South Australia - Colonial period: 1855 - 1900.
Telegraph lines in the Port Wakefield - Salisbury to the Barossa region.

Lines from North Adelaide began to be constructed in 1856. The first line was that to Gawler.

Planning focussed on five lines which could be built over the next 15-20 years:

  1. a line to the north-east to Gawler which would then act as a major hub for other lines;
  2. western lines to the north-west to Port Wakefield;
  3. central lines to the north through Freeling and Kapunda or through Hamley Bridge to Clare and Kooringa;
  4. north-east lines from Gawler to the Barossa and finally to NSW;
  5. an eastern line to Gumeracha.

The construction strategy for this northern region reflected the policy of extending the lines in large stretches to encompass large areas.

The 1862 rates for telegrams in this area are included elsewhere.

This map extends to Wallaroo - Auburn - Terowie - Port Pirie.  

 

 

This map extends to the Gawler-NSW region
This map extends to the Barossa region.

This map extends to Mt Pleasant-Gumeracha-Strathalbyn - Wellington.
This map extends to the first lines in South Australia
then to
Glenelg - Cape Jervis - Coorong.		  

To Gawler.

Construction of the first line to the north - to Gawler - began in January 1857 and it was opened to the public on 14 April 1857. It went about 28.5 miles and followed the railway line from Adelaide via Salisbury to Gawler. Telegraph offices were opened at:

This line from Adelaide comprised two wires run over poles spaced 27 to the mile. The posts were 17 feet long (about 5 metres) except at level crossings where 22 foot posts (6 metres) were used.

Very little construction took place in the lower section of the Northern line during the next eight years.

The north-west route to Port Wakefield.

In 1872, a new line began to be constructed. It branched off the the Salisbury-Gawler line line between Salisbury and Smithfield. It ran reasonably close to the coastline past Virginia, Two Wells and Mallala to Port Wakefield.

The discussion about this route was in parallel to a much more intense debate about the mail route. A large umber of residents wanted "the Wasleys route" for mail to Mallala at certain times each day while the Government wished to introduce a route to Mallala via Two Wells.

On 28 November 1873 in the House, Mr Pearce asked the Commissioner of Public Works:

"if the item in the Estimates (Telegraph to Two Wells £1,000) included all necessary expenses of a station, etc. If it did not, he should have to oppose the item. Mr. Ward thought the Committee should know where the line was to start from and whether it was to be extended.

The Commissioner of Public Works said the item was placed on the Estimates in consequence of a deputation waiting upon the Chief Secretary and urging claims which the Government felt ought to be recognised. Two Wells was the centre of a large agricultural district and there were more acres of land under cultivation within the district of Port Gawler than in the whole of the electoral district of Gumeracha. Two Wells, it seemed, was a favorable place for runaway sailors and it would be an advantage to be able to telegraph for their apprehension. (Laughter.) There were no buildings proposed to be erected - the settlers having expressed their willingness to provide a building if communication were provided.

Mr. Angas thought £1,000 should include the cost of a station considering that the line would only be nine miles long as he understood it would join the Northern Line at Smithfield.

Mr. Townsend said Two Wells was a rising and important place and, if the House extended their telegraph lines, he thought Two Wells should have a line. He hoped that the superintendence of the station would not be entrusted to local storekeepers as, independent of the jealousy which would exist, he believed it would affect the business. The item was passed. "

The Chief Secretary noted that the contractor for the telegraph line to Two Wells had, as 25 July 1874, not placed any poles in the ground. Mr Todd had written to him to supply the poles without further delay.

The Telegraph Office at Two Wells was opened on 16 December 1874. That resulted in Virginia being isolated - having been a Cobb & Co staging post as well as a significant wheat and hay production to support horse transportation. After several deputations, a Telegraph Office was opened at Virginia on 25 July 1877 on the line between Salisbury and Two Wells.

Construction of the line to Port Wakefield was delayed for some time. Five years after the line to Kadina and Wallaroo had been constructed, the Telegraph Office at Port Wakefield was opened in 1867.

The poles for the Two Wells to Mallala line were offloaded from the ketch Capella in Wallaroo on 12-13 May 1880. They were being installed about a week later. By mid-June the wires were fixed as far as Mallala and telegraphic connection with Adelaide was made in July 1880.

 

The central lines north to Clare and Auburn.

There were two lines to the north from Gawler. They complemented each other and significantly assisted in opening of the commercial and social opportunities in the northern regions of the Colony - in line with Todd's main objectives.

The first line was constructed very quickly because of the imperatives to reach Clare and Kooringa as quickly as possible and to establish a telegraphic link to Port Augusta. This work began in 1859 when the line from Adelaide to Gawler was immediately extended to Kapunda in the same year. That line of telegraph followed the line of the railway which reached Kapunda in 1860. That railway line was later extended through to Morgan in 1878.

On 29 July, 1959 the House rejected a motion to establish a telegraph station at Riverton.

The telegraph line was constructed through to Clare and Kooringa in early 1860 and then to Port Augusta in 1866.

In 1861, telegraph offices were opened at Freeling and Roseworthy along the Gawler-Kapunda line. Freeling had been surveyed in 1860 and was the important stopping place for the railway between Gawler and Kapunda. Demand from the local people would not have been enough by themselves - the population of Freeling was still only 60 in 1866.

Little work took place in this region for the next few years. Todd was busy with establishing lines to the north around Clare and to the south towards Cape Jervis and from Nairne. Stimulus for additional lines began about 1869/70 just before the construction activity began for the Overland Telegraph line.

In the late 1860s, planning for a new route for a telegraph line in this region began. It was intended this new line would follow the new Roseworthy-Peterborough railway line. That line branched north from Roseworthy to link to Wasleys, Hamley Bridge, Forresters (now Tarlee) to Riverton. In August 1868, a tender by John Hammat was accepted for the supply of 1,800 sawn telegraph poles for the railway telegraph line from Roseworthy to the Burra. By July 1869, the poles had been erected to Tarlee.

The telegraph line opened offices at Wasleys, Hamley Bridge and Tarlee on 1 January 1870 and it is therefore likely telegraphic connection had been made in the last part of 1869.

Telegraph Offices were also opened at the railway stations as soon as possible. This development occurred after some amalgamation of bonds issued separately to support construction including for the Roseworthy and Forresters Railway (24 miles), the Dry Creek Loopline (4 miles), the Strathalbyn and Middleton, the Waterworks, Port Harbour Improvements and the Port Wakefield Tramway (30.5 miles) and Hoyle's Plains Railways. About 1867, questions were being asked about the amalgamation of these lines/companies so as to issue bonds for just one organisation - possibly called the South Australian Railways.

 

Line to the east to Gumeracha.

A line was constructed from North Adelaide and ran through Tea Tree Gully to Gumeracha where a Telegraph Office was opened in 1862. This new line met the line from Nairne and was quickly extended through Blumberg to Mount Pleasant (and the Barossa) and to Nairne and the south-east sector.

The Adelaide Observer of 1 August 1874 noted two reports. One focussed on the line to Eden Valley. The second report, dated April 1874, focussed on "the already constructed extension of the telegraph to Gumeracha via Teatree Gully. Upon the merits of this work Mr. Todd says nothing. He simply recommends that this line should form the basis of an extension of the lately authorized North Adelaide telegraph and that it should be carried on from Gumeracha to Blumberg so as to give a direct line to Mannum via those townships and Mount Pleasant. The cost of the undertaking is roughly estimated at £1,500".

A Telegraph Office at Tea Tree Gully was not however opened until 1880. That site was selected over Houghton as it was centrally located from Hope Valley, Golden Grove and Modbury. About that time and during the next decade, many mineral deposits were found around Tea Tree Gully including gold, silver and coal.