were His Excellency the Governor General and Lady Denman, accompanied by Mr. Vernon and Captain Stewart Richardson, Federal Minister, and their wives; the Premier, and State ministers, the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, Federal members of Parliament, and Federal officers. The guests were received by Mrs. Frazer, the wife of the Postmaster-General.
The engine-house is [unclear] but the equipment of the station is sufficient for messages to be successfully transmitted and received. In one section of the little house an operator sits at a table with a tapping instrument before him and telephone receivers at his ears. In another part a dynamo is installed, and secret equipment produces sounds, which reaching the operator's ears are interpreted into letters and words. Request by the Postmaster-General to despatch the first official message from the station, the Governor-General chose the following:--
"The Governor-General to Admiral King-Hall, Hobart.--I am glad to send you the first message to be transmitted from the Commonwealth Wireless Station at Melbourne. I trust that this new means of communication may prove of material advantage to the naval forces of tbe Crown, and emphasise the cordial co-operation between the Commonwealth Government and the Admiralty."
"The Governor-General to the Governor or Tasmania.--I send you cordial greetings and good wishes through the of the Commonwealth wireless station at Melbourne. On the completion of the Hobart station I look forward to increased facilities for communication with Tasmania and substantial advantage to trade and commerce of your State."
Late last evening the Governor-General received the following message from Vice-Admical King-Hall:--
"Congratulations on the completion of the Melbourne station. Very much appreciate the honor of receiving the first message."
The Government have adopted a new system of wireless for their stations, and patentees of existing systems are making every effort to to discover what its secrets are. Already the Marconi Company's resident engineer in Australia (Mr. E. T. Fisk) has notified the Government that the working of the station will be regarded by the company as an infringement of its patents, as it considers that any system will be based on the "Singing Spark" invention.
Yesterday the Postmaster-General received requests from the Marconi and Telefunken Companies, through their solicitors, for leave to be represented at the function. A formal request, through solicitors, was also made for leave to inspect the station. Tickets of invitation were sent, but when the representatives arrived they were not allowed into the inner office, although a number of other people were permitted during the day to inspect the batteries and mysterious equipment. While the Government can guard the secrets of its new system they are safe from prosecution for infringement of patents. Plans cannot he inspected at the Patent Office, and the Marconi and Telefunken representatives have no means of finding out whether the system is a collection of the bent points of other systems, and thus an infringement, or whether it is a bona fide new discovery. They cannot get permission to inspect the apparatus, unless the Postmaster-General changes his policy, and throws tbe station open to their expert engineers. He is not likely to court trouble in this way, and they cannot get an order from a court to see instruments, because they are on Crown lands. How they will get the information on which they wish to found a legal action, now that the Commonwealth Government has actually used its system, by dispatching Lord Denman's message, is an unenviable task before them.
