The Australasian (Melbourne)
6 July 1872.
THE AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAPH
Now that the work, the progress of which we have for some months been watching with interest, is so far completed as to allow of the receipt of messages and Melbourne and London are virtually joined by a telegraph wire of about 13,000 miles in length, it will be interesting to review the facts connected with this line and its gradual construction.
In glancing at the progress of telegraphic enterprise which has, during the last two or three years, made so great a development in the Eastern world, it would appear that up to that time, the telegraphic communications of that part of the world had been somewhat neglected. We often hear wonder expressed at the strides which in recent years have been taken in this respect; but it seems more reasonable to wonder that the work was left so long. The mechanical difficulties which in the outset impeded the work of laying deep submarine cables were soon overcome. Most of the companies which had had cables, had achieved great financial successes. In the years prior to the late great war there was abundance of idle capital in all the money markets of Europe seeking, and often vainly seeking, remunerative investment. Under all these conditions, it is rather singular that, up to nearly the end of 1869, the communications between Europe and India and the Eastern world should have been left:
For a very long time the important messages by which the Government of 120,000,000 men was administered or guided, and by which the commerce of half of the human race was directed, were trusted to the hazards of the loose mode of conveyance we have indicated.
Not only that but, for years, no attempt was made to carry the line beyond India. The rich and prosperous commerce with the Straits settlements, with Batavia, China, Japan and Australia, the tea trade, the silk trade, the opium trade, the wool trade were left altogether without telegraphic assistance. At the time mentioned however, a change took place. The main lines of telegraph in Europe and America had been by that time all completed, and telegraphic enterprise looked eastward, where half the world presented a new and untouched sphere of operations.
The project of a series of deep sea lines to India, and thence on to China and Australia, were put by successive companies before the English money market in a few months. Arrangements were made; compromises were effected, and the plan of the system of cables by which we are now connected with England was soon settled. Just about the same time, the land line to India, constructed by the Indo-European Company, was completed. This line was formed independent of the local lines of the countries passed through, and being worked by English operators all the way, possessed great advantages over the former means of communication. It runs from London through Berlin, Warsaw, the Crimea, Tehran, Bushire, reaching India at Kurrachee. As this line, however, is mainly used for Indian messages, it does not form a part of the system to which we are now linked.
The deep sea and land lines which, in combination, join Europe with India, Batavia and Australia, are shown by the following table:
| Route | Miles |
| Falmouth to Gibraltar, via Lisbon (cable) | 1,250 |
| Gibraltar to Malta (cable) | 981 |
| Malta to Alexandria (cable) | 819 |
| Alexandria to Suez (overland wire) | 224 |
| Suez to Aden (cable) | 1,308 |
| Aden to Bombay (cable) | 1,664 |
| Bombay to Madras (overland wire) | 600 |
| Madras to Penang (cable) | 1,213 |
| Penang to Singapore (cable) | 381 |
| Singapore to Batavia (cable) | 560 |
| Batavia to Banjoewangi (overland wire) | 480 |
| Banjoewangi to Port Darwin (cable) | 970 |
| Port Darwin to Port Augusta S.A. (overland wire) | 1,800 |
|
12,250 |
|
9,146 |
|
3,104 |
Falmouth to Alexandra:
The first two portions of this series are constructed by the Falmouth, Gibraltar, and Malta Telegraph Company which has a capital of £660,000, the line being laid in June, 1870.
From Malta, the line is continued to Alexandria by the Anglo-Mediterranean Telegraph Company with capital of £260,000. This line was laid and in full working order some months before the line to Malta, being in the meantime connected with the formerly existing land lines. This brings the deep-sea line from England to Alexandria, where it joins the overland mail route to India, and a short land line of 224 miles brings us to Suez at the head of the Red Sea.
Suez to Bombay:
The next stretch of the wire is from Suez to Bombay, a distance of about 3,000 nautical miles. The company formed to execute it is the British-Indian Submarine Telegraph Company which has a capital of £1,200,000. The cable, like those of the whole series, was constructed and laid by the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, the contract price being £1,000,000. Of this. £460,000 was paid in paid-up shares of the company, by which the Telegraph Construction Company became a large shareholder in this as in the other companies of the system.
The cable was in two lengths, viz., from Suez to Aden, and from Aden to Bombay. The work of laying the Aden to Bombay cable was successfully performed early in 1870 by Captain Halpin and his well-known and huge Cable Ship the Great Eastern. He was aided by Mr. Latimer Clarke, one of the engineers of the company. The completion of the cable gave England a deep sea line of communication to India, free from all risks of the land lines, and independent of all continental complications. It has been in full work, without a hitch, to the present time.
Bombay by land to Madras then to Singapore and China:
Before the cable to Bombay was laid, other companies were formed to carry on the system to the eastward as far as Singapore, and there branching off to China and Japan in the north-east, and to Batavia and Australia in the south east.
The British Indian Extension Telegraph Company, with a capital of £460,000, was formed to carry the line the first stage of the way—viz., to Singapore. This was done in two lengths—viz., Madras to Penang, 1,213 miles; Penang to Singapore, 381 miles. Of course the connection between the end of the former submarine cables and the beginning of the next system, is afforded by the land lines of the Indian Government, the distance from Bombay to Madras being 600 miles.
Singapore is the point of divergence of the China and Australian lines:
The China line is continued by the China Submarine Telegraph Company with a capital of £525,000, the line being laid in two sections:
At the same time projects were also mooted for carrying on the line to Posietta, on the Russian Pacific coast and so to afford communication with Japan, but we are unaware of the stage of advancement of this proposed extension. It is to be observed that when completed, it will afford a second line to Europe, as at this point the line would join with the existing Russian land lines through Siberia to Western Europe and England.
Singapore to Port Darwin:
At Singapore, the British-Australian line commences. It runs:
The company was formed in London, with a capital of £600,000. The capital was readily, nay, eagerly subscribed and the work was, of course, entrusted to the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company.
The company contracted to land their cable and make the connection with Port Darwin by January, 1872, and a month before that time, as readers well know, the cable was laid and in working order. The work was per formed without a hitch and in the most uneventful manner, and the master of the telegraph station at Singapore was surprised on November 20, to find that the expedition had done its work, and that Australia had been joined to the great telegraphic system that now forms a loose network nearly around the globe. And thus the long line we have been following across the wreck strewn bottom of the Bay of Biscay, in the blue depths of the Mediterranean, down in the heated waters of the Red Sea, across the broad stretch of the Arabian Sea, through Central India, again plunging into the sea in the Bay of Bengal, threading the channels of the Straits of Malacca, crossing through the rich tropical scenery and amidst the towering volcanoes of Java, then once more diving down into the coral depths of the ocean, finally makes its landing on the low mangrove-covered shores of North Australia.
Port Darwin to Port Augusta:
While the work of laying the cable to the northern part of the continent has been in progress, energetic efforts have been made to carry out an extension of the land lines so as to meet it there.
At an early stage in the project of completing means of telegraphic communication between England and Australia, the colony of South Australia, with a sudden exhibition of unsuspected enterprise, undertook the task single-handed. The English company which was formed to construct the connecting cable, sent out an agent, Commander Osborn who in, April, 1870, landed in Adelaide and very soon afterwards it was announced that a provisional scheme had been entered into with the South Australian Government, by force of which that Government bound itself to construct a land line from Port Augusta at the south of the continent, to Port Darwin at the north. The line is about 1,800 miles in length and South Australia undertook to finish it by the end of 1871.
The work thus undertaken was by no means an easy one. Considered with reference to the resources of the colony which was to perform it, the task may be regarded as an enormous one. It was to construct a line of telegraph, to survey the route, erect the posts, build the stations and stretch the wire across what The Times recently called "the mysterious interior of the Australian continent". That route which was not many years back traversed through terra incognita by the heroic efforts of the brave McDouall Stuart, was now to be travelled by construction parties with their flocks, their mobs of cattle, their packhorses, their long strings of bullock-drays, carrying the bustle and noise of constructive civilisation into the heart of that silent desert. There is probably no instance where the erection of a long line of telegraph followed so closely on the heels of the first explorers as in this case, certainly none on anything like so extensive a scale.
The difficulties in the way are so obvious as scarcely to require notice. There was the long distance of conveyance of stores and materials, the scarcity of timber over large areas, the deficiency of water, and the liability to terrific droughts alternating with almost limitless inundations. The obstacles might have checked the enterprise of a colony possessed of far greater means than those commanded by South Australia.
On the other hand, the colony had a very strong reason for undertaking the work for other than telegraphic objects. It owned an enormous territory of almost unknown extent and of undeveloped resources. It was wisely judged, not only that the wire would be invaluable as a means of communication, binding together the most remote points on its route and the young settlement at its northern extremity with the inhabited region of the south, but also that the work of constructing would itself go far towards opening a highway through the middle of the vast area. But although all these considerations formed additional reasons in favour of the project, they did not tend the difficulties in the way of executing it, or to lighten the draft upon the resources of the colony which took it in hand. The project having been determined on, and the agreement made, no time was lost in carrying it out,
The arrangement adopted was that the construction of the central and presumably most difficult part of the work should be undertaken by the Government, the northern and southern portions by contractors.
Southern section
The contract for the southern portion was let to Mr. E. M. Bagot, whose length was constructed in accordance with agreement, and within the time specified. There were, indeed, some intermediate poles to be placed in afterwards, but the line was stretched and connection made at the time contracted.
Northern and Central sections:
A very different result was reached by the contractors for the northern portion. This was from 500 to 600 miles in length and Messrs. Darwent and Dalwood were the contractors.
Of course, from the remote position of the base of operations, which was fixed at Port Darwin, this was expected to be far more difficult than the southern length, starting from Port Augusta. But it seems now that the essential difficulties of the case were aggravated by some serious miscalculations. Operations went on indifferently from the first and, in May, 1871, came to a standstill. The work was practically stopped and the men, in absence of supplies, were eating their draught cattle.
At this juncture, the Government representative at this section, ascertaining the position of affairs, suspended the contract, took possession of the works and went to Adelaide to lay the case before the Government. In doing this, he recommended that the expedition to be sent by the Government to carry on the work should be sent to the River Roper instead of to Port Darwin. This fine river had been found to be navigable for a long way into the interior and, by it, a point could be reached that would be practically 220 miles nearer to the telegraph route than Port Darwin. Mr. Todd, under whose superintendence the whole line was being constructed, concurred in and supported this recommendation.
Unfortunately, the then Treasurer, Mr. Hart, relied upon his knowledge of nautical matters and insisted on continuing to use Port Darwin as the starting point. The issue has proved that this opinion was a sad blunder, that it retarded the completion of the work by many months, and added an enormous sum to its cost. However, this was the plan decided upon, and Mr. Patterson, a professional engineer, was selected to execute it. There is no doubt that Mr. Patterson entered on his work with a good deal of energy, which other conditions, however, tended to nullify. There remained the fact that a great blunder had been made in the plan of operations, and very soon a period of heavy tropical rains came on, deluging the country, and making work impossible.
It became obvious that it would be necessary to fall back on the rejected plan of utilising the Roper. This was at length determined on and Mr. Todd went personally to the front to direct and urge on the operations. A new spirit was at once visible - both on the northern portion and on the central length which the Government was itself constructing. The rainy season, however, still for a time impeded work and transit, but every available day was utilised; and although it had become impossible to compensate for the months that had been wasted by two successive breakdowns, there is the certainty that from the time that Mr. Todd took charge, the works have been hurried on with great rapidity towards completion.
Delay in completion time:
South Australia, indeed, could not adhere to the contract time for finishing the works. The Government had undertaken from the beginning of the year to pay interest to the cable company on its capital. Great unnecessary expense had been incurred, much valuable time had been wasted, some disappointment had been occasioned; but still, looking at the way in which the works have been carried on during the last few months and the energy brought to bear upon them, it is impossible to deny to South Australia the credit of having bravely struggled to repair the blunders of its administration at the beginning and of having carried the works to an end in the same enterprising spirit in which they were at first undertaken.
In concluding this notice of our own line of telegraph, it may be of interest to mention the following facts in connection with submarine telegraphs in general:
The cables to America, and those in the East which we have spoken of, are the work of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company. Since the successful laying of the first Atlantic cable in 1868, those laid by this company amount in length to 22,900 miles and they represent a capital of nearly seven million pounds sterling. The 12,250 miles of the line along which our own Australian telegrams will pass represent, in addition to the cost of the overland line, a capital of £3,180,000.