Page 21 - eMuse Vol.9 No.05_Classical

From the Overland Telegraph

Line to the Mobile Phone The first pole of the Overland Telegraph line

tralia to South Australia completed in 1877. When finished, the
Slavishly we obey the small gadget demanding our attention whole of Australia was connected to the rest of the world.
with a ring, chosen song, or programmed sound. We talk into it to The impact of the Overland Telegraph Line spread beyond
someone who could be as close as a few feet away or on the other speeding communication. Among other things, a flow-on effect
side of the world. Even though it is a technical marvel, few of us meant it opened large areas of the inland to settlement. Use of
give the wonders of the mobile phone a second thought. camels for transport proved reliable for years afterwards and gold
There was a time when it took weeks and months to send a mes- was discovered in places like Tennant Creek and Pine Creek.
sage across the country and much longer overseas. Then it took Telegraph Lines served Australia’s communication needs until
about the same amount of time to get back an answer in return. Dis- well into the twentieth century. But even before telegraph had
tance communication has come a long way from the days of smoke reached its full potential and maximum distribution, people were
signals, drums, messengers on foot, or, even hand written notes. working on the magic wire’s potential to carry a human voice and
Scientists and inventors world-wide worked on technology for a others were working on radio waves to do the same thing.
long time. In 1844 electricity had been developed to a point that In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in the
Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail were able sent the historic Morse USA and from the 1890s experiments by various scientists led to
Code message, “What hath God wrought!” In a short time, tele- the breakthrough of the invention of the radio attributed Italy’s
graph systems spread like wildfire across America and then the rest Guglielmo Marconi.
of the world. As these new inventions improved they eventually replaced the
Australian colonies were quick to see it as a means to shatter the telegraph altogether. The first telephone exchanges in Australia
tyranny of distance and isolation. In under a decade telegraph ser- opened in 1880 in Melbourne and Brisbane. By 1887 every other
vices were under construction here beginning with a line between capital city here had followed suit. In 1898 the Overland Telegraph
Melbourne and Williamstown, Victoria. Other colonies weren’t far Line was upgraded so Australia could communicate with the rest of
behind. Even though we were not a nation then, all the colonies the world by phone. After repeated failures from 1859, Tasmania
realised the potential value of a combined service connecting all was finally connected to mainland Australia in 1936. At the time it
parts of Australia to the rest of the world. was the longest submarine cable in the world.
Many proposals were presented but South Australia won the In the meantime, radio technicians weren’t idle. During this
contract to build what became the legendary Overland Telegraph same period they too were also making remarkable progress.
Line. The route chosen was that taken by explorer John McDouall Their technology began steadily replacing telegraph services.
Stuart when he was eventually successful in crossing Australia from Radio’s progress increased beyond its inventors’ wildest dreams
South to North in 1862. from 4 October 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the world’s
The project was approved in 1870 with Charles Todd appointed first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1. Since then, about 8,900 satellites
as manager. In spite of problems getting the line from Java to Dar- from more than 40 countries have been launched. According to a
win and problems building the Overland Telegraph Line itself, the 2018 estimate, some 5,000 remain in orbit. Satellites make world
Herculean tasks were completed in 1872. wide radio transmissions an every day reality.
The Overland Telegraph Line was 3,200 km long from Darwin to From 2 October 1946 car phones appeared. The concept was
Port Augusta. The line used 3600 poles and insulators. There were attractive but had limitations impeding their progress. Earlier mod-
11 repeater stations. The whole project cost £239,588 ($479,176) els were not practical to remove from the vehicle as they weighed
almost double the original budget. It was a mammoth undertaking a cumbersome 80 lbs. They were limited in available frequencies
to say the least. Moving large numbers of working men and equip- and range as not many areas were serviced.
ment through such inhospitable desert is impressive at any time The concept of the mobile phone was predicted as early as 1906
but at this time much of it still remained unexplored making things and during World War I the German military experimented with
much more difficult. phone systems on railways. With varying levels of success science
John McDouall Stuart led no fewer than six explorations in continued making steady progress until 1973 when Martin Cooper
South Australia before eventually crossing the country on the lat- of the Motorola Company made the first phone call from a hand
ter. People take pride in the fact the Overland Telegraph Line only held phone weighing 1.1 kg. Since then the mobile phone has ad-
took two years to build. Some point out, in today’s world it would vanced in leaps and bounds.
take at least that long just to complete the paperwork to start. So next time you use your mobile, spare a thought for those pio-
A project equally challenging to the men and resources as with neers who made the Overland Telegraph Line and paved the way
the Overland Telegraph Line was the line connecting Western Aus- to today’s ease of communication. Look into the many legends.

May 2020 eMuse 21