The 1194 ‘talking clock’ service is no more after Telstra ended support, but the clock has received an online revival

It was once an essential service — a number everybody dialled. But there's a new way to access the once lost talking clock.

After 66 years, Telstra has ended a service that allowed Australians to call up and hear the time.

The service was set to transmit its last time call on June 30, but was finally switched off at the end of September after a three-month extension.

Calls to 1194 are now met with a prerecorded message that the service is no longer available.

But there's a new way you can get your nostalgia hit while also finding out the time.

Coder and musician Ryan Monro, perhaps best known for his work with Aussie band The Cat Empire has resurrected the service via a new website, 1194online.com.

In keeping with its nostalgia bent, the new site features an incredibly Web 1.0 design, with nods to Australian history.

The site features the old Telecom Australia (now Telstra) logo, as well as a badge proclaiming it as an "official partner" of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The website provides a new way for Australians to hear the time in the dulcet tones of late broadcaster Richard Peach, who died in 2008.

If you’re under the age of 40, you might not have even been aware such a service was offered, but Telstra had been allowing people to dial 1194 to hear the exact time since 1953.

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Mr Peach recorded the time calls in 1990 when Telstra overhauled the service, replacing the former and original voice of the clock nicknamed "George", theatre critic Gordon Gow.

The shutdown of George came five days before the start of daylight saving, traditionally one of the busiest days of the year for the 1194 number.

The 1194 service that allowed people to call up and hear the time has ended.

Telstra said earlier this year that George was being shut down because it was no longer compatible with new network technologies.

The service had previously been outsourced to a company called Informatel, but remained on the Telstra network.

Informatel executive chairman Dennis Benjamin told The Sydney Morning Herald earlier this year that the service received about two million calls per year.

He said he wanted the service to continue but that it would be too costly and time consuming to find another network for George once Telstra stopped supporting it.

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While many may mourn the death of George, his usefulness and purpose had become increasingly niche, given modern smartphones and even most landlines now display the time.

Your mobile network can also be set to control the time on your smartphone, meaning it should automatically update when daylight saving time comes into effect on Sunday morning.

Past stuff-ups have led to alarm chaos when the time on network-controlled phones adjusted without warning or reason.

Now that George is gone, any future network time malfunctions may become harder to correct.

Are you glad George has been brought back from the dead? Have your say in the comments below.