I grew up in Brisbane and was very familiar with a night out in the city in 1984. I’ve included the post above as it makes me feel quite nostalgic. Thanks to Melissa and B. Power for the use of the image.
Here’s a story I have only just come across:
Free calls to Santa from payphones are a gift – and a reminder that public goods have a value beyond money
Cressida Gaukroger, Tue 23 Dec 2025, The Guardian.
In a world that seems increasingly keen to monetise every interaction we have with it, how nice it was to watch my daughter discover she could make a “call to Santa” from a public payphone … free of charge. I say “payphone”, but in Australia payphones are not in fact “pay” phones.
In 2021, Telstra, the now-privatised national telco, made all local and national calls from public phones free – as well as calls to Santa, which I guess count as “international”. To many of the country’s mobile-absorbed population, it may have appeared an irrelevant nod to a fading technology, like being given a typewriter or top hat. But this overlooks what an important public good communication infrastructure like this is.
For the full article please go to The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/24/free-calls-to-santa-payphones-australia-a-gift
