South Australia - Colonial period: 1855-1900.
Telegraph lines in the Port Pirie - Oodla Wirra - Port Augusta to Quorn region.

The far northern line spans the region starting from Port Pirie and Terowie north to Port Augusta and Quorn from where the Overland Telegraph line was constructed. Port Augusta is about 320 kms from Adelaide and the distance between Port Augusta and Quorn is about 40 km.

This line was critical from a political viewpoint. In the mid-1860s, the battle between the South Australian and Queensland Colonial Governments over who should construct a telegraph line to link internationally through Java and India to England was becoming fierce.

There were four main lines constructed in this area:

The House of Assembly debated the funding (on 6 September 1862) of the 125 mile line which would cost £6,750 plus £1,000 for a telegraph office at Port Augusta and a similar amount at Mount Remarkable (Wilmington). As the debate on this motion followed the debate on funding the Kadina-Wallaroo line, the objections about whether to fund capital works from loan funds was repeated. The motion was lost 15-13.

A second opportunity to fund the line was debated in the House of Assembly (21 September 1862) about 2 weeks later. This time agreement was reached to include funds enabling the construction of a telegraph line from Port Augusta to Mount Remarkable (Wilmington).

South Australia strengthened her position for the international telegraph line in 1865 when Parliament authorised the construction of a telegraph line between Adelaide and Port Augusta. The 1865 decision built on the information acquired by John McDouall Stuart when he successfully crossed the continent to Chambers Bay in 1862.

Port Augusta was critical for the construction of a telegraph line to Darwin. It afforded a point for the delivery of materials close to where the start of the line could be. Mr. Knuckey was in Quorn in March 1870 and it was expected he would commence the construction of the OLT line soon. The town had some buildings completed and it was starting to look substantial.

  This map continues to the Overland Telegraph line.
This map continues to Eyre Peninsula and Eucla.
  This map continues south Wallaroo and Morgan.

 

Line 1: through Laura - Melrose - Port Augusta.

The main link to Port Augusta was constructed in 1866. The line to Clare was extended through to Laura and then to Melrose (a distance of about 130 km) before the extension to Port Augusta. Telegraph Stations were not opened along the line in an effort to expedite construction. A petition had been presented to the House by Mr. Watts on 12 August 1864 requesting provision to be made in the 1864-65 Estimates "for the purpose of extending the telegraph line to Melrose thence to Port Augusta". He argued that he has already presented a petition in which

"he pointed out very clearly the advantages that would be derived from the extension of the Telegraph Line to Melrose and thence to Port Augusta. There were 700 inhabitants in Melrose and the connection they had with the metropolis was only once a week and it took a fortnight to reply to any letters. There was no main road beyond the Burra and the extension of the line was of great importance. Port Augusta was the main shipping port of the north. The extension of the line to that township would be of great consequence as it would save them the loss of a month which they incurred when they lost a mail. The district had strong claims upon the Government and the expenditure would confer a great boon to that part of the Colony. He did not see that the House could refuse the vote".

In answer to a question in the House on 3 November 1865, the Chief Secretary noted in part:

"About 560 Swan River poles have been landed at Port Augusta, being portion of 1,100 required. The remainder are expected daily. The round poles between Clare and a few miles north of Melrose arc nearly all laid down, and the erection of the line will be proceeded with immediately. The building for the station at Port Augusta has been twice advertised but the tenders received were too high. It is now advertised the third time as the water is in the township. There has been no unnecessary delay in the prosecution of these works".
(Adelaide Observer 11 November 1865).

The line to Melrose was opened on 28 August 1866 while the extended line to Port Augusta was opened on 31 August. A copper deposit had been found in Melrose in 1846 but mining closed in 1851 only to re-open on two subsequent occasions. Melrose was however one of the few townships in the Flinders ranges at that time.

The total cost of the line to Melrose and Port Augusta, including instruments and batteries, but exclusive of stations, was £8,479 4s. 7d. That total was considerably in excess of the estimate - mainly because of the high price of the poles. Swan River mahogany poles were used for the last section beyond Melrose. There was also an increased cost on all country works in 1865.

The line from Clare/Laura to Port Augusta worked very well with few problems. The major problem was when the line was interrupted for four days. After the line was thoroughly inspected between Melrose and the Port, it was discovered that the Station Master at Port Augusta had accidentally reversed his battery wires!!

Work on the telegraph lines in this Far North district was interrupted by massive fires which swept the region in December 1873 - thankfully after the OLT line had been completed. First reports included in a wide variety of newspapers all said:

"Superintendent of Telegraphs obtained the following message from the Stationmaster, Melrose: "Fires out north of Melrose. Fires swept Spring Creek, Willowie, Booleroo, Charlton,  Laura, Gladstone, Broughton, Crystal Brook, Hummocks and Appila".

This telegram caused some alarm as the tract of country mentioned includes several important agricultural areas in addition to valuable pastoral properties and it was feared that the standing wheat in the new farming regions might have been destroyed. It was difficult, however, to understand how news from so widely separated places unprovided with wire communication could have been received. Subsequently Mr. Todd had the subjoined from Mr. J. Bastard, the Stationmaster at Clare: " Have just seen young Smith, who left Laura at 6 a.m. to-day. He informs me there is no fire at Laura, but some grass country about Beetaloo was burning, also two wheat paddocks at same place. Beetaloo was burned ; estimated loss about £800. As he came down he heard of no other serious fires. The grass country to the west of Georgetown was burning. Beetaloo, a sheep station belonging to Messrs. Reid, is to the north of Crystal Brook and west of Booyoolee." This was more cheering, and that lead to the hope that the calamity had not been so widespread as it was first imagined".

Nevertheless, the fires did keep burning until the rains came and the wind reversed its direction but damage had continued to mount.

In a similar session on 9 October 1874, Mr. Blyth noted that:

"The difficulty connected with the construction of the telegraph line was that Jamestown was off the line and it would cost £1,000 to afford communication, which amount the Government had not at their disposal at present for the purpose". 

The link to Port Augusta greatly facilitated discussions and planning related to the Overland Telegraph line (OLT) over the next few years.

Although Port Augusta was a busy port, especially for shipment of wool, it was not officially proclaimed until 1875. Ironically, the Town Hall had been built in 1866 - but the railway from Adelaide did not reach Port Augusta until 1882. The telegraph line was therefore of critical importance for Port Augusta.

The haste with which the Clare/Laura to Port Augusta telegraph line was constructed reflects the political imperative.

In 1877, a new duplicate wire had to be erected between Adelaide and Port Augusta. This line was required because of the significantly increased amount of business through the wire to Western Australia. The cost was estimated to be £19,400 and it was to be funded through the Eucla Telegraph loan.

In a highly predictive and accurate statement (in two special ways) from the South Australian Register of 29 December 1876 (p. 4), the case for the additional line to Port Augusta is discussed:

"By many the line to Western Australia is regarded as a somewhat Quixotic undertaking. It cannot, of course, be expected that it will be remunerative for many years to come. If there were any prospect of the additional telegraphic communication with Europe being provided for by means of a cable from King George's Sound or the North-West Cape, the line would in that case at once become of great importance. But there does not seem to be much probability of this, though it is not possible to say with absolute certainty what may be the decision arrived at by the intercolonial Conference to be held in February.

If, however, the line cannot be justified at present on strictly commercial grounds, there is very much to be said in favour of it as the final link which will bring all the colonies into telegraphic communication with each other. And whatever doubt there may be on the part of any as to whether we were justified in undertaking such a work from motives which lie outside the range of mere self-interest, now that the work has been authorised, and is fast approaching completion, we believe all will join in wishing that it may be the means of helping to bind the different provinces together so that Federation, which is at present only a dream, may at some future day become an accomplished fact.

Altogether South Australia has good reason to be proud of the enterprise she has shown in the matter of telegraph construction. It is hardly possible for us now to estimate at its full value the advantage which the various lines are to the different districts, or the impetus they have given to trade and commerce by the facility of communication which they provide. With the continued development of our resources and a consequent growth of our prosperity, we may hope that in a few years all these different works will come to be reproductive".

Line 2: through Terowie - Orroroo - Carrieton - Quorn.

In 1879-80, major construction activity opened a second line north from Kooringa. A short line had linked to Hallett in 1878 and then the line ran to Terowie to Orroroo and Carrieton to meet the Overland Telegraph line at either Port Augusta or Quorn. By August 1880, the line from Terowie was approaching Orroroo. On 13 August 1879, a question in the House asked if the Government intended to construct a telegraph line to Pekina. The Minister of Education replied that the Government's intention was to build the line to Orroroo which was near Pekina's head station.

That additional line reduced the traffic on the line from Adelaide via Clare, Gladstone, Laura and Melrose - traffic which was significant in the number of messages coming into South Australia from four of the other Colonies.

Intermediate offices were opened as demand justified the expense or communities were prepared to guarantee the profitability of the Offices.

In May 1880, Minister King said he was surprised Quorn , as flourishing as it was, did not have a telegraph and he wished to start construction of a building and a line from Terowie as soon as possible. In July 1880, the Assembly was informed the line to Quorn would be finished in a few weeks.
On 14 August 1880, the South Australian Chronicle reported "The telegraph posts are now erected for the whole of the distance between Quorn and Port Augusta and men are engaged in fixing the wires. It has been stated that communication will not be opened until the line is completed to Hawker but we can scarcely believe that this long-needed advantage will be delayed any longer than is absolutely necessary".

The Quorn "extempore Telegraph Office" was opened on or before 29 September 1880.

 

Line 3: Port Pirie - Port Germein - Port Augusta line.

The Commissioner of Crown Lands announced in the House in November 1878 that the townships of Port Germein and Barunga would be offered for sale in January 1879.

The Adelaide Observer of 4 December 1880 reported as follows:

"A memorial was sent from here some months ago, numerously signed, for the erection of a telegraph line to Port Germein, but up to the present time no word has been received about it. A line can be made from Port Pirie to here in about sixteen miles. Were one to be brought from Wirrabara it would be a distance of over twenty miles. It is to be hoped the inhabitants of Port Germein will not let the matter rest till the desired work has been accomplished, as Port Germein being a rising and important seaport town, it is highly necessary it should be supplied with telegraphic communication".

By 13 July 1881, the construction of the telegraph line to Port Germein was nearly complete. It is difficult to determine what happened with the telegraph line north of Port Germein but it does appear there was a line. It may have been a single line as an alternative to the other lines to the east - especially as the demand from the Overland Telegraph was building up by the 1880s. There was a mail route north of Port Germein - one scheduled to run three times a week over about 46 miles from Port Augusta through Port Germein then via Winninowie, Mambray Creek to Baroota An alternative route over 14 miles started at Port Germein and ran to Mambray Creek via Baroota.

About the same time, a meeting was held to urge the Government to construct a railway line from Port Germein to Orroroo. At a similar meeting, it was pointed out that

"no speech was required to explain the necessity of the line that they were advocating. Instead a map of the colony together with another map showing on a scale of a mile to the inch the country that the line would pass through was all that was required. It would be seen that Booleroo Centre was 25 miles from Port Germein and the nearest other port could not be reached under 60 miles. From Orroroo to Port Germein the distance, per surveyed line of railway was 48.5 miles and from Orroroo to any other port would be about 100 miles. It was, therefore, plain enough that the Port Germein line was urgently required to develop the eastern country".

By 1882, two railway lines were under consideration:

That Select Committee reported in 1881, after examining the country and taking evidence, announced that the only line recommended was that from Gladstone to Appila-Yarrowie. That line would have little relationship to the telegraph lines.