Ah, better luck next time!

In the mid-1920s, Alfred Traeger began working with RFDS founder Rev. John Flynn in an attempt to improve the problematic transceivers that were being used for communication in the outback. Drawing on his engineering skill, Traeger invented the pedal-powered radio – a floor-mounted generator operated by bicycle pedals – that allowed people in remote communities to send and receive messages using Morse code.

 Over the following eight years, Traeger continued to refine his design and travelled widely to install these radios at homesteads, hospitals, missions, and RFDS bases; revolutionising the way people in outback Australia communicated.