Telegraph Line Track

Values

Evidence of the inland telegraph route, a crucial link in trans Australian telecommunications from 1896 to 1927, which developed as a result of the gold boom in WA.

Links Norseman Post Office, Balladonia Telegraph Station and Eyre’s Sandpatch (Eyre Bird Observatory), the three repeater stations on the line, all of which are Registered places.

Rare as the second longest surveyed route of its type in Australia, and the longest in WA.

One of few remaining telegraph lines still evident over a long distance, notwithstanding the removal of most poles and wires.

The track itself, and the remnant linesmen’s camps, are evidence of the workforce required to maintain the telegraph line from 1896 to 1927, and in different form until the 1960s.

Physical Description

Dirt track over a variety of terrain, crossing or bypassing several salt lakes and rocky outcrops. Remnant poles, insulators and wire remain from telegraph line. Some evidence of linesmen’s camps.

History

The East-West Telegraph line was constructed between 1875 and 1877, linking Perth with the Eastern States by way of a 1500-mile line from Albany to Adelaide. There was little telegraphic traffic on the East-West line initially, and the single wire, which could carry only one message each way (duplex system), was sufficient for the time. By the 1890s, however, gold discoveries had greatly increased telegraphic business. Delays of up to a week were common as a backlog of messages developed at each repeater station.

The survey for the route of the line from Coolgardie to Esperance was conducted by surveyor Allan Raeside, who reached Esperance on 24 February 1895. Construction on the line began soon after. On 23 January 1896, it was reported that A. J. Grant, surveyor of the Public Works Department, had arrived at Eucla to begin a survey of the route for the Eucla-Norseman section. He had been provided with a portable condenser and thirteen camels for the journey. Another surveyor was to start at the Norseman end of the route. The survey, estimated at 600 miles, was described as the second largest of its kind in Australia, the survey from Adelaide to Darwin for the Overland telegraph line in 1871, being the longest. The tender for construction of the lines was awarded to Isidore James Knight Cohn, who quoted for the work at the rate of £30-12-0 a mile. Cohn used 150 camels to transport the materials for the Coolgardie to Norseman section, and by May 1896, he had around 500 camels and 80 men working in teams on various sections of the line. A link from the line was constructed to the Eyre telegraph station. The new lines were strung with copper wire on iron poles, the copper wire giving better transmission than iron wire and the iron poles being able to withstand the harsh conditions better than the timber poles used on the East-West line.

Uses

Historic Themes

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Publish place record online (inHerit):

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