Third SA-NSW telegraph line - Terowie - Oodla Wirra and Yunta to Silverton and Broken Hill in NSW:
By the late 1870s, there were many suggestions with the view that a third telegraph line to New South Wales constructed much further north could be useful to the networks both in South Australia and New South Wales.
Action was taken in relation to this third intercolonial line in 1885-86. The telegraph line was to be constructed from Terowie through Petersburg (now Peterborough) then Oodla Wirra, Yunta, Olary (originally Olarie then O'Lary) and Cockburn to Silverton, Broken Hill and Wilcannia in NSW. Tenders for the line closed on 17 May 1886. Telegraph Offices at the three SA places were opened along the line in January 1887. This line followed the Silverton Railway line which had been constructed in the 1880s and was very similar to the route now taken by the Barrier Highway (A32).
One of the camps used for building the Overland Telegraph line was at Hergott Springs (established as Maree in 1883 but called Hergott Springs until 1916). Maree and Beltana to the south were both possible branching points for a telegraph line from South Australia running also via Innaminka directly to Queensland - possibly via Charleville.
An interesting use of the telegraph line was reported in the South Australian Advertiser on 8 September 1886:
"a rather smart thing was done at Broken Hill yesterday. One of a well-known firm of Silverton sharebrokers made his appearance at the as soon as the doors were open, and having wired his agents in Sydney to obtain a certain number of shares, handed in an extract from a newspaper of several columns in length, which kept the operator fully employed till about 11 o'clock when a return message was received. By this manoeuvre, other brokers at the Hill and in Silverton were blocked, and knowledge of the information which induced such an extreme measure to be taken was withheld from the Sydney market until the required number of shares were secured. It must have been pretty expensive but probably the game was "worth the candle."
A similar trick is related of a reporter on the New York Herald, who wired through several chapters of the Bible to retain possession of the line and who, on asking for instructions, was ordered by the celebrated James Gordon Bennett, to go "right through to Revelation" if necessary, but not to give up the wires".
The steamer Tenterden, from Sydney, brought 100 tons of wire insulators for the posts on the Silverton telegraph line. The material has been sent on to Menindie.