My wife and I came to Warkworth in November 1973 on transfer with the Post Office and it was only a short time later that Mr. Frank Joyce invited me to join the Foundation Committee of the Warkworth and District Museum.

The Curator at that time, Mr Bob Penniket, would not accession telephones into the Museum as we were very short of storage, a deficiency that has now changed.

At this time Matakana and Leigh were still manual exchanges but one of my jobs was preparing them for cutover to automatic. This meant that many old and unusual telephones were leaving the area. I could see the day when we would regret not saving some for the Museum and I began to collect them so that at least they would still be available to display at the Museum as required. Today there is a showcase with several of my telephones on display and the Curator does not want me to take them away on any account.

The problem is that my collecting became an obsession and now I have more than 150 different telephones dating from 1889.

When we first set up the guidelines for the Museum, one of the objects was to collect and preserve the history of communications in the Warkworth area. Nothing had been done in this direction and, as it fitted into my hobby, I decided to do something about it. It also happened that I had an operation on my toe and I spent several weeks with my foot up so making the most of this, I rang everyone and anyone who had or may have information and leads to follow up later. It took two years and several trips to Museums and libraries to bring this information together and to present it in book form as you have here today.

Contact Ray Jensen at 8 Hauiti Drive, Warkworth, 1241, New Zealand on email: jetsen@xtra.co.nz for a copy.

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