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The residents of Dooralong, N.S.W. could be excused if they felt uneasy about a group of strangers who took over the Dooralong Community Hall to establish a secret communications base. Dooralong is a hamlet situated eight kilometres west of Wyong on the central coast of New South Wales.
 "The sounder nearly hit the roof as Charlie scorched the line..." |
More than a hundred of these strangers had earlier gathered in nearby Jilliby cemetery to place a headstone on the last resting place of Frank Spruhan, one of the most colourful characters of the morse telegraph days. He was known affectionately by his contemporaries as "Spru." He passed away in 1965 and his grave had been unmarked.
The headstone ceremony was organised by the Morsecodians' Fraternity and was organised by retired Newcastle postmaster, Bob Power.
At Dooralong the group held a barbeque lunch and spent the afternoon recalling Spru's poetry and telling tales of the old telegraph days.
Spru put many of this thoughts about the telegraphs and the people who worked in the area into verse. In the 1960s his collection was published and quickly sold out. Today the book is even rarer than the morse code itself.
Telegraphists were well known for the way they abbreviated or, as they would say, "cut up" most of the words in a telegram and Spru wrote a poem which gave an insight to the way in which the transmission speed of telegrams was increased considerably by cutting up the message. The poem, Coming Round the Bend became Spru's by-line. It is the story of a telegraphist cutting up the report of a horse race, and is produced below.
– adapted from The Post
October-December 1977
Until the late 1950s Sydney's Daily Telegraph maintained a morse line from Newcastle Race Course (about 160 kms or 100 miles to the north) and a telegraphist from the Sydney telegraph room was rostered there for a couple of hours each Saturday afternoon. On several occasions I was required to do the job but, I'm happy to say, nobody ever "cut them up" as much as Charlie Teede managed to do in Spru's poem.
| Coming Round The Bend | And for the Uninitiated. . . | |
| I well remember Charlie Teede, Who used to work the races; No need, indeed, to ask for speed, He'd pace it with the pacers. Lord help the man who "broke" him once Or questioned his "creations"; On him a flood of scorn was turned, The atmosphere with brimstone burned, And Pitman, green with envy squirmed At his abbreviations. "Te field got wl away to ti & as ty settld dwn Te Shicer 1st t bk te li Ws flwd bi Jo Brown. In close proxim ws Tired Tim, Tn cme Arbtratn, Bhnd te bunch ws Cntr Lunch, Gd Luck & Hi Taxatn. Ty whizzed alng (and so did Charles) Without the least cessatn. "C R T B te topwt jumped & got on trms wi Shicr, Wo tn & tre hs bundl dumpd Wh labld him a twicer." I scrambled after Charlie Like a trailer round a bend, Then gave OK—but queried: "'C R T B' u send. Now what is that in aid of? Enlarge a bit my friend." The sounder nearly hit the roof As Charlie scorched the line, "U ort t b on te rabtproof Or up at Doodlekine Chasin poddies rnd te yd Shd b ur chf pastime T tnk u cldnt wrk tt out It nrly mkes me sik. Ani old gin or rousabt Cd write it wi a stik. "Fanci a man wo calls hmslf A tgst asking tt! A record O S vacuum Is located neath ur hat. D' u want it in oils bi Lambert? Or carvd on a marbl stone? Ole 'Winja' Mortill cd tke it & ud nvr hr a moan; Not spelt out li Ive dun fr u Bt cut dwn t te bone. "Wl I mst sa its te bst dspla Of ignrce Ive hrd, O all te sqrtrs in W A Ur crtnli te bird & ani hrsh rmks Ive mist Ty all cn b inferd. 'C R T B' it's known bi rote, Wt wd u ha me snd? Its cmg rnd te bnd—u goat COMING ROUND THE BEND!" |
I well remember Charlie Teede, Who used to work the races; No need, indeed, to ask for speed, He'd pace it with the pacers. Lord help the man who "broke" him once Or questioned his "creations"; On him a flood of scorn was turned, The atmosphere with brimstone burned, And Pitman, green with envy squirmed At his abbreviations. "The field got well away to time And as they settled down, The Shicer, first to break the line, Was followed by Joe Brown. In close proximity was Tired Tim, Then came Arbitration, Behind the bunch was Counter Lunch, Good Luck and High Taxation. They whizzed along (and so did Charles) Without the least cessation. "C R T B the topweight jumped And got on terms with Shicer, Who then and there his bundle dumped Which labelled him a twicer." I scrambled after Charlie Like a trailer round a bend, Then gave OK—but queried: "'C R T B' u send. Now what is that in aid of? Enlarge a bit my friend." The sounder nearly hit the roof As Charlie scorched the line, "You ought to be on the Rabbitproof Or up at Doodlekine Chasing poddies round the yard Should be your chief pastime To think you couldn't work that out It nearly makes me sick. Any old gin or rouseabout Could write it with a stick. "Fancy a man who call himself A telegraphist asking that! A record outsize vacuum Is located neath your hat. Do you want it in oils by Lambert? Or carved on a marble stone? Old 'Whinger' Mortill could take it And you'd never hear a moan Not spelt out like I've done for you But cut down to the bone. "Well I must say it's the best display Of ignorance I've heard, Of all the squatters in Western Australia You're certainly the bird And any harsh remarks I've missed They all can be inferred. 'C R T B' it's known by rote, What would you have me send? Its cmg rnd te bnd—you goat COMING ROUND THE BEND!" |
My own clearest recollection of "cutting up" morse was of sending the New South Wales State Lottery results to Maitland every morning. It was an unpopular chore which I found myself doing far too often but the guy at Maitland was a first class operator and asked only two things of the Sydney telegraphist—that he send as fast as possible and that he cut up the numbers.
In Morse code numbers consist of combinations of five dots or dashes, and to abbreviate them it is only necessary to leave off the extra dashes, You can see from the following table how this was done. Since there was no text involved it didn't cause any confusion.
| Number | Morse | Abr. | ||
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 |
.---- ..--- ...-- ....- ..... -.... --... ---.. ----. ----- |
.- ..- ...- ....- . -.... -... -.. -. - |
As you can see, multiplied by the hundreds of numbers shown in the results, this saved a lot of time.
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