[LINK] The Cost of the NBN (1870 -v- 2010)

[Tom Worthington]

Tom Koltai wrote:
> ... I decided to compare the cost of the
> Overland Telegraph line in 1871 to the National roll-out of the NBN. ...

NBN Co chief executive, Mike Quigley compared the NBN to the  Overland 
Telegraph in his 2010 Charles Todd Memorial Oration
(18 August 2010). The oration is organised each year by the
Telecommunications Society of the Australia (now part of the ACS) to
commemorate Charles Todd, superintendent of telegraphs in South
Australia in who ran the project to build the transcontinental line from
Adelaide to Darwin:
<http://www.acs.org.au/acstsa/index.cfm?action=load&area=9001&temID=eventdetails&eveID=30171298604218>.

Mr. Quigley said:

"... It’s proper therefore that this nation-building proposal be
subjected to the tough questions and to a very rigorous public debate.
I’m sure that was the case when the Overland Telegraph and the Copper
Access Network were proposed.

They would have had their doubters and skeptics and I’m sure Charles
Todd had to – from time to time - defend the Overland Telegraph. However
like all debates, this one is best conducted with the benefit of a few
facts.

And that is what I have sought to do today - place on the record the
facts which are driving NBN Co to the positions we are taking. I’m sure
Charles Todd would approve."
<http://blog.tomw.net.au/2010/08/mike-quigley-ceo-nbn-co-address-today.html>.

The newspapers from the time discuss the value of the telegraph and the 
advantages of having it built and run by the one organisation, not 
unlike today's NBN discussions. Digital copies of the newspapers are in 
the National Library's Trove archive:
<http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/27260867?searchTerm=%20telegraph%20Adelaide%20%20Darwin%20%20AND%20%22Charles%20Todd%22%20NOT%20%28METEOROLOGICAL%20OR%20Advertising%20OR%20METROLOGICAL%29&searchLimits=l-textSearchScope=*ignore*|*ignore*|||exactPhrase=Charles+Todd|||l-word=*ignore*|*ignore*|||fromyyyy|||notWords=METEOROLOGICAL+Advertising+METROLOGICAL|||anyWords|||tomm|||toyyyy|||todd|||frommm|||fromdd|||sortby=dateAsc>.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, The
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/
Visiting Scientist, CSIRO ICT Centre: http://bit.ly/csiro_ict_canberra