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Other Desk PhonesLike the wall phones, there were many early desk phones that were not given Tele numbers. The APO's intention was to phase them out of service as they broke down. A more thorough coverage is given in "History of the Telephone in New South Wales" by Jim Bateman. The selection shown here is by no means complete.
Peel Conner Skeletal Phone Based on the Ericsson model, this was an alternative phone bought in by State administrations before Federation. Peel Conner was the telephone manufacturing arm of the British company, the General Electric Company, who eventually dropped the model in the early 1910s.
This early desk phone was made by Bell Telephone Manufacturing Co. in Antwerp, and later by Western Electric in London. Its production was fairly short , from the late 1890s to about 1920, but in that time it was brought in by a number of States. It was also popular with Railways. It will often be found with Government stamps impressed into the metalwork. In most cases the Ericsson Skeletal proved more reliable.
Western Electric "Turret" Phone Built in Antwerp by Bell Telephone Manufacturing until the mid 1890s, when it was replaced by the "Eiffel Tower" with the more popular handset. Over the years it was built with different transmitters.
A rare phone produced in extremely small numbers and sought after by collectors worldwide. Because of its two-bar magneto it was not much use on normal phone lines, so was usually used as an internal extension phone. Some were presented to local dignitaries. Only a few are known in Australia.
This is an upgrade of an earlier phone, with the addition of a modified bakelite cradle to take the new bakelite handset. It was used in small numbers in Australia, but a Type number is not known at present. It was only a short-term measure until the full bakelite phones were introduced.
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Western Electric "Eiffel Tower". 
L M Ericssons' "Biscuit Barrel" 
British
Ericsson AC550 
British
Ericsson Model N1030, an early "tin box" style phone. An APO number
for it is not known, and it may have been an early import to meet the need for
auto phones. It dates from about 1912, and was superseded by the bakelite
162 phone in the late 1930s. It must have been imported in some numbers, as it
was still being shown in Technicians' training manuals in the 1970s.
