000 (also known as triple-zero or triple-O) is the primary national emergency number in Australia. The Emergency Call Service is operated by Telstra Corporation Limited as a condition of its telecommunications license, and is intended only for use in life-threatening or time-critical emergencies. Other emergency numbers in Australia are 112 for GSM mobile phones — which is redirected to a 000 operator — and 106 for textphones.
Prior to 1969, Australia had no national number for emergency services; the police, fire and ambulance services possessed many phone numbers, one for each local unit. In 1961, the office of the Postmaster General (PMG) introduced the 000 number in major population centres and near the end of the 1980s extended its coverage to nationwide. The number 000 was chosen for several reasons, one of which was that zero was closest to the finger stall on Australian pulse dial phones, so it was easy to dial in darkness.
