Joseph Oppenheimer
Joseph Oppenheimer (born Feb 8 1820 in Braunschweig/Brunswick, Germany and died 8 Feb 1893 Manchester, UK), was a German born merchant and inventor, and naturalised British citizen who spent most of his adult life working in the telegraphy industry in Australia and the United Kingdom.
Oppenheimer quickly found his way to Manchester, where he joins a vibrant and growing German-Jewish community which was focused predominantly on the textile industry, but also early manufacturing and technologies around telegraphy and railway.
[2][3] In England, Oppenheimer's social and business networks include key members of the German and Jewish community in Manchester, and he appears to have been a member of the Manchester Congregation of British Jews—one of the oldest Reform Jewish communities in the UK, ultimately leaving them £200 in his will.
His estate, which was worth more than £27,000, a sizeable amount for 1893, was distributed amongst his nieces and nephews, several friends and charities (including Manchester's Jewish School, the Congregation of British Jews and the Royal Infirmary) and his long-time housekeeper Hannah Sampson.
[4] Oppenheimer worked as a salesman for company formed by extra-ordinary wealthy James and Leopold Reiss—the Reiss Brothers and Co—from 1845 until at least 1852.
[8] Initially, Oppenheimer was an agent for Meyers and Co in Melbourne where he tendered for everything from water works and cast iron parts to telegraphy.
In 1856, he was a member of the South Australian governor's travelling party in 1856 to participate in an inspection and surveying of the country to determine the route for the proposed Victoria-South Australia telegraph line.
[12] He counted amongst his close friends, Samuel Deering—the long time Agent for the South Australian colony In 1858, Oppenheimer is embroiled in a scandal regarding the first attempt to lay an undersea telegraphic cable between the mainland and Tasmania.
The Oppenheimer pole was an ingenious innovation, resistant to rot and termites, it was also designed to be easily transported via camel or bullocky train.
These telescopic poles were ideal for handling and storing and their reduced size made them much easier to transport and erect on site.
[21] The largest remaining extant collection of Oppenheimer poles can be found in the Frew Ponds Overland Telegraph Line Memorial Reserve 1085 which was gazetted in June 1962.
A version of the Oppenheimer pole also makes an appearance in Thelma Afford's costume designs for the South Australian 1936 "Pageant of Progress" with her illustration of the Overland Telegraph Line.
