Data describing the use of the Overland Telegraph Line are provided below for:
At the time Todd was making his final connections to the OTL, gold was discovered at several locations in the Northern Territory - especially in the general Yam Creek area.
The news of these discoveries placed immediate pressure on the new line as possible prospectors tried to seek more details and to lodge claims. One report noted:
"By reason of the discovery of gold in the Northern Territory, the traffic upon it since the formal opening took place has been incessant but it has stood the test admirably. So complete is the insulation and so perfect the circuit that messages can be transmitted to Palmerston and replies received (in Adelaide) in ten or twelve seconds".
A return was prepared at for the Electric Telegraph Office showing the amount of business handled on the British and Australian line since the opening of direct communication with London, on the 21st October 1872 to the 16th November 1872 - a period of four weeks. The total number of messages transmitted was 866, representing a monetary value of £9,158 19s. More than half the total number of messages - the value of which amounted to more than half the total receipts - were credited to Victoria. The following are the particulars relating to the different colonies:
| Colony | Messages | Value |
| NSW | 231 | £2,701 6s 6d |
| Queensland | 40 | £510 14s 9d |
| South Australia | 150 | £1,121 5s |
| Tasmania | 7 | £78 15s |
| Victoria | 438 | £4,746 17s 9d |
| Total | 866 | £9,158 19s |
South Australian Chronicle
24 October 1874:
The following return shows the number of paid telegrams by Colony (N = 138) transmitted through the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company's cable from Port Darwin for the week ending Friday, October 16 1874 by Colony:
| 22 February 1873 | 11 September 1874 | 16 October 1874 | August 13 1875 | |||||
| Colony | From | To | From | To | From | To | From | To |
| South Australia | 14 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 2 | 19 | 11 |
| Victoria | 32 | 30 | 33 | 35 | 24 | 41 | 35 | 36 |
| New South Wales | 33 | 23 | 28 | 22 | 16 | 18 | 23 | 19 |
| Queensland | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Tasmania | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | - | 1 |
| New Zealand | 9 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Western Australia | - | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | - | - |
| Total | 92 | 74 | 77 | 67 | 66 | 72 | 85 | 75 |
Data for transmitted and received telegrams by Colony for 1872 to 1889 are provided below:
Number of messages sent over the Overland Telegraph Line to Europe and the East: 1872 to 1889.
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1872 data cover the period 22 October to 31 December, 1872.