Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 19 hedged
("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
61/100
The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and
hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Environment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Under furious orange skies and plumes of bushfire smoke, locals and tourists lined up at a payphone to talk to family and friends or check in on neighbours.
asserted
locals → line → neighbours
Some used the public phone in Narooma to tell loved ones they were safe, while others revealed they had lost everything in the catastrophic Black Summer bushfires that razed much of the NSW far south coast.
asserted
that → use → coast
Historian Naomi Parry Duncan was holidaying in Narooma on New Year’s Day in 2020, among those who had to shelter at an evacuation centre as the fires loomed.
asserted
fires → holiday → centre
There was no mobile reception or power during that “bewildering and frightening” time, sending many to wait at three public phones in town, Duncan recalled.
asserted
Duncan → be → town
“At all of the pay phones there were queues of people politely waiting,” she said.
“It was quite an intimate space in the queue.
asserted
It → be → queue
The pay phone outside Narooma Plaza on the Princes Highway has been heritage listed for its cultural and social role in the Black Summer fires, with almost 1000 calls made over two months during and after the disaster.
asserted
calls → list → disaster
Duncan led the nomination to the National Trust of Australia NSW register.
asserted
Duncan → lead → register
The pay phone is now marked with the trust’s bronze plaque, emblazoned with gum leaves, to denote its significance.
asserted
phone → mark → significance
The quiet empathy displayed by people waiting for the phones as they carried shared trauma was a particularly moving sight, Duncan said.
asserted
Duncan → display → trauma
“The instinctive thing to help each other was really quite amazing,” she said.
asserted
she → help → other
Her New Zealand-born partner saw how people waited patiently for the phone and felt a deeper understanding of Australia, she said.
asserted
she → bear → Australia
The landmark status was being sought for other phones, including one in remote Queensland and another in Melbourne.
asserted
status → seek → Melbourne
Telstra is mandated to maintain Australia’s 14,000 pay phones, with all local and national calls to standard fixed lines and mobiles free since mid-2021.
asserted
calls → mandate → mid-2021
Within the last year, 25 million calls have been made from pay phones, including 300,000 to triple zero and crisis support lines.
asserted
calls → make → lines
“Where we’ve got vulnerable people in the community out there who need crisis support and to stay connected, they’re showing us these pay phones are absolutely critical,” Telstra regional general manager Chris Taylor said.
asserted
Taylor → get → us
Telstra has been working to ensure better resilience during disasters, such as power back-ups to help restore connectivity more quickly, Taylor said.
asserted
Taylor → work → connectivity
Duncan said public phones have a long history in Australian culture, playing a particularly important part in women’s lives.
asserted
phones → say → lives
The phones were used to help women find employment and leave abusive relationships throughout the last century, as well as keeping Indigenous communities connected, she said.
asserted
she → use → communities
“They are so important for keeping us together, especially when you’ve got a country that is spread over such vast distances as Australia.”
asserted
that → keep → Australia
The Aporia
