Samuel Calvert, engraver, ‘Telegraphy school, Technological Museum, Melbourne’, from Illustrated Australian news, 18 June 1872, State Library of Victoria.
The Industrial and Technological Museum opened in Melbourne in 1870 with Harvard-educated industrial chemist James Cosmo Newbery as scientific superintendent. He introduced courses in chemistry, metallurgy, geology, physiology, astronomy and telegraphy. Australia’s first telegraph line was erected between Melbourne and Williamstown in 1854. The technology provided new employment opportunities for women as telegraph operators and the museum provided the necessary training.