Australia was a relatively early adopter of electrical telegraph technology in the middle of the nineteenth century, despite its low population densities and the difficult conditions sometimes encountered in laying lines. From 1858 onwards, the major capitals were progressively linked, culminating in the addition of Perth in 1877. Australia was linked to the rest of the world for the first time in 1872, through the Overland Telegraph which ran some from Adelaide through to Darwin. The network continued to expand in size and sophistication until 1959 and in heavy usage until 1945, after which time telephone usage began to erode public patronage of telegraphy services. The final publicly provided telegraphy service was closed in 1993.
Electric telegraphy
The telegraph is a device for transmitting and receiving messages over long distances, i.e., for telegraphy, which is the long-distance transmission of textual messages where the sender uses a semaphore system, known to the recipient.
An electrical telegraph uses electric current and magnetism to convert the manual typing of codes that represent words, into electrical impulses. These impulses are transmitted over a metallic circuit (overhead wires or underground cables) to a distant location. At the distant location the impulses are converted into magnetic fields that operate a mechanical device to make a sound or to move a visual indicator. The operator at the receiving end converts these sounds or signals into a written message. The code system used throughout Australia was the Morse code.
Beginnings
Victoria Australia's first telegraph line, sponsored by the Victorian government, was erected between Melbourne and Williamstown in 1853 and 1854 by Samuel McGowan, a recently immigrated Canadian telegrapher. The line covered a distance of and went into operation in March 1854, less than 10 years after the opening of the first public telegraph line (1 May 1844) in the world (linking Baltimore and Washington DC). 4000 telegrams were despatched in the first year (1854). When the line was extended to Geelong in December 1854, the first message transmitted to Melbourne brought news of the Eureka Stockade. Connections to Queenscliff and Port Melbourne (January and July 1855) provided notice of ships entering the harbour and arriving at port. Connections to the gold-mining centres of Ballarat and Bendigo were both completed in December 1856. By 1857 Victoria had been extensively networked by telegraph lines, including a line reaching to Portland, near the South Australian state border. By 1867 there were of line within Victoria, handling 122,138 messages.Australian Telecoms – The beginnings , caslon.com.au, Accessed 4 March 2011
South Australia Late 1854 the South Australian government sought help from the Colonial Office in London to find a suitable superintendent of telegraphs. Their choice was Charles Todd, who arrived in Adelaide on 5 November 1855. One of his first tasks was the long-promised Adelaide–Semaphore telegraph line, for which architect James Macgeorge had stolen a march, avoiding Government restrictions by running the (single) wire away from the main road and railway. Macgeorge's telegraph (which used Cooke and Wheatstone's "Electric" patent equipment) was working by 26 November 1855 and began commercial operation on 10 December. Todd's line, which was more direct and technically superior, This article contains much information on the (then) superiority of the Henley patent. and vastly more expensive (even without the observatory and time ball for accurate time signals), went into operation using Henley's "Magnetic" patent in February 1856 and by February 1857 Macgeorge's was redundant.
Critical to the progress of South Australia was a connection to Melbourne and in 1857 Todd made arrangements with Samuel McGowan to build a uniform system between the capitals. Both Todd and McGowan dreamt that their proposed intercolonial interconnection would one day be a key link in a chain leading to 'a step in the direction of our ultimate telegraph communications, via India, with England, a scheme vast and difficult [that] will, we doubt not, at no very distant date be carried out'. The Adelaide to Melbourne connection was begun in April 1857 and completed in July 1858. This included a 300 km South Australian section built at that colony's expense. So heavily used was the first telegraph line to Melbourne that Todd reported to the government that a second line was needed. The second line was built via Wellington, South Australia and was opened in 1861.
Tasmania A telegraph line connecting Hobart and Launceston was completed in 1857. Connections were quickly built to remote areas through dense terrain from Launceston to George Town in March 1858 and easier lines from Hobart to Mt Nelson in July, and Low Head in October 1858. Again, like South Australia the key to future growth in trade and commerce was a connection to the other state capitals. This required a submarine cable and discussions were held between the Victorian and Tasmanian Governments during 1856. At this time the technology to build an undersea cable was in its infancy and overseas experience advised caution. Tasmania and Victoria agreed to share the costs and a contract was signed February 1858. of cable at a final contract cost of £53,000 was laid and made operational on 18 August 1859. Unfortunately the cable was constantly out of service due to faults undersea and by January 1861 it was abandoned. An enduring cable link was established between Cape Otway on the Victorian mid-south coast, through to King Island and, ultimately, Launceston, Tasmania, the £70000 cost paid fully by the Tasmanian Government and it was opened in 1869. It was a great success and the cable was duplicated in 1885 and again in 1909.
New South Wales The New South Wales government commenced construction of the Sydney to Liverpool telegraph line, a distance of , which opened on 30 December 1857. Edward Charles Cracknell was appointed Assistant Superintendent of Telegraphs in January 1858 and Superintendent in 1861.
The Liverpool line was extended to Albury on the NSW/Victorian border, a distance of , in October 1858. This line connected with a line from Melbourne thus linking the two capitals. At this time Sydney – Melbourne and Adelaide became connected by telegraph. In 1867 the first direct line linking Adelaide and Sydney was opened.
Queensland Queensland's separation from New South Wales created a position for Superintendent of Telegraphs which was filled by W.J Cracknell, the brother of the New South Wales Superintendent. Tenders were called for a line from Brisbane to the NSW border in September 1860, completed to Ipswich in April 1861 and working to the border by November 1861. This connected to a recently completed line from Sydney. Now four state capitals were connected. Lines were pushed out from Brisbane north to Rockhampton, reached Port Denison (Bowen) in 1866, and Cardwell in June 1869. At the same time extending inland to the newly established pastoral areas. In 1855 the Electric Telegraph department handled over 50000 telegrams and messages could pass over of telegraph lines within the state. In Queensland the last Morse Code message was to Thursday Island via combined landline and radio link in 1964.
Western Australia
A newspaper man Edmund Stirling proposed a scheme to connect Perth with Fremantle a distance of . After negotiations with the Government they finally agreed to a shared investment. Construction commenced on 9 February 1869 and was opened for service on 21 June 1869. Of great significance to the colony was the connection from Perth to Albany. Many steamer ships from England to the eastern states would call at Albany for supplies on their way to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. If messages, information and newspapers could be intercepted and transmitted quickly to Perth rather than by the long horse and coach journey, a commercial advantage might be gained by Western Australia. The Albany link was completed in 1870. The last Morse code message in the west was sent between Wyndham and Halls Creek in mid 1963.
The following table indicates the take-up date of the new technology by the colonial state governments. + Opening of the first telegraph line in each stateStateDateVictoria3 March 1854South AustraliaNovember 1855Tasmania1857New South Wales30 December 1857QueenslandApril 1861Western Australia21 June 1869
Connections to the outside world
The competition Charles Todd and Samuel McGowan both envisaged telegraph links to England via India, and saw the creation of an inter-colonial network as being preliminary to that ambition. From 1858 the prospect of a cable being laid from Britain to Australia began to generate competition within the Australian colonies for landing rights.The Overland Telegraph , Culture.gov.au, Accessed 27 February 2011 As early as 1854 the year that Samuel McGowan installed the first line in Victoria, British entrepreneurs Brett & Carmichael builders of the Channel cable presented proposals to colonial governments to land a cable at Perth, via Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). American and British entrepreneurs alike saw Australia as vital terminal points for their expanding overseas cables. For the next sixteen years speculation and competition was rife between competing colonies. Four routes to Australia were serious contenders: Brett's Route: Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to Perth, connecting with another submarine cable at Cocos (Keeling) Island. Timor Island to the northern coast of Australia near Cambridge Gulf connecting to an overland line to Adelaide Java (Banjoewangi) around the Western Australia coast to Perth Gisbourne's Route: Port Essington Queensland to Morton Bay, connecting to a submarine cable from Port Essington to Java, another cable from Java to Singapore, and a proposed overland line from Singapore to Rangoon. In 1869 the Queensland colonial government established a cable across the southern intersect of Cape York peninsula in preparation for this connection.
Queensland pushed hard and had a route explored from Cardwell to Burketown in 1866, a distance of 450 miles. Queensland thought they had the overseas link in the bag with an agreement with the British Australian Telegraph Company to connect their new submarine cable from Java to Port Darwin then overland to Burketown. Desperate for the line to instead be built to Port Augusta then via existing landline to Adelaide the South Australian colonial government successfully outmanoeuvred Queensland in a bid to secure connection to the overseas cable with an offer to finance the cost of a telegraph from Port Augusta to Port Darwin (at that time South Australia administered what was to become the Northern Territory). This relieved the British Australian Telegraph Company of the expense of the overland line to Burketown and it changed its allegiance. At the time, however, the majority of the route of the line had not once been visited by Europeans and presented a huge risk, not least financially, to the South Australian government.
The Overland Telegraph John McDouall Stuart had previously been commissioned to explore the remote outback to the northern Australian coast through the desert centre, finally after several attempts the northern coast was reached on 24 July 1862. Despite fears before the expedition that vast inland seas may block a route, and although the route was extreme in environmental terms, a path was possible. A contract was let in 1870 and, following immense physical hardship and considerable logistical challenge the Overland Telegraph (the Port Augusta to Port Darwin telegraph line) was completed on 22 August 1872.Chapter 7: Communication by Post, Telephones and Telegraph, 1800–1970 , Australian Heritage Council, Accessed 27 February 2011 To build the line to Darwin 36,000 poles were used to close the nearly 3,000 kilometre gap.