We talk about ‘Telegraph Todd’ and the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line, built through the largely unsurveyed and vast centre of Australia. Only one group of British explorers had, to date, survived a trek all the way from the south to the north and returned, but using the information they recorded, Todd was sure he could supervise the construction of a more than 3200km Telegraph Line, that would allow the colonies in Australia to be linked up the the rest of the world. A huge leap into a more modern communications era.
(105 mins)
Brilliant stories from Australia’s past!
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Podcast recommendation:
“Sandman Stories Presents”
https://anchor.fm/sandman-stories
Interesting & international stories from around the world. Mostly folktales, they’re great listening during work, during commutes, when you are trying to fall asleep, or any time that you need a calm friend to read to you. https://sandmanstoriespresents.wordpress.com/
REFERENCES:
CRYLE, DENIS. 2017. Behind the legend: the many worlds of Charles Todd. North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing. ISBN 978-1-925588-09-5.
PUGH, DEREK, 2022. Twenty to the mile: The Overland Telegraph Line. ISBN 978-0-648-14219-5.
CLUNE, FRANK. 1955. Overland Telegraph: The Story of a Great Australian Achievement and the Link Between Adelaide and Port Darwin. Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus & Robertson.
MOYAL, ANN, 1984. Clear across Australia: A history of telecommunications. Melbourne, Victoria: Thomas Nelson Australia. ISBN 0-17-006266-X.
Adelaide Observatory | SA History Hub. [Accessed August 2022]. Available from: https://sahistoryhub.history.sa.gov.au/places/adelaide-observatory
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER STUDIES, and AIATSIS, 2021. Map of Indigenous Australia. 1 October 2021. [Accessed April 2022]. Available from: https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia
BOWDEN, Brett. [2016]. The bombing of Darwin: Telecommunications in times of war. Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy. Online. Vol. 4, no. 1, p. 1–14. [Accessed June 2022]. DOI 10.3316/informit.062251201199243.
John McDouall Stuart Society » Great Northern Exploring Expedition. [Accessed July 2022]. Available from: http://johnmcdouallstuart.org.au/great-northern-exploring-expedition
KENEALLY, THOMAS., 2011. Australians: Eureka to the Diggers. Sydney, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-74331-195-0.
MORRIS, Deirdre. [1976]. Stuart, John McDouall (1815–1866). In: Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. [Accessed July 2022]. Available from: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/stuart-john-mcdouall-4662
Colonial Frontier Massacres, Australia, 1788 to 1930 https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/map.php
BLACKWELL, ALICE. and LOCKWOOD, DOUGLAS., [2008]. Alice on the line: The Oveland Telegraph one family’s story. Sydney, N.S.W.: New Holland Publishers. ISBN 9871741108033.
ERDOS, Renee. Leichhardt, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig (1813–1848). In: Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. [Accessed August 2022]. Available from: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/leichhardt-friedrich-wilhelm-ludwig-2347
GILES, ALFRED, 1926. Exploring in the ’seventies and the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line. Adelaide, SA.: W.K. Thomas & Co. [Accessed June 2022]. Available from: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-211081884
Morse Code Translator. [Accessed July 2022]. Available from: https://morsecode.world/international/translator.html
The translator can translate between Morse code and Latin, Hebrew, Arabic and Cyrillic alphabets. It can play, flash or vibrate the Morse code. You can also download the sound and share a link to use it to send messages to your friends. The speed, Farnsworth speed and frequency of the sound are all fully adjustable.
WIKIPEDIA: MORSE CODE, 2022. [Accessed July 2022]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Morse_code&oldid=1095543769
OT Pole No, 1. PastMasters. [Accessed July 2022]. Available from: https://www.pastmasters.net/ot-pole-no-1.html
STUART, JOHN MCDOUALL. John McDouall Stuart Society » Expedition Six. Online. [Accessed July 2022]. Available from: http://johnmcdouallstuart.org.au/729-2
THOMSON, ALICE. 1999. The Singing Line. London: Chatto & Windus. ISBN 0-7011-6493-X.
TRAYNOR, STUART., 2016. Alice Springs: from singing wire to iconic outback town. South Australia: Wakefield Press. ISBN 978-1-74305-449-9.
WIKIPEDIA: AUSTRALIAN FERAL CAMEL, 2022. [Accessed August 2022]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Australian_feral_camel&oldid=1103047993
WIKIPEDIA: JOHN MCDOUALL STUART, 2022. [Accessed July 2022]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_McDouall_Stuart&oldid=1093032140
Leybourne-Ward, N. Australia’s Overland Telegraph Line 1870-1872. First Australasian Conference on Heritage 1994: Old ways in a new land. [Map, p2]
Music, IMAGES & other links:
- Intro/Exit music modified from: ‘Grand Canyon’ by LÃHSTANA DAVID [CCFM Music]
- Morse Code Translator: https://morsecode.world/international/translator.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYEsFQ_gt7c
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xRzy-7fssY