Hollereith Machines at Victoria Barracks, Melbourne, Victoria, during WW2

HOLLEREITH MACHINES
AT VICTORIA BARRACKS,
MELBOURNE, VICTORIA,
DURING WW2

visits since 1 September 2002

The "WAAAF Book" describes a WAAAF who completed her administrative courses at Melbourne University and was then posted to Victoria Barracks in St. Kilda Road, Melbourne as the officer-in-charge of WAAAF's who were operating or under instruction to operate Hollereith machines. It is claimed that these were the forerunners of the modern computer. She was later posted to a top secret unit called No. 2 Flying Personnel Research Unit (No. 2 FPRU) at Sydney University.

Herman Hollereith founded the Tabulating Machine Company which was later known as International Business Machines (IBM). In 1889, Hollereith used punch crads to store tabulated data.

Can anyone tell me more about these so called
Hollereith Machines located at Victoria Barracks?

REFERENCE BOOKS

"The WAAAF Book"
Edited by Clare Stevenson and Honor Darling