Western Australia: 1869 - 1900.
The 1896 Coolgardie to Eucla telegraph line.

Although the line from Albany to Eucla in Western Australia to Port Lincoln and Port Augusta in South Australia was a catalyst for significant social and economic development in Australia - one Premier described it as one of the major factors supporting the movement to Federation - it soon became overwhelmed. The demand on the line was part of its own success. Consequently, it was not long before plans were being discussed to create a second line.

Ultimately there were two other lines:

  1. the 1896 line via Ponton's Station, Eyre and Eucla;
    1.1: Operational

  2. the 1926 line via Coolgardie which was constructed to the north.

 

The 1896 line.

Operational problems of the first line.

By the late 1880s, the sea air was adversely affecting the line and the transmission of all telegrams was being significantly affected. The spiders were happy. Many questions were being asked over a long period in both the South Australian and Victorian parliaments as to why the additional charges were being imposed when the Western Australian line - especially between Eucla and Esperance - was so often inoperative.

Difficulties with the operation of the inter-colonial line were being raised - as from the first day in Office of Mr. E. H. Wittenoom as Minister of Post ad Telegraphs as well as him being Minister of Mines and Minister of Education:

"The best administered departments will always have those who are not pleased with what is done, but there can be no question that the Mines of Western Australia demand an unusual degree of attention at the hands of the Minister in charge, if even common satisfaction is to be given. It is not to be forgotten that, when that department was formed, the officers placed over it were totally ignorant of everything connected with the subject, practical or administrative. They have had to fed their way as they went along, and the time of a Minister who was burdened with little else should have been mainly devoted to it. In an innumerable number of instances, our mining laws need reform. It is very doubtful whether, taken as a whole, they are as judicious as they might be for any individual field, while it is quite certain that it is impossible to apply them to all parts of the colony with equal justice and advantage. One of the first requisites for our mining cafe is a thorough investigation of the needs of each district, and a thorough adaptation to their conditions. It is conceivable in many cases that there will have to be different regulations, if all places are to be considered. There are some six months yet to the assembling of Parliament, a period by no means too long for the elaboration of an improved system. To frame a Goldfield Act, perfectly adapted to a country which is clearly intended to be one of the chief centres of gold production, and calculated to advance the mining industry to its full development should be a worthy ambition, nor could any greater service be conferred upon this country at the present stage of its fortunes. But it has to be remembered that this industry extends from Kimberley to Dundas Hills, embracing many various conditions of climate, soil, distance from a settlement and accessibility.

Besides the Mines, the new Minister will have Education and the Post Office. The news that the latter his been removed from the Premier's office to that of another Minister will be received with general satisfaction. The attention which the Premier could spare to it from his other multifarious labours, it is well known, was and could only be an insignificant fraction. Possessed of one of the most hard working, zealous and experienced of officers in the person of Mr. R. A. Sholl, he was content it would appear, to practically divest himself of most duties save those of signing the necessary papers. Of the many hundred complaints made to the office, it is safe to assert that Sir John Forrest did not hear of one per cent. Unquestionably it is an unwise plan for Ministers to interfere with the mere routine of an office, but nothing contributes more to the smart and efficient working of a department than its being known that a fair proportion of the more important complaints are likely to come under the eye of the Minister. Again, it has to be confessed that a department easily falls into the habit of resenting suggestions from outside and a feeling of complacency takes possession of it in considering what it has already accomplished. Any request to step out of the beaten groove is set aside as uncalled for and unnecessary.

Improvements seldom come from within a Government office. It is the Minister who knows what is before him in Parliament that is on the alert to secure the convenience of the public, even at a slight temporary sacrifice of revenue. There is another consideration. The Post Office distinctly needs the help of a Minister in contending for the claims of its department as against others. Of the truth of this fact, very many instances could be cited. That it was administered as well as it was is eminently creditable to all, but it was plainly inevitably handicapped by being under a Minister whose time was taken up attending to things infinitely more urgent than the innumerable details of this great department.

It was a wrong to the colony that the time of the head of the Cabinet should have been thus intruded on. A Premier's work lies in another direction than looking after the letters and telegrams of the community.

Nothing will in all probability sooner claim the attention of the new Minister than the condition of the telegraph service between Perth and the Eastern Colonies and Coolgardie. We do not now speak of the simply intolerable interruptions on the southern intercolonial line, as to which no-one is in a position to say how far the cause rests with the Telegraph authorities. The blame is freely laid upon conditions outside the control of the office and, the more it is examined into, the clearer it becomes that the burden imposed upon the southern line is even now greater than it can bear. A very little more increase of work and the line, whatever may be said to the contrary, will be quite insufficient for the demands made upon it.

To a lesser degree, the same may be predicted of the telegraph to Coolgardie. When the extensions are completed from Coolgardie to Hannan's, Kurnalpi, 25-mile, 45-mile, 90-mile and White Feather, the present difficulties of getting messages through in fair time may rise into impossibilities.

But the most serious case is that of the great artery which connects us with the Eastern colonies and them with us. If, in busy times, there is imminent danger of a block in the messages on the Coolgardie line of which a great share has again to go and come over the southern line, when all the messages to and from the rest of Western Australia are added, the wonder is how it comes that the difficulty found in working the southern line is not very much greater.

Although the duplex system has been introduced, those who have experience in the matter, such as the newspaper press of the colony, realise only too unpleasantly the inability of the line to do its duty. Every week without exception there is a break down. It will be for the new Minister to see what, if any, remedy can be applied.

"To duplicate the southern line is open to two objections:

Beyond doubt, the best course would be to carry a second line from Coolgardie well inland to Port Augusta, or to the point to which the South Australian Government have carried their system in our direction. This would not only provide an alternative route, in case of the failure of the other, but it would allow all the Coolgardie messages to and from the Eastern colonies to pass direct without troubling the Eucla system.

The obstacle to this proposal is the length of line which the South Australian Government would have to construct, and to which they might object. Still they might be ready to assert when they consider that the advantage both in convenience and profit will be largely theirs. If, however, they should hesitate, it might be possible to connect Kurnalpi with Eyre or Eucla. This would give an alternative line for a good part of the way, while it would throw the strain of working upon a definite length, for which special arrangements could be made.

But every month makes it plainer that things cannot remain in their present position. Twice a week or oftener, the telegrams are late. Sometimes they fail to come to hand altogether. In a year's time we may expect these complications to be doubled" (West Australian 20 December 1894).

Newspapers in all Colonies constantly carried reports with the general heading

Eucla Telegraph line again interrupted.

For example:

"Communication was again interrupted on the Eucla telegraph line last night. Although the line is now required to be in continuous working order, these interruptions have apparently increased since it is now required to accommodate the constant pressure of business especially in relation to the discovery of the gold fields. The interruptions are becoming unbearable and are causing the loudest complaints. Important messages are often delayed hours in transmission and the work has even been known to be days behind.

There can be no doubt that before long this intolerable nuisance will have to be rectified by the erection of another telegraph line and people cannot understand why, in view of the importance of the matter, steps have not already been taken to rectify this constant series of interruptions to which business is being subjected.

Several suggestions have been made but it is agreed on all sides that before long, steps will have to be taken to alter matters in this respect".
Western Australian 12 January 1895

In a wide-ranging and constructive Editorial about the telegraph system in Western Australia, the Coolgardie Miner of 19 January 1895 wrote as follows:

"We always feel a measure of content when our telegrams come to hand, if they convey news not more than four days old, and we have grown so used to receiving and paying for messages announcing that the Eucla line is interrupted, that we have ceased to publish them, lest the continued reiteration should be mistaken for a standing advertisement.

That there is trouble on this line is not surprising. Its contiguity to the sea has an evil effect on the wires which materially shortens their period of usefulness; besides which, in the long stretch of uninhabited desert which the line intersects, bush fires are frequent and add to the uncertainty of communication. From what we learn from those who have travelled overland from Port Augusta along this track, the line is insufficiently manned, a portion is nearly always down or in some way non-insulated, and in many places, if the wire does not actually lie along the ground, it is only supported on forked sticks or a kind of dog-leg fence.

It would be wonderful, therefore, if the communication was regular. To meet this difficulty there are three schemes suggested:

  1. to continue the line from Hannan's inland to Port Augusta.
    The only objection to this scheme is that South Australia would not bear her share of the expense but, as that colony would derive as much revenue from the line as Western Australia and relatively her expenditure would be far less, opposition in any great degree is scarcely to be looked for in this quarter. The line, if constructed would give us telegraphic communication with Kurnalpi and Peak's, and bring all the eastern centres of the field within easy distance of the telegraph while the Eucla route would be relieved of from 50 to 75 per cent of the business which now overcrowds it.

  2. to erect a line from Coolgardie to Dundas and so on to Esperance.
    This scheme has Mr. Wittenoom for sponsor but it does not present half these advantages and it leaves Eucla pressure practically untouched.

  3. to connect Wyndham with the Katherine station on the Port Darwin or Trans-continental route.
    A line from Wyndham to the Katherine is, if not impracticable, almost unattainable, on account of the great expense of transport to the scene of the work, the well-known hostility of the native population and the round-about character of the track suggested to say nothing of the fact that the Port Darwin line, being the one used for all European and other foreign communication, is more likely to become congested than the present system.

We trust, therefore that the Premier when, on his coming visit to Adelaide, will make such arrangements as shall lead to the constrution of the Kurnalpi-Augusta wire and thus at once extend our own local system and facilitate the business of the entire colony. Either of these schemes will, however, take time to realize and meanwhile steps should be taken:

When this is done we may reasonably hope to see something more approaching modern notions of telegraphy than the extraordinary vagaries which now assume and caricature that title. Our free communication with the eastern colonies is too important — financially and socially — to be left to the mercy of the elements and official caprice".


Even the respected and experienced Richard Knuckey contributed to the dicussion:

"An interesting letter on the telegraphic lines appeared in Saturday's Courier from Mr. Richard Knuckey, formerly of the South Australian Telegraph Service. He states that, so long as the line follows the present coast route from Eucla to Albany, interruptions must arise, increasing as the line increases in age. It is absolutely essential that the line should be removed from the effect of the sea air if the duplex system is to be worked successfully.

He suggests that a new line should be constructed by South Australia to Streaky Bay via Gawler Ranges, and from Streaky Bay to Eucla the line is sufficiently far from the coast. To relieve the pressure on the existing lines, a wire should be stretched from Coolgardie to Eucla, while the line to Perth should be duplicated, the business being too extensive for a single line to cope with"
(West Australian 28 January 1895).

Finally the two Colonies sorted out a solution which involved, in part, running a second line using quadruplex instruments direct from Port Augusta to Streaky Bay via Yardea. The Western Australian Government was also trying to construct the alternative line from Coolgardie via Eyre to Eucla to use quadruplex instruments.

The South Australian activities.

Sir Charles Todd was interviewed by a reporter for the Daily News office and reported on 6 January 1896:

"With regard to the duplication of the intercolonial telegraph line, the Postmaster-General of South Australia said the work had been authorised by the South Australian Parliament and was in course of being carried out. Iron poles had been ordered from England, and work would be started in the course of a few weeks. The line would be taken from Port Augusta along the Gawler Ranges to a point west of Streaky Bay. From there it would run on the same posts as the present line. The distance from Port Augusta to Streaky Bay was 230 or 240 miles and the total distance that the line had to be taken by South Australia was 570 or 580 miles.

Their terminal point was Eucla, which was just on the West Australian side of the border. Sir Charles considers that it will take South Australia eight or nine months to complete her portion of the contract, the delay occurring on account of order for posts and instruments having to be sent to England. Speaking on the question of the respective merits of wooden and iron telegraph poles, the visitor said in timbered country they always used wooden posts. There was a certain amount of danger of the wooden poles taking fire, but the precaution was always taken of clearing a track 30 feet wide through densely timbered country".

 

The Western Australian acivities.

The route for the new Western Australia - South Australia telegraph line was confirmed about May 1895 to be from Coolgardie south to Dundas and then east to Eucla. Most interested parties agreed with this route and emphasised that the South Australian Government would also have to construct a new line away from the coast. The business along the inter-colonial line was simply too much for a single line. Being close to the coast, it was also subject to the vagaries of the sea air and winds. The Government had estimated the whole line would cost £35,000 and so allocated £25,000 in the August Estimates for the Western Australian component.

The Mayor of Perth, Mr. Alex Forrest, visited Kalgoorlie in September 1895 for a week to inspect mines in the area (he was "interested" in them - and later invested). He said the the Premier (John - his brother) had informed him about several developments in the Goldfields. One was that "The work of erecting a telegraph line to Esperance and Eucla, via Dundas, would have been put in hand long since but for the fact that the whole of the materials had gone down in the ship West RidingLost at an unknown location enroute from London to Fremantle in January 1895.. A fresh supply of materials had since been shipped and the line would be started as soon as this came to hand" (Western Argus 5 September 1895).

The West Australian of 25 September 1895 provided its readers with a comprehensive statement of the problem and the need for the idemtified course of action to be implemented.

The route.

The new line was to extend from Eucla in the east to Dundas and thence north to Coolgardie. It had been agreed by all that the first part of the new line should be as far from the coast as practicable:

13 January 1896: "Mr. Grant, the surveyor for the Public Works Department, has arrived at Eucla, and will proceed at once to lay out the telegraph between Eucla and Dundas. intended to start from Dundas. The work will entail great hardship, owing to the scarcity of water, there being one waterless stage of 130 miles. Mr Grant has a portable condenser and 13 camels" (Golden Age).

18 March 1896: "The Post and Telegraph Department recently invited tenders for the carriage of material for the Dundas-Eucla section of the new intercolonial telegraph line from the coast. There were three tenders submitted, and in addition several minor tenders from persons willing to undertake the carriage of material for certain sections were also sent in.

It has transpired that the three tenderers' prices were: Mr. I. J. K. Cohn £30 18s per mile, Faiz & Tagh Mahomet £32 per mile, and Messrs McKenzie, Grant and Co, £40 per mile.

The tenders have since been under the consideration of the Department and, although the general desire is to have the work commenced at as early a date as practicable, it has not yet been possible to come to a decision with regard to the tenders, owing to the fact that no definite understanding with the lowest tenderer as to certain conditions which the department requires to be observed could be come to. The matter, however, is now approaching a definite stage as Mr. Cohn was lately notified by the Telegraph Department that his tender would be accepted under certain conditions, the principal of which are that there should be a deposit of £100 as a guarantee for the due performance of the work, and that the tenderers should have the work completed within six months' time after receiving notice from the Department that the material is available. In the event of failing to complete the work within the time specified, the contractor will have to pay £30 a day demurrage.

Mr. Cohn has been requested to definitely inform the department, not later than to-day, whether he is willing to undertake the work on these conditions. Should he accept the terms, the contract will be entered into. In the event of replying in the negative, the same conditions will be offered to Faiz and Tagh Mahomet, who submitted the second lowest tender.

[A representative of the Golden Age called at Mr. Cohn's office this morning and was informed that Mr. Colm had accepted the conditions imposed by the Government, and will proceed with the work without delay.] (Golden Age).

The Inquirer of 17 April 1896 reported an interesting (but unusual) discussion about the construction activity. In essence, Mr. Cohn, the contractor for the carting and delivery of telegraph material for the Coolgardie-Dundas and the Dundas-Eucla sections of the new intercolonial telegraph line had sought a bonus for completing the line earlier that the date specified in the contract. Mr. Cohn was impeded in his work because of the delay in the delivery of insulators for the first of the two sections of the line and that, for some reason or other, the department has come to the extraordinary decision to erect a single line of wire between Dundas and Eucla instead of a double line, as provided in the specifications. Mr. Cohn explained his view as follows: "The department must have intended to have two wires fixed along the whole of the route, for the additional weight is provided for in the specifications. This decision of the department to have only one wire is to be regretted, as the additional expense of running the extra wire along the poles would not be worth considering and the extra cost of repairs would be also very small. I suppose the difference in the weight of the wires will be about 4 cwt. per mile. A lighter kind of iron pole is also to be used now that they have to carry only one wire".

3 January 1896: "The construction of the line from Coolgardie to Eucla, a distance of 625 miles, has been authorised and the surveys completed as far as Dundas for which section the posts are being delivered. This is expected to be a very difficult work. The line will run through a very bad - if not absolutely the worst - part of Australia. There is not even a salt lake in it where water could be procured and it is quite expected that sea water will have to be condensed on the coast and carted inland to the line. Camels will doubtless have to be employed in carting posts and carrying the water and altogether it will take quite £50.000, the amount voted, to finish the work" (Inquirer).

On 7 March 1896, the Norseman Esperance Guardian summarised the situation at that time as follows:

"The preliminary surveys along tbe proposed route of the West Australian portion of the new overland telegraph line have demonstrated the extreme difficulty that will be found in erecting the section from Dundas to Eyre. This portion of the line will be 320 miles long and there is practically only one spot along the entire distance at which a supply of water may be relied upon. This spot is Ponton's station, which is about 170 miles from Dundas.

There is also practically no timber which may be used for poles on the section and it will probably therefore be necessary to use iron poles for the whole distance.

It would be impossible to convey the material for this portion of the line to its location except by camel teams. Tbe telegraph department has accordingly been in communication with Messrs Faiz and Tagh Mahomet, the well-known Afghan firm of camel carriers, with the object of entering into a contract for the conveyance of the material from the coast to the line. If satisfactorily arranged, no time will be lost in order that the erection of this difficult section of the line may be started without delay.

It is intended to ship the poles, wires, brackets and other material to Esperance, Israelite Bay. Eyre and Eucla in quantities proportionate to the mileage of line which may more expeditiously be reached from those ports".

 

Coolgardie to Dundas.

 

Eucla to Dundas.

A survey team worked on the route of the Eucla - Dundas line and presented their Report to the Postmaster-General in July 1896. In part the Report noted:

"the new line leaves the present Eucla station and follows along the foot of the limestone terrace which forms the southern boundary of the Hampton Tableland. The line gradually recedes from the coast and, at 61 miles from Eucla, passes in close proximity to the Mundrabilla Homestead, owned by Messrs. Kennedy and McGill.

At this point, the line is about 15 miles from the coast, at 110 miles it is 25 miles inland and from here it gradually approaches the coast till, at 157½ miles, it is about six miles from the present Eyre telegraph station which is on the coast. A loop is run from the point before mentioned to Eyre, and the main line then turns on a direct bearing for Ponton's and immediately crosses the limestone terrace already mentioned, and at 180 miles is about four miles and a half from the coast. This is the nearest point on the line to the sea, and thence the line recedes inland until, at Ponton's Homestead, 301 miles from Eucla, it is some 80 or 90 miles inland. From Ponton's, the line runs in a general direction for Dundas, a total distance of 428 miles from Eucla.

One of the most remarkable features of the line is the length of the straights. One, from the angle north of Eyre to Ponton's, is 145 miles, which is probably a record, at least for Australia. The length of this straight is all the more remarkable as no surveys had ever been made in the vicinity of Ponton's, and consequently its position had never been actually determined. Mr. Grant, the Surveyor who had charge of the party from the Eucla end, fixed its position by latitude on his way to Eucla and, on his return when marking the line, had the satisfaction, after running a a distance of 144 miles without an angle, to find that the line passed within 30 chains of the homestead, and thus cleared the Granite Rock by only eight chains.

Another striking feature of the country passed over by the line is its remarkably level nature and, from Eucla to where this line crosses the limestone terrace at 158 miles, it is one level plain and in the whole distance from Eucla to Ponton's, there is not a single watercourse" (Western Mail 17 July 1896).

The article continues with a discussion of the availability of water (or the lack thereof) and anticiates the furture problem with rabbits.

The Miner of 21 October 1896 reported on the return of part of the construction party:

"Mr. Brown, who had charge of the construction of the Norseman-Eucla telegraph line, and Mr. Bernard Giles the electrician and operator, returned to Norseman with a portion of the party on Monday last. They report that the country east of Ponton's is very dry and that the stock route which a man named Thompson states has water holes every 25 miles is one of the driest and most barren places places in W.A. The route as set down by Mr. Thompson as being well watered, has dry stages of over 100 and 150 miles. We therefore warn anyone against placing any faith in this man's statements or, if they do, they may leave their bones as a monument to his inaccuracy.

Messrs. Brown and Giles are two typical bushmen and they seem none the worse for the hardships they experienced in their five months' labor in the parched country the line traverses".

 

Delivery of materials.

Extreme weather again beset progress on the line construction:

"The recent severe gale on the south coast has been the cause of an extraordinary mishap in connection with the arrangements for commencing the erection of the new overland telegraph line. A short time ago, the ketch Swift conveyed a cargo of telegraphic material from Albany to several points on the south coast convenient for its subsequent removal inland. A portion of the cargo, consisting of 584 iron poles, 606 bales, 119 coils of line wire, 2 small coils of binding wire and 516 base-plates with points, was landed at Knoweley, a spot about 25 miles west of Eucla where there is a good landing place.

Every precaution was taken by Mr. Brown, telegraph inspector in charge of the construction party who were also passengers by the Swift from Albany, to place the material when landed well above high-water mark. The recent storm, however, produced what Mr. Brown has described as a tidal wave which flowed a quarter of a mile island and over the spot where the material was lying. When the storm had subsided, it was discovered that the material had been buried to a depth of three feet by sand which had been driven up by the storm water. Mr. Brown and his party commenced the excavation of the material at once, and were occupied five days with the work. At latest, they had disinterred the greater portion of it but a small quantity had not been found. The whole will, however, probably be recovered before long and without difficulty.

The contractor for the carriage of the material inland had not commenced the work and the mishap will not therefore cause any delay in connection with the construction of the line".
(West Australian, 22 April 1896).

 

One problem which had arisen was the required distance of the Western Australian line. The Western Australian of 6 June 1896 reported clarification of this problem:

"When the estimate of the. distance between Coolgardie and Eucla along the intended route of the new overland telegraph line was first made, the figures were much greater than those which have since been found to represent the correct distances. According to the survey recently completed, the distance between Coolgardie and Dundas was set down at 125 miles, and between Dnndas and Eucla at 525 miles.

The first mentioned distance was found to be only slightly in excess of that which has now been covered by the line, but a considerable reduction has been made between Eucla and Dundas. The principal difference was been Dundas and Ponton's Station, which proves to be 115 miles instead of 170 miles. The length of the line will be 436 miles. There is one stretch, from Ponton's Station almost to Eyre, where the wires run 140 miles in a straight line".

 

 

The Duplicate Line.
Kalgoorlie Miner: 19 December 1896.

"The construction of the duplicate telegraph line to Western Australia has been completed and communications opened direct with Perth. The new line owes its origin chiefly to the development of the goldfields and the increased trade with South Australia consequent upon the progress of the western colony. Its construction was authorised by the present Minister of Education, the Hon. Dr. J. A. Cockburn, who is Minister controlling the Post and Telegraph Services and Parliamentary approval was given on October 3 last year. Sir Charles Todd, the Postmaster-General, planned the new line, which has been completed very successfully and without serious accident or death.

The wire joins the direct wire from Eucla to the South Australian border to Coolgardie, which has been erected by the Western Australian Government. It runs from Port Augusta almost direct west to Streaky Bay and is therefore free from the influence of sea fogs to which the coastal line is subject. The sea fogs of summer are perhaps more injurious than the storms of winter.

The old line traversing the coast to Eucla is 780 miles in length, while the length of the South Australian section of the new duplicate wire is 582 miles.

The first pole of the old line was planted on 25 August, 1875, by Mr. T. McTurk Gibson, the first Mayor of Port Augusta. The survey of the new line from Port Augusta to Eucla was begun on 16 October, 1895. It has been constructed in two sections by Government overseers and line parties — one section being from Port Augusta West to Flagstaff Landing and the other from Flagstaff Landing to Eucla. Mr. J. Murphy overseered the portion to Flagstaff Landing, having with him a party of twelve men. Mr. T. Hanley, with eight men, was the overseer of the other part.

The distance from Port Augusta West to Flagstaff Landing, Streaky Bay is 229 miles. A station will be established at Yardea - 143 miles from Port Augusta West. This portion of the telegraph passes to the north of Coralbignie Run and Thurlga to Yardea and thence westerly through many of the new hundreds (sic) which are not yet settled.

The first pole was planted at Port Augusta West on April 30, 1896. For the first 100 miles 2,052 wooden poles have been used, and 2,072 iron poles are employed between the 100th mile post and the junction of the old line at Flagstaff Landing. The average number of poles to each mile is 20. From Flagstaff Landing to Eucla, a distance of 353 miles, the old line has been strengthened".

This new line also soon required upgrading by the new Federal Government due to increased demand:

  1. The first Federal Loan, prepared in 1902, provided "for about £3,000 for the substitution of copper wire in lieu of galvanized iron wire, on the Adelaide to Eucla line and on the Adelaide to Sydney line as far as the border near Tareena. Only the difference between the cost of copper wire and galvanized wire is provided - the balance being chargeable against revenue";
  2. "the line between Adelaide and Eucla (West Australia), and the increase in business caused by the reduction in inter-State telegraphic rates has resulted in serious congestion and delays. The Postmaster-General has therefore authorised the construction of a second line, via Yardea, on the existing poles across Eyre's Peninsula, from Port Augusta westward to Eucla, at a cost of £3,500. The construction of the line will be begun at once". (Advertiser 18 Feb. 1903).

 

The 1926 line.

A third line to Eucla was constructed through Coolgardie when the expansion of business through the gold discoveries rendered such a course absolutely necessary through the occasional failure of the line from Albany.

17 May 1926:

"Although the public works committee has approved of the erection of the new telegraph line from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie, the work of construction has not yet been begun. When the line is completed, the Eucla Telegraph Station will be considerably reduced in status. Extensions on the west coast are planned by the Postal Department. It is intended to construct a telephone line from Port Augusta to Cowell and to link up eventually with Port Lincoln, which is gradually being converted into a receiving station for west coast business. It will be possible eventually to speak from Adelaide to Port Lincoln by telephone and this will expedite the conduct of business with commercial houses in Adelaide".