Early Experiments
In 1921, Amalgamated Wireless (Australia) Ltd. (A.W.A), selected Koo Wee Rup as a site for a Wireless Experimentation Station.

Koo Wee Rup is about 60 km south west of Melbourne, on flat swampy land – it is now a thriving rural community.

The site of the Station was in Rossiter Road, near the intersection of Denhams Road, on land owned by John Mickle and operated from early 1921 to 1922. It was at this Station that it was confirmed that direct and efficient communication between Great Britain and Australia was feasible.

Radio communications, at this time, were sent and received by a series of relays.

Wireless Telegraphy signals sent from Britain had already been received directly in Australia as early as 1918, as European stations could be heard at certain times in Australia. These transmissions are affected by weather and especially sun activity (as anyone with a modern day HF radio would know).

Great Britain had proposed the establishment of an Imperial Radio Scheme, based on a series of relays, at the Imperial Conference of 1921 (the fore-runner of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting). Australia would have been at a disadvantage under this Scheme as we were at the end of the line and many relays were situated in politically unstable countries. The Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, rejected this Scheme at the Conference.

The Koo Wee Rup Station was staffed by Thomas Bearup, E.A Burbury and E.G Bailey. Bearup later became Victorian Manager of the ABC. Their experiments used a heterodyne type receiver, with six stages of radio frequency amplification and two stages of audio frequency amplification. Their research showed that wireless signals could be received over long periods each day from New York, Rome, England, Paris and Germany and were consistent enough to prove that direct wireless telegraphy communication was both practical and reliable between Australia and Britain.

Experiments were continued and eventually an experimental station was established at Koo-wee-rup near Melbourne. A directional aerial having a heart‑shaped polar diagram was employed, and the old receiver was replaced by a new one of the heterodyne type, comprising six stages of radio frequency amplification and two stages of audio frequency amplification.

For over a year, the signal strengths of many stations were carefully measured and the results showed that wireless signals could be received over long periods each day from New York, Rome, England, Paris and Germany, and were sufficiently consistent to assure regular wireless communication between England and Australia.

Tests between Koo-Wee-Rup and England proved that direct radio links were possible across the globe.

A.W.A (which worked in conjunction with the Marconi Company), subsequently won the Contract from the Australian Government to construct and maintain Shortwave Beam Wireless Stations capable of direct commercial services to Britain and Canada, which commenced in 1927.

The site continued to be used for radio experiments into the early 1930s, but was washed away in the huge floods of 1934.