Candlestick telephone

Candlestick or pedestal desk telephones like this were widely used in Australian offices during the first decades of this century. As the service got cheaper, phones of this type found their way into some homes. A separate box housed the bell. There is no dial because an operator at a public exchange would have connected your calls. The phones were probably made by British Ericsson and marked Commonwealth of Australia PMG (Postmaster General's Department).