Twenty to the Mile: The Overland Telegraph Line

Name: Twenty to the Mile: The Overland Telegraph Line
Brand: DEREK PUGH
Price: 37.25 AUD
Availability: InStock

The greatest engineering feat of 19th century Australia

By: Derek Pugh

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Paperback | 15 December 2021

At a Glance

Paperback
300 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.5 x 14.5 x 2

Paperback

RRP $39.95

$37.25

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The greatest engineering problem facing Australia - the tyranny of distance - had a solution: the electric telegraph, and its champion was the sheep-farming colony of South Australia.

In two years, Charles Heavitree Todd, leading hundreds of men, constructed a telegraph line across the centre of the continent from Port Augusta to Darwin. At nearly 3,000 kilometres long and using 36,000 poles at '20 to the mile', it was a mammoth undertaking but in October 1872, Adelaide was finally linked to London.

The Overland Telegraph Line crossed Aboriginal lands first seen by John McDouall Stuart just 10 years before. Messages which previously took weeks to cross the country now took hours. Passing through eleven new repeater stations and the remotest parts of Australia, the line joined the vast global telegraph network, and a new era was ushered in.

Each station held a staff of six. They became centres of white civilization and the cattle or sheep industry and, in many places, the Aborigines were displaced.

The unique stories of how men and women lived and/or died on the line range from heroic through desperate to tragic, but they remain an indelible part of Australia's history.

About the Author

Derek Pugh OAM, an educator and award-winning author, writes in several genres: history, science, travel, and YA fiction. Most well-known is a series on Northern Territory settlement, Tambora, Tammy Damulkurra, and Schoolies. He lives in Darwin and has had a career in primary and secondary education in large urban schools, tiny remote homeland schools, and several international schools.

He currently is writing the further history of the Northern Territory’s Top End settlements and is promoting the forthcoming sesquicentenary of the Overland Telegraph Line (2022) and the bicentenary of Top End settlement (2024).

Industry Reviews

'...a book written with heart and determination ... a lasting tribute to the inventiveness and tenacity of the people behind the planning, building and execution of the Overland Telegraph - a true nation building endeavour.'
His Excellency, The Honourable Hieu Van Le, AC.

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