The Overland Telegraph
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Overland Telegraph
990+(08/4)
HE OVERLAND TELEGRAPH project was an incredibly bold venture by the government
and people of the colony of South Australia. At huge expense and personal sacrifice of
many, a telegraph line was constructed from Port Augusta in the south to Darwin on the
northern extremity of the Australian continent.WT Dalwood's role
My
grandfather's uncle, William Trevett Dalwood,
and his partner Joseph Darwent were the original contractors for the construction of the
northernmost 600 miles (965 kilometres) of the line. The contract was awarded amidst some
controversy, and after considerable effort had been expended, it was annulled amidst even
more controversy. William spent several years pursuing compensation, with limited success.
(Click on the picture for a full view and details of the planting of the first pole)
About the line
The line linked Australia to London and the rest of the world. On completion, messages took only hours rather than months to reach Australia. Before the line was constructed, the Australian continent had been crossed north/south only by intrepid Scotsman John McDouall Stuart. In the preface to his Explorations in Australia: The Journals of John McDouall Stuart, published in London in 1864, he claimed that a route through the interior could be used for a telegraph line.
In the words of Charles Todd, (later Sir Charles), South Australian Postmaster General and planner and prime mover for the project: "The work was authorized by Parliament in [June] 1870, and completed in August 1872. The line was carried from Adelaide to Port Darwin, a distance of nearly 2,000 miles [3,200 km] and it went through at least 1,500 miles [2,400 km] of terra incognito, except what we knew from Stuart’s valuable reports. The route the great explorer took was adopted."
Harriet Douglas, the daughter of the Government Resident in the Northern Territory at the time, later, as Mrs Dominic D Daly, wrote about the difficulties, in her book Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia. She wrote: "I, who was on the spot for nearly twelve months while the work was going on, can testify to the troubles and dangers the constructing party our end had to face", Mrs Daly rammed the earth round the base of the first pole with a ceremonial rammer specially made of hard polished wood, and is person number 7 in the first pole photograph.
Sturt's Sextant
A unique, small brass sextant
in a wooden case was used during the construction of the Overland Telegraph. The sextant
had been given to my great great grandfather, Caleb
Dalwood by Captain Charles Sturt. Caleb was William Trevett Dalwood's father.
Sturt, a very popular and respected man, had used the sextant during his
central Australian explorations in 1844-1846. He had been Surveyor-General, succeeding
Colonel William Light (the now much-revered surveyor and planner of the city of Adelaide).
Sturt was appointed Colonial Secretary of South Australia in 1849. The original
establishment of the colony of South Australia owed much to Sturt's enthusiastic reports
from his earlier explorations in 1829.
The sextant is now in the Museum of Australian Surveying at National Surveyors House in Canberra.
I hope to expand this material relating to the Overland Telegraph, with particular emphasis on William Trevett Dalwood's story, in the future.
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Please contact me at ian@dalwood.org with your comments. Maybe we can help each other, or share our experiences, particularly with Dalwood or South Australian research.
www.dalwood.org © Copyright Ian J Dalwood 2002