Victoria.
Gippsland lines - Lakes Entrance to the Snowy River and Mallcoota.

 

The following lines are discussed on this page:

1: The extension from Sale to Bairnsdale.

1.1 Stratford.
1.2 Maffra.

2: Immediate lines from Bairnsdale.

2.1 Bruthen.

2,2 Buchan.

2.3 Paynesville.

2.4: Lake's Entrance (Cunningham).

3: Lines to Omeo.

4: Lines east from Lake's Entrance to the Snowy River.

5: Beyond the Snowy River to Mallacoota.

6. Gabo Island.

 

 

4. Extension from Lake's Entrance to the Snowy River.

By 1886, there was a growing awareness of the need to extend the telegraph lines to the east beyond Bruthen and Buchan for many reasons. The Bairnsdale Advertiser of 11 December 1886 summarised the need as follows:

"The necessity for extending telegraphic communication to the Snowy River (i.e. Orbost-Marlo) has been amply testified during the past few weeks and we can only trust that recent experience will prompt the residents of Bairnsdale and of the Snowy River to take concerted action. Shipping operations at the Snowy River have increased considerably during the past few months but notwithstanding that many interests are involved in the steamers and schooners which leave here for the Snowy River. After they have crossed the bar at the Lakes' Entrance nothing is heard respecting them until they again reach the Entrance. During the time the steamers or schooners are delayed at the Snowy, their owners and the consignees interested in them are perfectly ignorant of the reason of their detention and it might frequently occur that necessary assistance could be supplied if it were known what was necessary to be done.

Last week the steamer Emu proceeded to the Snowy River with two schooners in tow but, although she was due at Bairnsdale last Monday, she did not arrive and neither were any tidings received as to the reason of her delay. As customary on such occasions, very many rumors were circulated regarding this cause but had there been telegraphic communication between Bairnsdale and the Snowy River, all doubts would have been set at rest and, if requisite, instructions could have been given on the one hand and advice on the other.

It must be borne in mind that there is a very extensive and constantly increasing settlement in that district and the postal communication therewith is neither speedy nor frequent - there being but two mails weekly between Bairnsdale and the Snowy. We therefore think the telegraph line should be extended to Orbost, being thoroughly convinced it is more urgently required than many of the extensions which are periodically being made. We therefore suggest that arrangements be at once made for the residents at each place to take concerted action and we have but little doubt an agitation thus commenced would be successful and the extension indicated be made at no distant date".

On 6 May 1886, the same source noted "Telegraphic communication between Cunninghame and Snowy River being an urgent necessity, the Postmaster General has informed Mr. A. Harris, M.L.A., in reply to his inquiries, that the Lands Department will survey a route from Cunninghame to Orbost, that being considered by the department the best road for the purpose. To the selectors, shipowners and others, the wire extension will be a boon".

The telegraph line to Orbost was connected on 10 September 1888.

This line continues west to Bairnsdale and north to Omeo. This line continues north as the NSW South-Eastern line.

In January 1911, four telegraph poles at Lake Tyres were damaged by lightning.

A major reason for having a Telegraph Office at Orbost was demonstrated through the minutes of the Tambo Shire Council as follows:

From the Post and Telegraph Department intimating that, in accordance with the council's request, weather telegrams regarding dissolving of snows, rainfall, etc, would be sent to Orbost from Tintaldra, head of Snowy River, and the New South Wales Government would be requested to forward similar messages from Delegate. Cr Cameron, moved that the letter be received and that the Government be asked to get telegrams from Kiandra and Bombala - those being the districts which had the heaviest snowfall affecting the Snowy River.
(Bairnsdale Advertiser, 10 December 1889).

In 1906, the issue of extending the line further east was raised yet again. The Snowy River Mail of 3 August 1906 reported:

Proposed Telegraph Line.
Cape Everard to Marlo.

"With regard to the proposed telegraph line from Cape Everard to Marlo, Mr James Cameron M.L.A. has written to the Postmaster-General as follows: "I wish to bring under your notice this urgent necessity for a telegraph line from Cape Everard to Marlo, the most eastern point the telegraph system has reached in this State. There have been five wrecks in sight of Cape Everard - The Auckland, Ridge, Park, Kerangie, Moines and Federal - there being in every case great loss of property and, in the case of the Federal, heavy loss of life.

In view of the above facts, the very commanding position occupied by the Everard lighthouse and the great advantage to settlers along the route, the Federal Government should not hesitate any longer to construct a line from Cape Everard via the Cann River settlement via Club Terrace to Marlo.

The Inspector-General of Public Works had intended to inspect this route but was prevented through having to go to Brisbane to report on a water scheme. An officer could go to the Everard by the Government steamer on her quarterly trip and I could arrange to have him met at Cann River and taken on to Marlo; from there he could come by coach to Cunningham.

The Premier has decided to make available 30,000 acres of land on the route suggested and to spend £14,000 in improving the roads.

Mr Cameron has been informed that the matter will receive attention".

 

5. Beyond the Snowy River.

On 19 September 1906, The Age was able to report something positive for change:

"The Postmaster-General last week authorised the survey of a telegraph line from Marlo, on the Snowy River, to Gabo Island. Mr. Bignell, of the telegraph maintenance branch, left Bairnsdale with a party to carry out the survey. The new line will tap the settlements at Club Terrace and Cann River and will connect the Cape Everard lighthouse with Marlo on the west and with Gabo Island on the east - thereby completing direct communication between Gabo and Melbourne. The construction of the line has been urged principally on the grounds that Cape Everard should be linked with both the Sydney and Melbourne telegraph systems. At present it is isolated".

HOWEVER, the Bairnsdale Advertiser on 15 November 1906 reported as follows:

"The proposal to complete the coastal telegraph line between New South Wales and Victoria and to put an important lighthouse station at Cape Everard in communication with the mainland, has been under consideration by the Commonwealth postal authorities for some time past. Judging from a communication forwarded to Mr Allan McLean from the Postmaster-General's office, and which is printed elsewhere in this issue, the proposal has been discussed under misapprehension and from an entirely wrong standpoint. The reasons originally advanced for the establishment of this important telegraphic link were principally:

  1. The necessity for connecting the Cape Everard lighthouse station with the telegraphic system on the mainland;
  2. the necessity for direct telegraphic communication between Victoria and Gabo Island and the Eastern New South Wales coastal system; and
  3. the importance from a national and strategic point of view of having the one remaining interruption of the great coastal telegraphic system of the Commonwealth removed.

These were the reasons advanced in support of the proposed extension in the article published in The Advertiser some time ago and which induced the Postmaster-General to have the proposed extension surveyed.

The decision on the matter that has now been reached by the department, as communicated to Mr McLean, shows very plainly that these most important considerations have never been discussed by the postal officials at all. The suggested extension has simply been viewed in the nature of an ordinary application for telegraphic extension to some as yet unconnected settlement. The departmental authorities are of opinion that, "even on the most favorable" assumption as to the cost and revenue, there is no justification for the construction by this department of the line as desired, namely, from Orbost to Mallacoota West, feeding Genoa, Wangarabell, Yarbulla, Cann River, Cape Everard, Club Terrace and Murrunagowar. There was never any "desire" expressed for the "feeding" of those places. To connect them with the new line was no part of the original suggestion upon the strength of which the survey was ordered. It was the idea of the departmental official who made the survey to extend the telegraph system to the places mentioned above. He considered that, by the extension, the department would derive a substantial profit from a work which, apart from all questions of revenue, is of the utmost public importance.

The establishment of telegraphic communication with the Cape Everard lighthouse has been shown, by at least half a dozen wrecks on the dangerous and isolated piece of coastline on which it is situated, to be of literally vital importance. Expediency requires the communication to be both westward via Marlo, Cunninghame, Bairnsdale and all ports to Melbourne, and eastward to Mallacoota, Gabo and thence to Sydney. If there were no considerations of a strategic nature involved, the notorious need for the Cape Everard connection should be enough to induce the Government to complete this important telegraphic link no matter whether the line earned revenue or not. The survey that has been recently completed has disclosed that, by extending the system to a number of the eastern settlements, the extension necessary to complete the coastal connection may be made a source of substantial profit to the department besides conferring an incalculable boon upon the settlers in half a dozen isolated outposts of civilisation in the eastern wilds. The department should certainly be invited to discuss the project again - not from the standpoint of a mere business undertaking involving only the question of profit, but from that of a vitally necessary public work, requiring to be carried out at the earliest opportunity irrespective of cost, and for the execution of which a scheme is suggested whereby the whole enterprise will result in profit to the state and hundreds of really deserving settlers will be substantially benefited".

The letter to Mr. Alan McLean from the Secretary was also on p. 2 of the above cited reference and most of the above covers its contents. Suffice it to reiterate that the letter noted "I have the honor, by direction, to inform you that, from the reports received, it would appear that even on the most favourable assumption as to the cost and revenue, there is no justifcation for the construction by this department of the line as desired ... the only means by which the line could be erected would be by the persons interested in constructing and maintaining it in accordance with the regulations in that behalf (copy attached) instead of construction and maintenance by this department under guarantee". Clearly there was no realisation of the need for a social cost-benefit analysis and that the lives of those lost at sea over a number of years were not of the least of concern to the postal authorities.

The Age of 18 February 1910 reported on
NEED OF A TELEGRAPHIC LINE.
WILL THE STATE GOVERNMENT GUARANTEE?

"For years the case for the establishment of telegraphic or telephonic communication between Cape Everard and the main centres of population in Victoria has been urged upon different Postmasters-General but hitherto without success. The need of the lighthouse there has been pleaded in vain and a deaf ear has been turned to any arguments submitted on humanitarian grounds.

Recently it was proposed to erect a line between Orbost, the nearest Telegraph Station, and Cape Everard, hanging 85 miles of the line on trees, 7 miles on new poles and 1 mile on existing poles. The line was to link up Murrungower, Bell Bird Creek, Club Terrace and Cann River. The usual departmental report was called for and it was found that, according to official estimates, there would be an annual loss of £76 14s 6d which would probably not disappear for eight years.

Accepting this estimate as reliable, the department has decided that the construction cannot be authorised. It is pointed out, however that, it the local residents like to shoulder the responsibility personally, they can under part 18 of the Postal regulations, build and maintain the line themselves and obtain a proportion of the revenue. If they decline to accept this burden, the Central administration states there is only one alternative, viz., for the State Government or the municipal authorities to guarantee the Post Office against loss. 'We cannot undertake a work of this kind' said a leading postal official yesterday 'even when its justification is based on humanitarian grounds or the possible straits of shipwrecked mariners'. If the State Government would give a guarantee we should be prepared to build the line. As matters stand, we have to consider the thing entirely from the point of view of revenue and expenditure and, in face of the figures in our report, we could not undertake it."

A week later The Age continued the story with "The Engineer of Ports and Harbors (Mr. C. V. Maclean), who is in a position to realise the pressing need for the establishment of communication with Cape Everard, states that nothing can be done by the State Government until the Postal Department has completed its investigation of the matter. It was at his desire that consideration was given to the proposal to construct a telephone from Orbost to Cape Everard, a distance; of 90 miles. Although there are several settlements near the three rivers which this line would intersect, the postal officials reported that it would not pay and, as the settlers were not prepared to guarantee it, no action was taken. On receipt of this report, Mr. Maclean proposed a line about 30 miles long to connect Cape Everard by telephone with the New South Wales telegraph system via Mallacoota. As this line would traverse unsettled country, he points out that there is still less prospect of its paying than in the case of the original proposal but he is concerned only with the linking up of Cape Everard. In view of the deplorable experiences of shipwrecked people and in the interests of the public and the lighthouse keepers, the Federal and State authorities should not lose a moments time in carrying out this small but highly important work".

On 20 August 1910, The Age followed up on developments and criticised the delay. It claimed that the Department had indicated "an officer would be sent to inspect the proposed route. What has happened since no one seems to know with any degree of certainty. Whether the official spent his time fishing with red tape along the coast or admiring the Mallacoota scenery, his report does not seem to have reached the hands of anyone who is in a position to take decisive action".

Perhaps as a result of the impasse around Cape Everard, notice was given by Mr. Wise in September 1910 that "when the Lighthouses Bill is discussed in the House of Representatives, he will move for the insertion of the following new clause: "When any lighthouse has been acquired or erected by the Commonwealth it shall, as soon as practicable, be connected by telegraph or telephone with a convenient telegraph or telephone office and the expenditure incurred shall be charged to the department administering this act".

About this time, there was another proposal to construct a mono-railway from Bairnsdale to Orbost instead of the usual style of railway. That approach was seen as a way to avoid the engineering difficulties posed by the need to cross three wide rivers - the Mitchell, Nicholson and Tambo - and hence reduce costs significantly.

Naturally the problems of the area along the coast did not disappear. On 30 October 1926, The Argus reported that "At the meeting of the Orbost Shire Council, it was decided that the Ports and Harbours department be requested to establish telegraphic communication between the Cape Everard lighthouse and Cann River, a distance of about 30 miles. Some months ago a trawler was wrecked on Beware Reef, close to this lonely part of the coast. A man had to be sent from the Cape Everard lighthouse to Cann River to obtain a conveyance to transport the shipwrecked men to that village, the first place at which these men, who were in an exhausted condition, could receive anything like the necessary care and attention".

In the Gazette of 4 May 1912, tenders were called for the erection of a telephone line between Orbost and Cann River Settlement.
In 1928, the Postal Services Division of the PMG announced inter-alia that lines were being erected to provide telephone facilities at the new offices of Cann River and Cape Everard.
In the Gazette of 6 August 1936, tenders were called for "Maintenance of telephone and telegraph lines in the Cann River District".

 

From Mallacoota to the east.

In the discussion of Gabo Island, it is noted that at the same time attempts were being made to construct the telegraph line from Cape Howe to Gabo Island, a survey party was at Cape Howe to establish the actual boundary line between the two Colonies. As an aside, The Argus of 11 July 1870 described the problem and the strategy as follows:

"The Murray gives us (i.e. Victoria) all our northern boundary, but no line from the eastern sources of the Murray to Cape Howe has ever been marked and consequently over 100 miles of frontier is in the position of "No Man's Land" with its uncertain jurisdiction and unpaid rents. The definition of this boundary at the joint expense of the two Colonies, by the geodetic surveyors of Victoria, was sometime since agreed upon, and three survey parties have been actively engaged for many months on the work necessary to accomplish it - the particular source of the Murray to form the N.W. terminus, as well as the particular point on the coast to be considered. Cape Howe being determined upon, it became necessary to run a line from one point, so as to strike the other at a distance of over 100 miles. To do this, the true difference of latitude and longitude of both points had to be determined. This demanded an extension of the triangulation to Cape Howe and Gabo Island on the one hand, and to Forest Hill, the Pilot and Mount Kosciusko on the other - operations of a most difficult and expensive character, involving great hardships and often great danger to those engaged on it. It has, however, been accomplished and the true bearing of a line started from Forest Hill in the N.W. that will strike Cape Howe in the S.E., has been computed in accordance with the best knowledge we possess of the figure of the earth".

As with Todd's works described elsewhere, the triangulation was achieved by means of telegraph lines to enable instant communication between the points used for the triangulation.

The Snowy River Mail of 16 February 1911 reported that the local council at Genoa were seeking a telegraph or telephone communication: "They had fared badly in these matters under the State and were worse under the Commonwealth. There were no means of finding out the rainfall to the east-ward except by way of Melbourne, Goulburn in New South Wales and Eden. They never knew the state of the country with regard to flood, fire or enemies which was most unsatisfactory. The line to Melbourne was often out of order and then they had no line at all".
(Ed: Genoa and Mallacoota were almost totally destroyed in the 2019 bushfires - partly due to bad communication!!).

The Australasian of 27 December 1913 carried a report from a surveyor who was working in the general East Gippsland area. In part he says "It was Cape Everard we were after, the Everard that was Captain Cook's "Point Hicks" up to the time when a generation that cared nothing for tradition renamed it in honour of a local member of Parliament. A lighthouse stands guard there now, the last before you come to Cape Howe and turn the corner for Sydney. An ex-keeper of that light had extolled the charms of the spot, its isolation and its beauty, till we were keen upon a visit. He knew no better place anywhere "Push a quarter of a mile inland and you'd swear you were the first man to get there. It's the loneliest shore light on the Victorian coast. Ships usually keep too far out for signals and the nearest telegraph wire is a hundred miles away. If a wreck happened we'd have had to ride the old horse thirty miles to the Cann River and another fifty to Orbost before Melbourne could know".

Something happened in the intervening years because, on 16 August 1918, the Snowy River Mail reported that "The telephone office which was established in June 1917 at premises of Mr. D. Treacey between Genoa and Cann River is to be closed owing to Mr. Treacey's objection that the telephone probably attracts the lightning. The telegraph and telephone revenue at Treacey's for the year was only one pound, 8 shilling, 10 pence".

On 21 November 1907, the Yakandandah Times described a new initiative which could affect the East Gippsland area:

Additional Telegraph Line to Sydney.

In connection with the proposal of the Postal and Telegraph Department to establish a second telegraph line from Melbourne to Sydney, the survey party which was authorised to choose a suitable route, has suggested three alternative routes, and they are now being considered by the department:

  • One is to Bairnsdale, thence via Orbost and Bonang to Dalgety and Sydney - a distance of 673 miles - cost £18,054.
  • The second is via Orbost, Cann River, and Rockton to Dalgety - a distance of 700 miles - cost £20,614;
  • The third via Buchan, Gellantipy and Coongulmerang to Dalgety - a distance of 669 miles - cost £ 18, 580.

Alternative to these routes is the erection of a second wire on the existing poles of the present line which would cost only £11,000 but it is not likely that this will be entertained as what is wanted is a separate line so that, in the event of a breakdown on one, the other line would be available. The time of the construction of the proposed railway from Bairnsdale to the border of New South Wales will probably have a good deal to do with the decision".

In the Report for the Post Office and Telegraph Department for 1887, the following line of telegraph was listed for the region east of Sale:

Designation of Line Names of Stations Branch Lines Length of line Length of wires Names of Stations
From To
Omeo Line (No. 3 East): Omeo, Bruthen, Bairnsdale, Stratford, Maffra, Sale, Rosedale, Traralgon, Warragul, Dandenong, Malvern, Armadale. Bairnsdale Cunninghame 18 33 Bairnsdale,Bruthen, Cunninghame
Bruthen Buchan 24¼ 30½ Bruthen, Buchan

 

In the Report for the Post Office and Telegraph Department for 1890, the following lines of telegraph are listed for the region east of Sale:

Line 30: Melbourne through Malvern test box, Oakleigh, Dandenong, Berwick, Packenham, Drouin, Warragul, Yarragon, Trafalgar, Morwell, Traralgon, Rosedale, Sale, Maffra, Stratford.
Line 31: Melbourne through Malvern test box, Oakleigh, Dandenong, Packenham, Warragul, Morwell, Traralgon, Rosedale, Sale, Stratford, Bairnsdale, Bruthen, Tambo Crossing (telephone), Ensay (telephone), Swift's Creek (telephone), Tongio (telephone), Omeo.
Line 119: Bairnsdale, Bruthen, Cunninghame, Orbost.

In addition, there were 3 lines for telephones:

Line 120: Bruthen to Buchan.
Line 199: Maffra to Upper Maffra.
Line 200: Cunninghame to Lake Tyres.