South Australia - Colonial period: 1857-1870.
Adelaide to Clare & Kooringa line.

The Northern line from Adelaide to Clare and Kooringa was constructed about the same time as the line south to Willunga. The southern line received construction priority but, after the first link to Melbourne had been made in 1858, further work began on the Northern line. The summary of developments is presented in two sections:

On 11 March 1856, the Surveyor- General moved an address in the Legislative Council, "requesting His Excellency to authorize the construction of a line of magnetic telegraph from Adelaide to Gawler Town and the Dry Creek". This motion was carried.

Construction of the first line to the north began in January 1857 - indeed the South Australian Register reported on 7 January that " The posts to be used in the construction of the line of telegraph between Adelaide and Gawler Town have arrived in the Agenora from Kangaroo Island". The line went about 28.5 miles and followed the railway line from Adelaide to Gawler via Salisbury. Telegraph stations were planned for construction at both locations as well as at the intermediate location of Dry Creek.

Todd also had to make the connection within Adelaide and, in keeping with his previous practice to use subterrean cable, he applied to the Adelaide Municipal Council. The Mayor stated that Mr. Charles Todd (Superintendent of the Magnetic Telegraph Office) had applied to the Council for " permission to open a trench 18 inches deep along King William Street, from Neales's Exchange to Green's Exchange, for the continuation of the subterranean telegraph cable. Leave had been given" (The Register. 18 Feb 1857) and the work was completed in early February 1857.

The line was opened to the public on 14 April 1857. This line from Adelaide comprised two wires run over poles spaced 27 to the mile. The posts along the railway line were round and charred and 16 to 17 feet long (about 5 metres) except at level crossings where 22 foot posts (6 metres) were used. From the Gawler Town terminus to the Telegraph Office in Murray Street, the posts were Baltic timber, square and 22 feet each in length. The cost of the line to Gawler was £1,576 (excluding the cost of the Gawler Town Telegraph Station) or about £55 per mile.

Unfortunately, when the line opened in April 1857, no Gawler Telegraph Office had been built. However, Mr. Squire, of the Globe Inn, placed a room at the Superintendent's disposal pending the erection of the station so that no time might be lost.

The construction strategy for the northern line from Adelaide to Clare-Kooringa reflected the policy of extending the lines in large stretches to encompass large areas.
  • 1859: Telegraph Offices were opened on the line from Adelaide to Gawler at Smithfield and at the Gawler Railway Station. The line was also extended to Kapunda;
  • 1860: the line was extended from Kapunda to Clare and Kooringa (Burra since 1940) to service the copper mining activities. These were extremely demanding for at this time, Kooringa hosted the world's largest copper mine (Monster Mine) - and clearly telegraphic communications were urgently required to complement the railway which opened the same year. The line to Clare was opened on 20 January 1860 while the line to Kooringa was completed on 27 January.

The enormity of the mines at Kooringa are reflected in a reflective and descriptive article published in 1857:

"Chief amongst the objects of interest of South Australia, the very Nero of her lions is, of course, the wonderful copper mine at Burra Burra. This is situated due north of Adelaide, at a distance of about one hundred miles. You travel over a vast plain almost the whole way, bounded on either side by the lovely ties of which I have spoken. For the first twenty-five miles you proceed by railway and then take coach over a road generally good, but sometimes very bad indeed.

The Burra mine itself is one of the most busy scenes conceivable. The company employ about 900 men and boys; whose sole business is to dig out the ore and prepare it for market. The smelting is done by another company, who purchase the whole yield of the mining company, and reduce it to a condition of pure copper ready for shipment. The mines themselves are of course on a gigantic scale. The ground is worked at depths varying by a few yards from the surface to the lowest level at sixty fathoms. The earth is pierced by galleries to the extent of upwards of six miles. The mine has paid the shareholders more than sixty-two times the original capital, and is still increasing in prosperity. Other mines exist at Kapunda and other places, but none to compare in richness or extent with this".

1861: Telegraph Offices were opened at Freeling and Roseworthy. Freeling had been surveyed in 1860 and was the important stopping place for the railway beween Gawler and Kapunda. Demand from the local people would not have been enough by themselves - the population was 60 in 1866.

1862: In 1862, construction began on the Yorke Peninsula line. This line began with construction branching off the northern line at Auburn. In Todd's August 1860 Report, this line of 64 miles was estimated to cost £3,600 exclusive of stations. The alternative route was toconstruct the line to Wallaroo from Clare but that would have cost significantly more. Hence there was a real reason to open the Telegraph Office at Auburn as early as possible. "The rapid development of mineral wealth at Wallaroo fully justifies the outlay proposed, as well as the expectation of the line yielding a fair return".

The line to Wallaroo was constructed direct to Kadina. This line is discussed elsewhere. Most of the construction of lines down the Yorke Peninsula took place during the 1870s. Five years after the line to Wallaroo had been constructed, the Telegraph Office at Port Wakefield was opened (in 1867).

A second line to Clare was also constructed in 1862 after the Telegraph Offices opened at Auburn and Riverton. Auburn was to become an integral part of the network. Todd noted, in the 1866 Public Works Annual Report, tabled in September 1867: "I have also recommended ... the erection of an additional wire to Auburn ... (It) is required for the business of the Wallaroo line. At present we have only one wire beyond Kapunda, and when that is connected at Auburn with the northern stations, the Wallaroo line is cut off from Adelaide". Hence, in the 1866 Estimates, £1,100 was allocated for the construction of a telegraph line between Auburn and Port Wakefield.

Very little construction took place in the lower section of the Northern line during the next eight years it being confined to opening Telegraph Offices rather than constructing new lines. There may have been a link from Watervale to Mintaro Railway Station after 1867. This link cannot be referenced except that £600 was allocated in the 1867 for its construction.

Interruptions to the lines were frequent and of quite disparate natures. In August 1910, Mr. H.C. Rundle (Post and Telegraph master at Kooringa) reported an obstruction on the line between Burra and Farrell's Flat. He immediately sent men to overcome the difficulty. At a spot between Hanson and the Flat, the party found that a magpie had built a nest on top of one of the poles and had carried up dozens of bits of old fencing wire, which had been intertwined in among the telegraph lines. A few miles further, a second nest, built in a similar manner, was found". (The Register, 9 August 1910).

There was then a stimulus in 1869/70 just before the construction activity began for the Overland Telegraph line. This stimulus was in part provided by the construction of the Roseworthy to Kooringa railway line. As the railways were extended, the link with telegraph lines became very close. Hence the rail link to Kooringa (Burra) was critical for many reasons - see the account of a public meeting about the need for the link.

The new route for the telegraph line, following the new railway line, branched north of Gawler to link to:

Telegraph Offices were opened at the railway stations as soon as possible.

The railway line reached Kooringa in 1870 (the same year as a rabbit plague). The copper mines at Burra first closed in 1877.