Австралийская телеграфная линия: от Дарвина до Аделаиды

Major Darwin Port Augusta telecom link

The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was an electrical telegraph system for sending messages the between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Completed in 1872 (with a line to Western Australia added in 1877), it allowed fast communication between Australia and the rest of the world. When it was linked to the Java to Darwin submarine telegraph cable several months later, the communication time with Europe dropped from months to hours; Australia was no longer so isolated from the rest of the world. The line was one of the great engineering feats of 19th century Australia and probably the most significant milestone in the history of telegraphy in Australia.

The requirements of nineteenth century telegraphy meant the Overland Telegraph Line required repeater stations, a maximum of 250 300 km apart, to boost the signal. The repeater stations contained two primary batteries: the line was powered by a (c. 120V) bank of Meidinger cells — a variation of Daniell cell, "recharged" by replacing the electrolyte — as well as Leclanche cells for the local equipment. Although repeater stations have been run by a single telegraphist, usual staffing was four to six, including a station master, telegraphists and a linesman. The job of a telegraphist was to record each message received, with the time of day, and to re send (relay) it further along the line. Within the first year of operations 4000 telegrams were transmitted.

The southern section of the line included repeater stations at Beltana, Strangways Springs and the Peake. Traces and remains of these repeater stations can still be seen today along the Oodnadatta Track in South Australia. The central section of the line included repeater stations at Charlotte Waters and Alice Springs. Charlotte Waters was operational until the 1930s; today there is very little left at the site. The northern section of the line included repeater stations at Barrow Creek, Tennant Creek, Daly Waters, Powell Creek, Katherine, Yam Creek and finally a terminus point in Darwin. In Darwin, there was also considerable infrastructure to manage and maintain the undersea cable/s to Europe. Telegraph stationFebruary 1895 Distance fromAdelaide Distance fromprevious Port Darwin 1973 mile (3175 km) 24 mile (39 km) Southport 1949 mile (3137 km) 95 mile (153 km) Yam Creek 1854 mile (2984 km) 29 mile (47 km) Pine Creek 1825 mile (2937 km) 54 mile (87 km) Katharine 1771 mile (2850 km) 166 mile (267 km) Daly Waters 1605 mile (2583 km) 138 mile (222 km) Powell Creek 1467 mile (2361 km) 113 mile (182 km) Tennant Creek 1354 mile (2179 km) 147 mile (237 km) Barrow Creek 1207 mile (1942 km) 171 mile (275 km) Alice Springs 1036 mile (1667 km) 132 mile (212 km) Charlotte Waters 804 mile (1294 km) 168 mile (270 km) The Peake 636 mile (1024 km) 91 mile (146 km) Strangways Springs 545 mile (877 km) 90 mile (145 km) Beltana 355 mile (571 km) c. 150 mile (241 km) Port Augusta c. 205 mile (330 km)

On 22 February 1874, eighteen months after the line opened, a group of Aboriginal men attacked the staff of the repeater station at Barrow Creek, killing linesman John Frank, mortally wounding stationmaster John L. Stapleton, and seriously wounding two others, one an aboriginal youth employed at the station. Contemporary press reports described the incident as the "Barrow's Creek outrage". A punitive expedition resulted in the death of several Aboriginal men believed to have been involved. Twentieth century First Nations accounts tell a very different kind of story about what happened at Barrow Creek, and how to make sense of the conflict.

Numerous interruptions to service occurred in the early days. Tribal Aboriginals discovered that splendid fishing hooks could be fashioned from the galvanised iron wire conductors (same as #8 fencing wire), spearheads and other implements could be made from shards of insulator, and hatchets from iron baseplates attached to some of the poles, keeping the linemen busy. Atmospheric disturbance from solar flares induced interfering signals in some sections of the line, and lightning strikes were not uncommon. These breaks were as nothing compared with the flooding event involving the Peake and Strangways Springs stations in 1895. On 20 January the telegraph line was washed away by the Warrina Creek, a few miles north of Strangways Springs, and full service was not restored until 24 January. Improvised communication included carrying paper copies of the messages by rail between the Peake and Oodnadatta. The flood at the Peake was unprecedented, but Todd authorised replacing the 23 feet (7 m) steel poles with 30 footers, set in concrete and reinforced with struts.

When Darwin was bombed in World War II the line was deliberately cut just before the attack.

In 1870 the British Australia Telegraph Company (BAT) was formed to link Australia directly to the British telegraphic cable system, by extending the cable from Singapore via Java to Port Darwin. In 1873, three British companies, The British India Extension Telegraph Company, The BAT and The China Submarine Telegraph Company were amalgamated to form the Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Company (EET Co). The driving force behind the British cable companies was a Scottish born entrepreneur Sir John Pender, founder of Cable and Wireless. On 19 November 1871, Australia was connected telegraphically with the rest of the world after a cable was laid by BAT from Banyuwangi (Banjoewangie), at the eastern end of Java, to Darwin. This coincided with the completion of the construction of the overland telegraph cable from Adelaide to Darwin. The first message sent directly from London to Adelaide occurred on 22 October 1872. A second submarine cable from Java to Darwin was laid in 1880 to provide redunancy. The site in the intertidal zone where the cables come ashore in Darwin, where they are still visible during very low tides, was heritage listed in 2020.

In the 1930s Cinesound Productions announced plans to make a movie about the Telegraph based on a script by Frank Clune. This emeged as Clune's 1955 book Overland Telegraph. In 2007, the ABC produced Constructing Australia, a three part miniseries, which included the 55 minute "Wire through the Heart" on the Overland Telegraph Line. A 6 minute excerpt, "Todd Completes Telegraph" may be viewed on this project page from the NFSA.