Freeling.

The Telegraph Office was opened in 1861 - just before the onset of a long drought which devastated the area. A Post Office had been opened on 3 December 1860.

The Gawler-Kapunda Railway had been constructed in 1860 and Freeling was a stopping point on that line.

In 1866, Freeling had a population of 60 people.

Gawler.

GawlerTown was one of the first Telegraph Offices in South Australia. It opened on 13 April 1857.

The Post Office had been established in May 1841 although its location was moved to the bakery in 1852. The Telegraph Office and the Post Office were combined in July 1863. A new building for the two offices was opened in September 1867.

See also a letter of Transfer to Mr. Madden at Salisbury Railway.

Early usage.

The earliest evidence of the operation of the Gawler Telegraph Office is a delivery form (SC-DO-1B) used for a messae to Gawler from Adelaide on 4 November 1862.

Date stamps.

No special date stamps was issued to Gawler for use with telegraphic work.

Has 5 mm side arcs
Has Sth AUSTR at base.

Used on telegrams: 28 October 1940 to 6 January 1942.

Diameter: 29 mm.

Rated used on telegrams: RR.

Number in the Census: 2.

SC1. Steel circular date stamp

Has 7 mm side arcs
Has a time slug.
Has SOUTH AUST at base.

Used on telegrams: 28 October 1940 to 6 January 1942.

Diameter: 30 mm.

Rated used on telegrams: RR.

Number in the Census: 2.

• the Gawler Railway Station in 1859;
• the Gawler Racecourse - in 1922 (open only on race days).

Hamley Bridge

A Telegraph Office was opened on 1 January 1870.

Kapunda

The Kapunda Telegraph Station was opened on 11 May 1859. It had been planned to open on Friday 6 May.

View of Kapunda about 1880.
Scanned from Frearson's Monthly Illustrated reproduced in Adelaide News of 1 October 1880.

In the House of Assembly on 15 June 1859, the Commissioner of Public Works said the total receipts (at the Kapunda Telegraph Station) to date had been £17 1s. 6d. That was at the rate of £295 annually which would give a profit of £75 l9s. annually.

"The new Telegraph Station and Post Office are in rapid progress. The plans have been altered to suit the requirements of the place. A handsome and commodious building for offices etc is about half-finished and will prove an ornament for the works. Instead of being obliged to wait outside for the delivery of letters, as provided in the original plan, there is now a spacious hall or waiting-room and every possible thing for the convenience of the public and the comfort of the officials appears to have been duly considered. Altogether it will be a very handsome building, and add much to the improvement of the town. I understand the contract is to be completed in six months. The ground was pegged out yesterday, (18th) and the work will proceed at once"
Adelaide Observer (20 August 1859).

On 1 October 1959, the Adelaide Observer reported that the Post Office and Telegraph Station were about to be removed into a new cottage between the Bank and the old Post Office until the new building is completed.

Apparently in about September-October the Post Office was moved to be in the same location as the Telegraph Office.

"By-the-way, I wish your Kapunda correspondent would rouse up the Post-Office authorities there to deliver the mails when they arrive a little quicker. We certainly expected when the Post Office was removed to the  Telegraph Department that country settlers would not be kept waiting so long for their letters as they were at the old Post Office, but we find ourselves mistaken. It is to be hoped the worthy Postmaster will take a hint on this subject".
South Australian Advertiser of 14 October 1859.

The South Australian Register of 3 January 1860 reported that a further £256/1/6 had been allocated to the Kapunda P&T Office for use before 15 February 1860.

After only about three months of operation, the Telegraph Office played a supporting role when the Admella was wrecked nearby with heavy loss of life. The South Australian Advertiser of 24 August 1859 reported that:

"at a public meeting in Crase's Assembly Room in Kapunda, the Chairman was sure, before the meeting separated, the (200 people in attendance) would join with him in a vote of thanks to Mr. Darwin, Manager of the Telegraph Office there, for his attention during the previous exciting week in publishing the telegrams relative to the wreck of the Admella - which motion was carried unanimously".

The South Australian Advertiser of 5 November 1859 reported on another incident involving the Telegraph Office:

"About half-past five o'clock on Sunday morning last, after nearly a week of very oppressive weather, a terrific hailstorm, accompanied with thunder and lightning, burst over the township of Kapunda and continued for about ten minutes with greater fury than has been known for many years past; the hailstones, which here were as large as marbles, in a few moments completely covered the ground to the depth of two and three inches, giving the country the appearance of an English winter... The foundation of Mr. Cumming's new store, just excavated, and which adjoins the new Telegraph Station, now in course of erection, was filled with water, and great fears were entertained that the walls of that building would fall in consequence; they were, however, supported with props, and two pumps were kept employed up to nearly 10 o'clock on Sunday night, in drawing off the water. This had the effect of saving the building. A little boy named Rowe managed to fall into this place, which was six feet deep, and but for the timely arrival of Mr. Bolus, he must inevitably have been drowned".

Kapunda about 1900.

From 1 October 1859, Mr. Darwin had responsibility for both the Telegraph Office and the Post Office. By 1863, Mr Darwin was fully aware of the often incorrect complaints made by a minority of customers. In 1865, he was embroiled in an important legal discussion, also involving Charles Todd, about the legal status of telegrams and who was the actual custodian of them.

Some time after, the South Australian Register reported, on 30 August 1865, that "Mr. V. H. Darwin, Postmaster and Telegraph Officer at Kapunda, met with a very serious accident on the 29th, by a fall from his horse. He was found near the main street in an unconscious state and bleeding profusely from the ears. The fall has occasioned concussion of the brain and it is feared more serious injury to the head".

Mr Darwin clearly recuperated fully because, in the Kapunda Herald of 20 April 1866, there was a long editorial seeking mention of his good work and calling for "a really good capricious Post-Office, as well as a good telegraphic station, with an ample staff in each, but being quite independent one another (because) the postal and telegraphic services to and from Kapunda are both amongst the most remunerative of their kind and, with the prospects of a still further extension of trade, which has caused two additional Banks to be started there, it is morally certain that the business of these offices will continue steadily ...".

On 29 June 1866, Mr Darwin was elected to Secretary of the Kapunda Institute.

Amounts of £1,000 were placed on the estimates in 1866 and 1867 for the erection of a new Post and Telegraph Office.

In July 1870, many people from the surrounding district attended the monthly sale. It was reported that "everyone was delighted to see the Post & Telegraph Office well-lit with gas for the first time". Presumably this building is the one shown above.

Mallala.

The name Mallala is derived from the Kaurna language and means "place of the ground frog".

After several years of requesting the Government for the provision of a Telegraph Office, the residents were becoming angry. The report of a public meeting on 18 June 1879 in the 24 June 1879 Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser stated the following:

"A lady once said to another " My husband tells me everything that happens."
"Oh that is nothing,." said the other" My husband tells me lots of things that don't happen."

I am something like the latter lady. I can tell you of lots of things that don't happen in Mallala better than I can of things that do ... The most important is our telegraph question. About three or four months ago, Mr. J Darling MP. read a letter at a public dinner at the Mallala Hotel, purporting to come from the Commissioner, which promised us the telegraph in about four months time. Last week Mr. Darling asked the question in Parliament "When will the telegraph be given to Mallala." He was told that the materials were ordered from England and that tenders for the work would be called as soon as they arrived".

On 13 January 1880, the South Australian Register noted that the residents of Mallala "have reason to believe that sooner or later they shall have a Post Office and Telegraph Station — not before it is wanted — although as yet there are no outward signs of its being carried into effect".

The site for the new building was decided in mid February 1880. It was as near as possible to the centre of the business places in the township. The building had not started by April 1880. The importance of having the Telegraph Office is clearly understood when it is known that at that time residents had to ride a distance of twelve miles to send a message and they had to pay twelve shillings for having a message delivered to Mallala.

On 12-13 May, 1880 the ketch Capella "discharged 350 telegraph poles at Wallaroo for the line between Mallala and Two Wells and she will return with the balance to complete the whole of the line ". On May 17, there was a "chance of telegraphic communication between here and Adelaide becoming a fact as today poles are being laid in the township".

A temporary Telegraph Office was opened when the line was connected on 22 July 1880.

The Adelaide Observer of 6 November 1880 observed "The new Post and Telegraph Office is finished and has been so for about a week. It is hoped that steps will be taken to have it opened for business at once. The postmistress has been obliged to put a notice on the window of the new building to prevent persons posting their letters there - one party having done so
not knowing any better".

Marrabel.

The Post and Telegraph Office opened on 27 August 1878. A contract had been let to Messrs. Fisher and Wright at Saddleworth in February 1878 for their lowest tender of £549 12s.

In the Evening Journal of 28 November 1877: "The Telegraph Office at Marrabel would be opened as soon as the building for which provision had been made in the Estimates could be erected, that the building would be proceeded with when the Appropriation Bill was passed, and that it was reported to the Government that no temporary accommodation was available".

Penfield.

On 12 March 1880, the Evening Journal reported on a visit to Penfield by the Minister of Education. Children at the local school had been given a half-day holiday.

"After concluding this ceremony a deputation, the inhabitants waited upon the Minister and asked that a Telegraph Station might be opened in the township. It was pointed out that the telegraph line ran through the principal street of the township and that if connection were established, it would be a great convenience to a very large number of farmers and tradespeople. Mr. Hastwell, the postmaster, offered to find room for the instruments and for an operator if one were sent to the place.

The Minister of Education stated in reply that the expense would, at the very lowest, be £50 per annum; and comparing Penfield with other places in a similar position, he did not think the revenue would be more than £12 to £15.

If the deputation put their request and Mr. Hastwell's offer in writing he would obtain a report from the Postmaster-General and see if anything could be done to give them the communication they asked".

Official records show that Penfield was never connected to the telegraph lines.

The Telegraph Office opened after telegraphic communication was established on 13 February 1867.

In 1851, the Post Office had changed its name from Port Henry to Port Wakefield before closing and re-opening twice.

The report in the Adelaide Observer of 6 June 1868 on the Ministerial visit by Hon. Arthur Blyth included the following observation:

"The Government buildings are not the models of extravagance we generally find them in other townships. Post Office, Police Station and Custom House - all thrown together would hardly make a respectable heap of rubbish. The postal and telegraph business is conducted in a stucco shanty where a full grown clerk would not have room to stretch his legs so it has been placed under the care of a smart little widow to whom space is no object. The Police Station is like certain Hindu temples — a very small building in the centre of a very large enclosure. The fencing must have cost a great deal more than the walls; but there may be a reason for that as the yard seems to be the only available lock-up".

Port Wakefield was, like many Government offices in 1870, subject to Government savings cuts. The Adelaide Advertiser of 28 May 1870 reported that "retrenchment is still being carried on. The telegraph messenger leaves next month. This arrangement will after cause great inconvenience, as the station master will have all the duties of the Telegraph and Post Office and he may often be away delivering messages when most required".

By 1877, a new Post Office and Telegraph Office had been constructed. There was however a long delay in occupying it. The manner in which matters such as this have been ignored by the present Government was strongly condemned at a public meeting and characterised as "mere child's play".

A prelude to the construction was reported in the Wallaroo Times of 29 November 1876:

"A new Post and Telegraph Office is being erected here under the Superintendence of a Clerk of Works who has won for himself the goodwill and wishes of all concerned. But by the same means or other he has made himself obnoxious to that class just mentioned (the larrikins) and it culminated on Thursday night by his being set upon in the most brutal manner and pelted with rotten eggs. To an old Wallarooite it brought back recollections of days of yore. As soon as he could escape, he made to the Hostlery where he resides and had to change the whole of his clothes for something not quite so offensive to the olfactory organs. Whether the Police will succeed in bringing offenders up to get their deserts remains to be seen but all right minded people hope they will be able to do so".

Roseworthy.

The Telegraph Office was opened in 1861. The Post Office opened in 1862 at the Railway Station so the Station Master also performed the duties of Post Master. It is very probable that the Telegraph Office was also located at the Railway Station.

Salisbury.

The Telegraph Office opened in 1857 as the line was constructed through to Gawler.

A post office was established at Salisbury in 1850 but closed at the end of 1851. It was reopened in 1854. A Railway Telegraph Office was also opened at Salisbury - sometime before 1876.

Smithfield.

This station was on the first line constructed through to Gawler from Adelaide in 1857. It may have served as a repeater station although it was only 19 miles from Adelaide. A Telegraph Station was constructed and opened in 1859.

In 1858, the Post Office was opened through a change of name from Gawler Plains.

The Adelaide Observer of 26 March 1859 published the following letter:

Sir—The residents in and about this place complain very much that they have no means of sending or receiving a telegram unless they ride about seven miles either way, namely, to Salisbury or Gawler. Two years ago the wires passed onwards from Smithfield but up to this time we have no more facility of communication than we had then. The only information one can get about the matter at the Station is that they expect an instrument up soon from Adelaide but it so happens that the same reply was given eighteen months ago, so that it seems very doubtful when it shall please "the powers that be" to grant us the necessary conveniences for communication by telegraph.
Hoping yon will give us a helping hand.

One of your Readers.

Stockport.

The Telegraph Office was opened to the public on 1 March 1882 at about 10 o'clock. Several of the leading residents assembled at the station by the kind invitation of Mr. F. Belcher, the postmaster and sat down to a very nice spread ..stockyards creek telegraph SA.

Stockyard Creek.

In June 1881 there had been references to the residents of Stockyard Creek being very much in want of a telegraph line because the nearest office was eight miles away.

A Telegraph Office was opened to the public at about 10 o'clock on 1 March 1882 "Several of the leading residents assembled at the station by the kind invitation of Mr. F. Belcher, the postmaster, and sat down to a very nice cold collation .... before leaving the dining-room the health of Mr. and Mrs. Belcher was drunk in bumpers for their kindness on the occasion after which an adjournment was made to the office and the usual congratulatory messages were sent and replies received".

A Post Office had opened at Stockyard Creek on the Hamley Bridge and Balaklava Railway line on 28 April 1880.

Tarlee (originally Forresters).

The Telegraph Office was opened on 1 January 1870

Tea Tree Gully.

The Post & Telegraph Office opened on 20 May 1880.

On that day "the township was decorated with bunting, and a triumphal arch, bearing the words "Welcome to Teatree Gully" was erected across the main road, leading into the township ... the (telegraph) wires had run through the township but the difficulty of house accommodation stood in the way, and it was not until the Government purchased the old hotel on the hill that the difficulty was overcome ... (during the opening) The Post-Office clock was distinctly heard to strike, much to the astonishment of the residents".
South Australian Register 21 May 1880.

In August 1879, a Parliamentary delegation of 12 members inspected the building proposed for conversion into the new Post & Telegraph office. They had left Parliament House "in two traps" and arrived about two hours later. The building had previously been known as the Highercombe Hotel and it stood on the rise of a hill facing the East Torrens Road but a little way back. The Register noted that "It had been urged by some members that the building was totally unsuitable and was in a very ricketty tumble-down condition, and whispers that a job had been perpetrated were circulated freely amongst those disaffected towards the Government." The hotel stood on 1.5 acres and had originally cost between £3,000 and £4,000 to build. It was sold to the Government for £600.

The delegation arrived to inspect inside the building but were told the key had been left in Adelaide:

"the irrepressible leader of the party was not easily daunted, however and, disappearing round an angle of the wall, soon beamed upon his anxious friends from the open doorway having burglariously entered the premises in a manner which still remains a dark mystery to the remainder of the party. The gates being thus opened, the little band of invaders meandered through the interior of the building, whose walls were found to be in a damp unwholesome state of decay. There are seven downstairs and six upstairs rooms, out of which it was stated the Government intended to accommodate Teatree Gully with a Local Court, a Post and Telegraph Office and quarters for a post mistress and a State school teacher. The Government also proposed to expend £200 in the rehabilitation of the building and, to an unprofessional eye, it certainly looks as if twice that money would not restore it to its pristine wholesomeness. The damp has apparently taken up a permanent abode in the walls, a sort of high tidal mark being visible all round them at a height of about three feet from the ground, and the flooring and woodwork is more or less ant-eaten, while the plaster and cement shows huge fissures and other tokens of instability. Still the site is a very good one ... After the party had inspected the building, Mr. Ward showed them out, and locking the doors from inside, made his egress as mysteriously as he had entered, not one of the party being able to discover how".

Not all was smooth sailing for the people of Tea Tree Gully or the District of Gumeracha. In the House on 19 September 1879, Mr Rees spoke as follows:

"the people of the District of Gumeracha ought to congratulate themselves on their able representation as last session they had secured a Telegraph and Post Office at Teatree Gully and had attempted to get a railway carried there - and now they wanted a water supply. He would at once say that he would oppose the Bill as there were many places in the colony in a far worse position than Teatree Gully — places that had no creek and no tanks. He knew the place well enough to know that there was no immediate necessity for a water supply and thought if the inhabitants had allowed so many years to pass without constructing wells or dams they were very much to blame. Such provision was made in the North when a new place was opened and should have been here and he did not consider any Government would be justified in going to the expense of a water supply on a guarantee which, from what he knew of guarantees of this kind, would not be worth the paper on which it is written. Calculating the population at what it was stated to be, he did not see either that the supply provided would be at all sufficient and while pipes would have to be carted from Teatree Gully, Mr. Haine's scheme for pipe-making, he was sure, would never be found to pay. He considered the Central Board of Health had only done their duty in preventing the inhabitants from polluting the stream and that they were themselves to blame for its pollution. He would oppose the motion".

Two Wells.

The Evening Journal of 9 April 1870 reported the statement by Hon. J. Colton at an election meeting in the District of Stanley that he "would do all he could to get the telegraph lines to Two Wells".

The Telegraph Office at Two Wells was opened on 16 December 1874.

On 2 September 1876, the South Australian Chronicle reported part of a public meeting which requested that "Further accommodation at the Post and Telegraph Office at Two Wells was necessary and the necessity of a tramway from the township to Port Gawler for the conveyance of wheat was greatly felt".

In the Adelaide Observer of 18 November 1876, it was noted that "The telegraph authorities have acceded to the request to remove the poles to the same side of the road as the Telegraph Station and Post Office. The removal of the offices to the new building is being carried on today".

Virginia.

In the early 1850s, Virginia was a staging post for the Cobb & Co coaches. It took a day to travel between Virginia and Adelaide. A Post Office was opened in 1858 and also a small shop.

On 24 June 1876, the Adelaide Observer noted that "It is to be hoped that the present Ministry will see the need of granting us telegraphic communication with the rest of the Colony. It comes very hard on struggling men to pay 10 shillings for a message but such has been the case here several times".
(Ed: 10 shillings would now be about $A150 - $200).

In the House of 23 August 1876, Mr Bower moved that "He believed that the persons resident at Virginia had a right to such communication, because the nearest telegraph office at Two Wells was six miles distant. Virginia was a place of some importance, and was centrally situated; and as the telegraph line went through the township, the only requisite was an operator, who could carry on the work in one of the stores". Mr. Cowan agreed and said that he had information about a person in the town who was competent to operate the machinery and who would do so for a nominal sum. The Minister of Agriculture and Education noted that revenue from such an office would not exceed £40 per year and the cost of an operator would be £80 plus £500 for an Office. If however a building could be found for a nominal price, perhaps the question could be brought back to the House.

In discussion in the House on 2 November 1876, The Minister of Agriculture and Education replied to a question: "if an offer were submitted from a person whose name has been mentioned at Virginia to conduct the Telegraph Office, it would be accepted".

Virginia squared circle date stamp.

Number in the Census used on a telegram: 0

Wasleys.

The Telegraph Office opened on 1 January 1870.

A Post Office had opened in July 1869.