A telegraph is a device for transmitting and receiving messages over long distances. This technology transformed communication, and information could travel much faster.
Australia's geographic isolation from the rest of the world, came to an end.
Australia's first telegraph line, sponsored by the Victorian Government, was constructed between Melbourne and Williamstown in 1853 and 1854.
By December 1854, the telegraph line to Geelong was complete, and the first message sent news to Melbourne about the Eureka Stockade.
Connections to Queenscliff and Port Melbourne (January and July 1855) allowed passing information about ships entering the harbour and arriving at port.
In December 1856, telegraph connections to the gold-mining centres of Ballarat and Bendigo were complete.
Victoria had an extensive telegraph network by 1857.
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| Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Thursday 15 April 1858 |
The Adelaide to Melbourne connection begun in April 1857, was completed in July 1858.
A telegraph line connecting Hobart and Launceston was complete in 1857. And also other lines to George Town in March 1858, and from Hobart to Mt Nelson in July, and Low Head in October 1858.
In early 1859, the Tasmanian and Victorian Governments agreed to share the costs of a a submarine cable linking Tasmania to the mainland. Due to undersea faults, it was abandoned by January 1861.
The Sydney to Liverpool telegraph line in NSW opened on 30 December 1857.
The Liverpool line was extended to Albury in October 1858.
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| Electric Telegraph Office, Sydney, NSW, 1860] SLNSW |
Soon after Queensland separated from New South Wales on 1 June 1860, a line from Brisbane to Toowoomba commenced. The first stage completed to Ipswich in April 1861.
The first messages from Brisbane to Sydney between Governors Sir John Young (NSW) and Sir George Bowen (Qld) occurred on 9 November 1861.
In Western Australia, the Perth to Fremantle link opened on 21 June 1869. A link to Albany was completed in 1870.
In 1870, Australia was linked directly to the British telegraphic cable system by a cable from Singapore via Java to Port Darwin.
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| Workers on the Overland Telegraph Line, Southport, Port Darwin, Northern Territory, approximately 1870 / Samuel Sweet, NLAUST |
The Overland Telegraph, stretching more than 3,000km from Adelaide to Darwin, was connected August 22, 1872.
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| Planting the first telegraph pole, near Palmerston (Darwin) on 15 September 1870. Among those present were: Mr Palmer, Mr Burton, Dr Furnell, Dr James Millner, D.D. Daly, Miss Douglas, Mr & Mrs W.T. Dallwood, Willie Douglas, A.T. Childs, Captain & Mrs Douglas, F.W. Dallwood, Miss Douglas, W. McMinn, Miss B. Douglas, Mr James Darwent, J. McKinlay, Mr Grey, Mr E. Holthouse, Mr Davis, Mr Paquelin. Time: 3.00pm. Peter Spillett Collection - Northern Territory Library. Image number PH0238/0383. PD |
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| Port Darwin became the terminus for the Overland Telegraph in 1870 |
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| Overland Telegraph Construction party. L-R John A.G. Little, R.C. Patterson, Charles Todd and A.J. Mitchell. 1872, SLSA |
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| A TELEGRAPH CONSTRUCTION PARTY. LEAVING MOUNT MAGNET FOR LAWLERS. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 10 March 1900 |
A telegraph cable across the Pacific between Canada and Australia via Fiji and Norfolk Island was complete in October 1902.
