ABC NewsRadio

ABC NewsRadio is an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio service devoted to delivering live and 24-hour news updates and information. The service is available on a number of broadcasts right around Australia, including AM/FM radio, some pay-TV platforms and online via the Internet.

Originally called the Parliamentary and News Network (PNN), the AM/FM radio network is chartered to broadcast live the proceedings of parliament, either the House of Representatives or the Senate, as specified by the standing orders. Also broadcast, at the end of each day's sitting, is a recording of Question Time for the chamber that was not broadcast live that day. These restrictions do not apply to the other broadcasts of Newsradio (nor to newly commissioned rural and regional transmitters in 2006 (see below), although this is not exploited).

Parliamentary broadcasting was commenced by Ben Chifley's government on 10 July 1946, on ABC Radio. These broadcasts received their own frequencies in the 1980s as PNN. The PNN/ABC NewsRadio service was introduced in August 1994 to utilise the Parliamentary broadcasting frequencies which were not being used when Parliament was not in session.

Ruston (engine builder)

Ruston & Hornsby, later known as Ruston, was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England, the company's history going back to 1840. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam locomotives and a range of internal combustion engines, and later gas turbines. The company is now part of the Siemens group of Germany.

Early history

The original company was Proctor and Burton established in 1840, operating as millwrights and engineers. They became Ruston, Proctor and Company in 1857 when Joseph Ruston joined them, acquiring limited liability status in 1899. From 1866 they built a number of four and six-coupled tank locomotives, one of which was sent to the Paris Exhibition in 1867. In 1868 they built five 0-6-0 tank engines for the Great Eastern Railway to the design of Samuel W. Johnson. Three of these were converted to crane tanks, two of which lasted until 1952, aged eighty-four. Among the company's output were sixteen for Argentina and some for T. A. Walker, the contractor building the Manchester Ship Canal.