Wireless Priest

Archibald Shaw and the Maritime Wireless Telegraph Company

Matthew Ryan

$59.95 $50.58

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Studio20
11 July 2024

Biography: general; Australasian & Pacific history; Mobile phone technology; WAP (wireless) technology

Around 1910 a forward thinking Catholic priest, Archibald Shaw, was experimenting with spark-gap wireless about a decade before broadcast radio took-off. He founded an engineering factory in the Sydney suburb of Randwick. Shaw was a missionary priest and his intention was to use the wireless sets he manufactured to keep in touch with distant missionaries throughout New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. He hoped that profits from his factory might bring his order's missionary accounts out of debt as well. Within a short time his business won a large tender to construct Australia's first Coastal Wireless Service established by the government in the aftermath of the Titanic disaster of 1912.

In 1916 Shaw became unconscious in the company of a man and two prostitutes in his room at the Melbourne Coffee Palace. He had just finalised the sale of his factory, Australia's first wireless manufacturing business, to the Royal Australian Navy. A large sum of cash he withdrew from the bank two days prior could not be accounted for.

He was about to return to Sydney and move to America with a woman to whom he is secretly engaged. Five days later he is dead.

An ensuing Royal Commission into the purchase of his business reveals government corruption and leads to the sacking of a Minister of the Crown and the resignation of a Tasmanian senator. The mystery surrounding Shaw's death is never resolved. A police report has disappeared and the missing money is never traced.

An astonishing tale, meticulously researched: this is the extraordinary story of Archibald Shaw - orphan, missionary priest, wireless engineer, businessman and keeper of secrets.

By: Matthew Ryan
Imprint: Studio20
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 21mm
Weight: 603g
ISBN: 9781763637504
ISBN 10: 1763637506
Pages: 310
Publication Date: 11 July 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Matthew Ryan completed post-graduate studies in physics and theology and has a graduate certificate in documentary filmmaking. He is a Churchill Fellow and was the inaugural Science Teacher Fellow at the University of Sydney in the School of Physics. He is a licensed radio amateur and has conducted several contacts between students and astronauts aboard the International Space Station. He has built equipment powerful enough to bounce radio signals off the moon.

Reviews for Wireless Priest: Archibald Shaw and the Maritime Wireless Telegraph Company

'Easily mistaken for implausible fiction... but every detail fact' - Alfred Bennett 'The story of a remarkable and largely unknown Australian, vividly brought to life' - Trish Edmondson 'Engrossing and well-researched' - Martin Avery '... a fusion of science, religion, government corruption and forbidden love' - Michael MacDonald