[LINK] OT: A Syd-Melb Telegraph after only 10 Years

Roger Clarke Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Fri Apr 26 08:37:39 AEST 2013


"We hope the time is very near when Sydney and Melbourne will be 
brought within a few minutes of each other".

Sydney Morning Herald, 1855.

The Timelines segment of the SMH today says:

It was estimated construction of a telegraph line between the two 
colonies would cost about £100 a mile, and take a year to complete. 
[Until the corruption of the last decade, the expression was *per* 
mile.]


[Telegraph services commenced in the mid-1840s, first in the UK and 
very shortly afterwards in the USA, with the first international 
connection crossing the English Channel in 1851.

[ 
http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/ahc/publications/commission/books/linking-a-nation/chapter-7.html
"Samuel McGowan brought the telegraphy technology to Australia in 
1853. Australia's first electric telegraph connection ran from 
Melbourne to the nearby port of Williamstown, the first message being 
received in March 1854. Later in the year the wire was extended to 
Geelong and Queenscliff.

"One of the early important messages transmitted by telegraph in 
Australia was the first account to reach Melbourne of the Eureka 
rebellion on the gold fields at Ballarat later that year. From the 
beginning, the telegraph service was run by the colonial post office 
administration.

"Telegraphs were cheap to install, the main cost being the copper 
wires. No heavy engineering was involved, and the telegraph machines 
themselves were cheap and easy to manufacture. By 1858, Sydney, 
Melbourne and Adelaide were connected. Tasmania, not far behind, was 
connected in 1859".

[The Overland Telegraph from Adelaide to Darwin was built in 1870-72, 
connecting the Australian network to the world via Java - presumably 
Dutch-controlled Batavia, now Jakarta.]


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law               University of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University



More information about the Link mailing list