The Marshalite was a form of rotary

traffic signal Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic. Traffic lights ...

that was designed in 1936 by an Australian Charles Marshall (1864 -

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, New Zealand - 3 April 1953,

Mornington, Victoria Mornington is a suburb on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Mornington recorded a popul ...

, Australia), founder of the Fitzroy firm of Charles Marshall Pty. Ltd. The Marshalite signal consisted of dials facing each street at an intersection, with a rotating hand pointing to coloured sections that denoted whether traffic in either direction should proceed, prepare to stop, or stop, and how much longer that phase had to go. Variations existed for

pedestrian crossings A pedestrian crossing (or crosswalk in American English) is a place designated for pedestrians to cross a road, street or avenue. The term "pedestrian crossing" is also used in the Vienna and Geneva Conventions, both of which pertain to road si ...

, with additional text instructing people to "Walk" or "Don't Walk". The first experimental model was erected in 1937 at the corner of Gertrude and Brunswick streets, Fitzroy, but was removed when its legality came into question. After 1945, Mashalite signals were installed at a number of locations in metropolitan

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

, starting with the intersection of Brunswick and Johnston streets, Fitzroy At the intersection of

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's Downtown Whitehorse, downtown ...

and Union roads, Surrey Hills, the clock was used in conjunction with conventional traffic lights, so that the point of change was absolute and unambiguous. The last Marshalite to operate was situated on the

Nepean Highway Nepean Highway runs south from St Kilda Junction in Victoria, Australia to Portsea, close to the eastern shore of Port Phillip. It is the primary road route to central Melbourne from Melbourne's southern suburbs. History Originally known as A ...

. A similar system was used in

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and

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

. In Germany it was called " Heuer-Ampel", after the engineer Josef Heuer, and was used in a number of places until 1972, when a change in traffic laws outlawed them. For historic reasons, an unused one is still in place in

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous German federal state of N ...

References

External links

Marshalling Melbourne's traffic One of the world's first traffic lights, the Marshalite
Information Sheet No 10345, October 2000, Museums Victoria
Traffic Control Signal - Marshalite, 1940-1960
Museums Victoria Collections
Negative - Marshalite Traffic Signal, Clifton Hill, 1960
Museums Victoria Collections
Vintage Melbourne - Marshalite Traffic Signals
April 22, 2016, By Sarah, Zinc Moon, ''If you head into the city (Melbourne), and along Burke Street to the RACV Club, you may notice an interesting structure in their courtyard.''

image of pedestrian crossing Marshalite. Transport in Melbourne Traffic signals {{road-stub