Chapter 02 · The Radio Network 03 / 12

Voice Across the Outback

1
Every Station Within Range

The Traeger pedal wireless reached cattle runs 200 miles from the nearest town, turning isolation into a single radio call.

2
One Doctor, a Continent of Patients

A single physician in Cloncurry could diagnose, advise, and dispatch across 1.3 million square miles of outback from his desk.

3
Built from What Was at Hand

Bicycle parts, fencing wire, and a hand-wound generator — Traeger's first prototype worked because it had no other option.

4
The Network Before the Network

By 1935, forty-five bases linked by shortwave formed Australia's first continent-wide medical relay system.