[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
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