01
THE FILM
In a remote corner of the Northern Territory, 150 years ago, two pieces of wire were bounded together, and Australia was instantly connected to the world.
In the 1860s the telegraph was sweeping the world, joining distant far-off lands one by one. Australia was a land trapped by its isolation.
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In less than two years, Charles Todd, leading hundreds of men, on behalf of the South Australian government, constructed a telegraph line across the centre of the continent from Port Augusta to Port Darwin. At nearly 3,000 kilometres long and using 36,000 poles at “twenty to the mile”, it was a mammoth undertaking. At last, in October 1872, Adelaide was linked to London via Darwin and life in the farthest corner of the British Empire was changed forever.
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In this broadcast documentary to mark the Overland Telegraph’s 150th anniversary, noted historian Derek Pugh retraces the line, unearthing stories of remarkable endurance, survival, massacre, and courage.
02
THE FACTS
The Story of the Overland Telegraph Line
In the 1860’s Australia was a land trapped
by its isolation. All international news and communications were carried by ship. But finally, in December 1871, a telegraph cable reached Port Darwin from Java and by October 1872, Adelaide was linked to London, via Darwin. Messages which previously took weeks to cross the country now took hours.
In less than two years, Charles Heavitree Todd, leading hundreds of men, constructed a telegraph line across the centre of the continent from Port Augusta to Port Darwin. At nearly 3,000 kilometres long and using 36,000 poles at “20 to the mile”, it was a mammoth undertaking
03
THE MISSION
The development of the Overland Telegraph Line was the internet of its time.
It was the most important engineering project in Australia prior to the Twenty Century. It was central to the founding of Darwin and Alice Springs. Were it not for the OTL construction, it’s likely the Northern Territory would have remained a northern section of South Australia. This was the birth of the Northern Territory, as we know it today.
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The new telegraph stations built for the OTL were also weather stations. The Head of the OTL Construction, Sir Charles Todd, was a visionary and an early convert to the ideas of climate change. He believed these remote weather stations, which could provide accurate, real-time forecasting were the future of meteorology. Was Charles Todd the first to suggest climate change as a human influenced phenomena?
What was the impact on First Nations Australia’s of the arrival of the OTL construction teams and were they on the frontline of Australia’s frontier wars?
Had the OTL been constructed in Queensland (as it very nearly was) and the undersea cable reached shore at Normanton (rather than Darwin), would the Northern Territory exist today in its current form? Would Darwin and Alice Springs exist?