Charlotte Waters, Northern Territory
Charlotte Waters was a tiny settlement in the Northern Territory of Australia located close to the South Australian border, not far from Aputula. It was known for its telegraph station, the Charlotte Waters Telegraph Station, which became a hub for scientists travelling in central Australia in the late 19th and early 20th century. Aboriginal artist Erlikilyika, known to Europeans as Jim Kite, lived there. Only a ruin remains today.
Telegraph Station, c.1880, Paddy Byrne on right (photograph by Henry Yorke Lyell Brown, government geologist).
1982 photograph of ruins
Australian Overland Telegraph Line
The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was an electrical telegraph system for sending messages the 3200 kilometres between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Completed in 1872, it allowed fast communication between Australia and the rest of the world. When it was linked to the Java-to-Darwin submarine telegraph cable several months later, the communication time with Europe dropped from months to hours; Australia was no longer so isolated from the rest of the world. The line was one of the great engineering feats of 19th-century Australia and probably the most significant milestone in the history of telegraphy in Australia.
Planting the first pole on the Overland Telegraph line to Carpentaria
Planting the first telegraph pole, near Palmerston (Darwin) in September 1870.
Repeater station at Alice Springs, c. 1880
Remains of the Overland Telegraph line at Tennant Creek converted into telephone circuits.