Angaston.

The Telegraph Office opened on 7 March 1866. In October 1865, the line was being pegged and the erection of the poles was about to start.

In the South Australian Register of 9 July, 1868, the following small item appeared: "The Telegraph Office has lately been robbed twice of small sums of money; but there is a mystery about the affair, so that we can say little about it".

In the House of Assemby on 13 October 1880, Mr. Basedow asked "whether the Government would, now the necessary money had been passed in the Estimates, go on without any unnecessary delay with the erection of the Post & Telegraph Office in Angaston. The Commissioner of Public Works said as the house had sanctioned the additional sum necessary, the work would be proceeded with as soon as possible".

Blumberg.

The Telegraph Office opened in 30 January 1867. A post Office had opened in 1855.

On 1 July 1918, the office changed from Blumberg to Birdwood.

Blumberg Post & Telegraph Office about 1910.

Gumeracha.

The first Telegraph Office was opened in 1862.

The Telegraph Office opened in 1864. The town changed name to Tweedvale in 1918.

A new building was constructed in 1883 at a cost of £735.

Lyndoch.

The Telegraph Office opened on 4 January 1866.

There had been several community meetings. For example on 30 March 1865, the South Australian Register (p. 3) reported a meeting on the previous day in which it was noted that "as they had the posts and wires passing by them, he thought they ought to have a telegraph station. They would gain nothing by the station at Tanunda, it being eight miles distant and, when a man was on horseback, it was is easy for him to go to Gawler as Tanunda". 

A few months later - on 5 June - the Register reported that " A large quantity of poles for the overland telegraph have been deposited at Lyndoch. I understand that Mr. Todd has been here on professional business, so that we may soon expect to get an answer from the Chief Secretary in reply to a letter forwarded several weeks since, enquiring whether we are to have a telegraph at Lyndoch".

On 1 July 1865, the Adelaide Observer reported: " We have received no reply yet trom the Chief Secretary's Office in reference to a Telegraph Station at  Lyndoch, although we were promised one when the matter came under consideration. I hear, however, that Mr. Todd has stated publicly that we are to have one, so that we shall not be in the unenviable position of seeing the wires pass through our township without having the benefit of their use".

In August, the contractor for the line was pushing on. The line was up as far as Lyndoch.

On 10 November 1865, the South Australian Register noted " Our Crrrespondent understands our Telegraph Office will be opened shortly; the Lyndoch wire from Gawler is now almost up. It is to be hoped it will be available before the wheat season commences, as it will be more serviceable then than at any other period of the year".

The South Australian Advertiser of 5 January carried the announcement relating to the previous day starting with: "Mr. Todd presents his compliments to the Editor of the Advertiser and begs to inform him that Lyndoch Valley Station was opened this afternoon".

Mannum

The Telegraph Office opened on 3 February 1873.

"It was a neat building; the walls are limestone, and the erection will consist of three private rooms and passage for Station master's residence, office, battery and storerooms. The building is in a fine elevated position, commanding a good view of the river both up and down stream".

The Telegraph Office was opened on 3 January 1867.

Nurioopta was an important link in the first line from Adelaide to New South Wales. At that stage (1863) there would have only been a repeater station constructed - but even that is dubious.

In December 1864, a question had been asked in the House of Assembly:

"Mr. Bagot enquired whether it was intended to erect a central telegraphic station at Nuriootpa as originally intended.

The Commissioner of Public Works said there had been no such intention. It was thought Tanunda would be the most central place".

As the possibility of a Telegraph Office drew closer to fuition, hints of problems began to emerge:

"At last we are to have the telegraph, but are at a loss to know why the principal office should not have been here instead of Tanunda, centrally situated and on the direct road to the Murray".

On 17 October 1865, the South Australian Weekly Chronicle reported that "we expect the Telegraph Office to be opened in the course of two months".

The Telegraph Office was opened in January 1866 - as a Branch office from Tanunda. It was opened in the local school. The teacher also served as the Operator (multi-tasking!!!).

The South Australian Advertiser reported on 15 November 1869 (p. 3):

"Clerk to give notice to Mr. Jervis, teacher, Nuriootpa, that his services would not be required after expiration of quarter. Clerk to give notice to Superintendeot of Telegraphs to remove Telegraph-Office from schoolroom".

On 30 November 1869, the same newspaper report (p.3):

"Mr. Brock (Chairman), Councillors Kriebel and Nitschke received a letter from Mr. Todd, Superintendent of  Telegraphs, asking if  the Telegraph office can remain in the schoolroom. The Clerk replied that Council cannot allow the teacher to be Telegraph-master neither can the office be in the school room".

By 1870, both the Post Office and the Telegraph Office were moved into the one place - that was in Strothers Store

Still the problems coninued about the Nurioopta P&T Office. On 13 September 1878, the South Australian Register (p. 2) noted:

"On Thursday morning, a deputation of residents of Nuriootpa, consisting of Messrs. W. Strother, B. Domeyer, C. Bock, L. Warnecke, T. Wemming and E. Kasehogen, waited on the Minister of Education. Mr. Basedow, M.P., in introducing the deputation, stated that they desired to urge on the Government the desirability of providing a suitable place for the Post and Telegraph office in the township. He pointed out that Nuriootpa was an important centre. The district was thickly populated, and five main roads leading to populous districts started from ths township.

Mr. Strother said that business of the Post and Telegraph department was at present conducted in a small room at a private house which was very inconvenient. The postmistress had to provide the accommodation and the salary she received was so small that she could not afford to provide a more extensive room.

During the last two years the position of the office had been changed four or five times, and the residents were put to great inconvenience in consequence. He pointed out that the township had been established for 30 years but not a single Government building had been erected there. The Minister reminded the deputation that the Government was being pressed for the erection of buildings from every possible direction. He thought they had made out a good case. He would lay the whole matter before his colleagues".

The South Australian Advertiser of 12 April 1879 reported on developments:

"Now that the "powers that be" have been aroused to the importance of our township they seem inclined to dispense their favors with a liberal hand, and have decided that we want a new bridge, a school, and a Post and Telegraph Office... The plans of the new school buildings are being prepared, and the townsfolk are anxiously awaiting the commencement of the work, as increased school accommodation is greatly needed. The Post and Telegraph Office is only in prospect yet, but it is rumored that the site has been fixed, and the land transferred to the Government".

Following the deputation of the local community to the Minister of Education, a new building housing both branches was opened in 1879. That building was remodelled in 1925 and again in 1991.

Nuriootpa Post (& Telegraph?) Office about 1905 - so the "new" building erected in 1879..

The Telegraph Office was opened on 30 January 1866.

The Estimates allocated £700 for the half year to December 1865 to complete the Telegraph Station.

The Adelaide Observer of 27 January 1866 anticipated the event: "Our new Post Office and Telegraph Station is completed, and shows to great advantage — a noble building in the very centre of the township. We are only anxiously waiting for its opening".

The Post Office was not however opened on the same day.

The Foundation Stone for the building was laid at a well documented ceremony on 19 June 1865. It was established as an important repeater station serving Lyndoch and Nurioopta through to Stockwell and Truro. Greenock was added sometime later.

From 1867, Tanunda was also part of the direct Adelaide-Wentworth-Sydney intercolonial line which also passed through the above stations (excluding Angaston and Greenock).

Teatree 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 rlcketty 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".