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Commonwealth legislation
This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
These Regulations create a comprehensive licensing and technical regime for wireless telegraphy in Australia: who may operate stations (coast, ship, land, broadcasting, listeners, dealers, experimental, portable, aircraft), required operator certificates, technical performance rules, record‑keeping, fees, penalties and inspection. They vest broad administrative powers in the Postmaster‑General (including censorship, allocation of wavelengths, licence renewal/revocation and revenue apportionment) and enable Defence to control or seize installations in an emergency.
They affect broadcasters, ship and land operators, equipment dealers, experimenters and listeners — those parties pay fees, meet technical and secrecy obligations, and accept substantial administrative discretion over allocation and enforcement.
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Direct links to the current provisions in Wireless Telegraphy Regulations.
Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
STATUTORY RULES.
1924. No. 101.
––––––
REGULATIONS UNDER THE WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY ACT 1905-1919.
I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1905-1919, to come into operation forthwith.
Dated this 17th day of July, 1924.
FORSTER,
Governor-General.
By His Excellency’s’ Command,
Ll. ATKINSON,
for the Postmaster-General.
WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY REGULATIONS.
Part I.—Preliminary.
Short title.
Parts.
Part I.—Preliminary.
Part II.—Licences: Classes and Conditions.
Part III.—Broadcasting.
Division 1.—Broadcasting Stations.
Division 2.—Broadcast Listeners’ Stations.
Division 3.—Sale of Apparatus.
Part IV.—Experimental Licences.
Part V.—Control of Communications and Appliances in Emergencies.
Part VI. —Proficiency Certificates for Operators and Watchers.
Past VII.—Miscellaneous.
Definitions.
“Act” means the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1905-1919;
“Aircraft station” means a station on aircraft operated for the purpose of communicating with other authorized stations;
“Australia” includes the territorial waters of the Commonwealth and of any Territory of the Commonwealth;
“Australian ship” means a ship registered in Australia;
“Authorized officer” means any officer thereto authorized in writing by the Minister;
“Authorized station” means a station in respect of which a licence is issued;
“British ship” means a British ship other than an Australian ship;
C.7033—Price 1s.
“Broadcasting station” means a station on land for the purpose of broadcasting to licensed broadcast listeners’ stations;
“Broadcast listeners’ station” means a station used solely for the reception of programmes from broadcasting stations;
“Coast station” means a station which is established on land or on board a ship permanently moored, and which is open for the transmission and receipt of messages by means of wireless telegraphy between land and ship stations or other coast stations;
“Department” means the Postmaster-General’s Department;
“Experimental station” means a station used solely for the purpose of instruction in, or research, or investigation into, wireless telegraphy;
“Foreign ship” means a ship other than an Australian ship or a British ship;
“Government message” means a message transmitted on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom or the Government of the Commonwealth;
“Harbor” includes any harbor properly so called, whether natural or artificial, or any estuary, navigable river, pier, jetty, or other work in or at which a ship can obtain shelter, or ship or unship goods or passengers;
“International Telegraph Convention” means the International Convention of St. Petersburg dated the 10th-22nd July, 1875, and includes any modifications of the Convention made from time to time;
“International Telegraph Regulations” means the service Regulations made under the International Telegraph Convention, and includes any modifications of those Regulations made from time to time;
“Land station” means a station, not being a coast station, established on land for the purpose of communicating by means of wireless telegraphy with other stations;
“Licensed installation” means an installation at a station in respect of which a licence is issued;
“Licensee” means any person to whom a licence has been granted under these Regulations;
“Military signalling” means signalling by means of any system of wireless telegraphy or telephony between two or more sets of appliances for wireless telegraphy or telephony operated by or on behalf of the Military Forces of the Commonwealth of Australia, or between one such set of appliances and any other wireless telegraph or telephone station;
“Minister” means the Minister for the time being administering the Act, and includes any Minister or member of the Executive Council for the time being acting for or on behalf of the Minister;
“Naval signalling” means signalling by means of any system of wireless telegraphy or telephony between two or more ships of His Majesty’s Navy, between ships of His Majesty’s Navy and naval stations, or between a ship of His Majesty’s Navy or a naval station and any other wireless telegraph or telephone station, whether on shore or on any ship;
“Portable station” means a station in no fixed location capable of being removed from place to place and being operated in transit for the purpose of communication by wireless telegraphy with other authorized stations;
“Postmaster-General” includes the Minister for the time being administering the Act, and any Minister or member of the Executive Council for the time being acting for or on behalf of the Postmaster-General;
“Ship station” means a ship (not permanently moored) having installed thereon appliances for the transmission and receipt of messages by means of wireless telegraphy;
“Station” means a station for the transmission or receipt of messages by means of wireless telegraphy;
“Telegraph” means a wire or cable used for telegraphic or telephonic communication including any casing, coating, tube, tunnel or pipe enclosing the wire or cable, and any posts, masts or piers supporting the wire or cable, and any apparatus connected therewith, or any apparatus for transmitting messages or other communications by means of electricity;
“Territorial waters” means the territorial waters of the Commonwealth and those of any Territory of the Commonwealth and includes harbors;
“The Chief Manager” means the Chief Manager, Telegraphs and Wireless, holding office under the Commonwealth Public Service Act 1922;
“The Radiotelegraphic Convention” means the Convention signed at London on the 5th day of July, 1912, and the Service Regulations made thereunder, and includes any modification of the Convention or Regulations made from time to time;
“The Secretary” means the Secretary, Postmaster-General’s Department;
“Wireless Telegraphy” includes all systems of transmitting and receiving telegraphic or telephonic messages by means of electricity without a continuous metallic connexion between the transmitter and the receiver.
Part II.—Licences: Classes and Conditions, Generally.
Classes, conditions, &c., of licences.
(a) Coast station licences (Form 1);
(b) Ship station licences (Form 2);
(c) Land station licences (Form 3);
(d) Broadcasting station licences (Form 4);
| (e) Broadcast listeners’ licences | Ordinaryspecial | (Form 5); |
|---|
(f) Broadcast listeners’ licences, temporary (Form 6);
(g) Dealers’ licences (Form 7);
(h) Experimental licences (Form 8);
(i) Portable station licences (Form 9);
(j) Aircraft station licences (Form 10); and
(k) Special licences; to be granted to any company or person for a class of station in respect of which none of the other licences mentioned in this regulation is appropriate.
(2) Except with the consent of the Defence authorities, a licence (other than a broadcast listener’s licence or dealer’s licence) shall not be granted to any person who is not a natural-born or naturalized British subject.
(3) A declaration of the secrecy of commercial, naval or military wireless communications shall be made in accordance with Form 15 in the Schedule to these Regulations by all persons having access to wireless communications or actually operating a licensed installation, except a broadcast listener’s installation.
(4) Every licence shall be subject to the provisions of any regulations from time to time made under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1905-1919 so far as they are applicable to the licence, and those provisions shall be deemed to be incorporated in the licence.
(5) A licensee shall at all times indemnify the Commonwealth of Australia and the Postmaster-General against all actions, claims and demands which may be brought or made by any person or firm in respect of any injury arising from any act of the licensee or his agents permitted by the licence.
(6) Except with the consent in writing of the Postmaster-General or an authorized officer, a licensee shall not assign, sublet, or otherwise dispose of or admit any other person or firm to participate in any of the benefits of the licence, powers, or authorities granted.
(7) Any notice, request, or consent (whether expressed to be in writing or not) to be given or made by or for the Postmaster-General may be under the hand of the Secretary or other authorized officer of the Department being administered by the Postmaster-General, and may be served on a licensee by sending it by registered letter addressed to the licensee at the usual or last-known place of residence or business of the licensee, and in that case the time of service shall be deemed to mean the time when in the ordinary course of post it would have been delivered to the licensee at that place; and any notice to be given by a licensee may be served by sending it by registered letter addressed to the Secretary at his official address within the Commonwealth of Australia.
(8) A licensed installation shall not, without the consent of the Postmaster-General or an authorized officer, be altered or modified in respect of any of the particulars mentioned in the schedule to the licence.
(9) Every licensed installation shall be available to the Minister of State for Defence in case of national emergency.
(10) The issue of a licence by the Postmaster-General or an authorized officer under these Regulations shall not relieve the licensee of any responsibility for any infringement by the licensee of any patent for an invention.
Period of licence.
Fees for licences.
(a) for a coast station licence—One pound;
(b) for a ship station licence—One pound;
(c) for a land station licence—One pound;
(d) for a broadcasting station licence—the fee provided in Part III of these Regulations;
(e) for a broadcast listener’s licence—the fee provided in Part III. of these Regulations;
(f) for a dealer’s licence—the fee provided in Part III. of these Regulations;
(g) for an experimental licence—the fee provided in Part IV. of these Regulations;
(h) for a portable station licence—One pound;
(i) for an aircraft station licence—One pound;
(j) special licence—As fixed in each case.
Provided that the Minister may grant any licence free of charge to Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Limited pursuant to the agreement made on the 28th March, 1922, between the Commonwealth and Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Limited.
(2) The fees under this regulation shall be paid in advance.
Conditions as to syntony.
(2) The transmitting apparatus used on the licensed stations shall be of such a character that the waves emitted are as pure and little damped as possible, and the receiving apparatus used at licensed stations shall be of such a character as to afford the greatest possible protection from disturbance during reception of signals.
Decrement and coupling.
(2) The coupling between the primary and secondary of the oscillation transformer shall not be closer than that which gives a difference of 5 per cent. between the mean wave-length and either of the two waves emitted by the coupled circuits.
Superfluous signalling prohibited.
(2) No person shall transmit or make a signal containing profane words or language, or transmit improperly the call sign of another station or any signals not necessary for the conduct of experiments or traffic.
Powers of inspection.
Provision as to secrecy.
Licences to be in parts and to be exhibited.
(2) A ship licence shall be in three parts: the duplicate and triplicate shall be issued to the licensee and the original retained in the Department.
(3) The duplicate part of the licence shall be exhibited in the room where the licensed apparatus is installed. In the case of a portable station or aircraft station a card in accordance with Form 16 in the Schedule to these Regulations shall be carried.
Renewal of licences.
(2) The memorandum shall be written on each part of the licence, but in the case of the licensee’s part it shall be in the form of an official receipt for the renewal fee signed by the Minister or an authorized officer, or by any person authorized to receive moneys on behalf of the Department.
(3) The receipts shall be attached by the licensee to the part or parts of the licence in his possession.
Revocation of licence.
(2) The licensee shall not be entitled to any compensation by reason of any such revocation or determination.
Further particulars to be supplied if required.
Existing licences.
This is an opening excerpt, not the complete document.