A depot was set up at Southport on the Blackmore River, near the Overland Telegraph Line (OTL), which reduced the cartage from Port Darwin by 40 miles or 4 days by bullock team. Behind is the schooner Gulnare.
SLSA B9763This is a final sorting frame in the English Mails section of the GPO. Letters were sorted into piles for individual counties (eg, Northumberland at top left) and London postal districts (eg, WC or Western Central top, third and fourth from left). See also No 19. Martin Walker collection
An Afghan cameleer in jacket and jodphurs sits astride a highly-decorated camel. Camels had been brought to SA as early as 1838 and were provided to the OTL by Elder Smith & Co. Each camel could carry a load of 400 lb (180 kg).
SLSA B14739Charles (left) and Alice (right) with three of their daughters and their elder son Charles; seated in front is a grand-daughter, Lorna. The family home was next to the Observatory on West Terrace, now the site of the Adelaide High School.
SLSA B69996/68Mail bags are being loaded onto the Sopwith-Wallaby biplane, the ‘Bower Bird’, at the Albert Park (Hendon) aerodrome on 2 June for the first air mail to Sydney. There was a weekly service and each flight, making four intermediate stops, took about 24 hours.
SLSA B2246Jack Wright uses a Universal GG stamp-cancelling machine to apply cancellations which stopped people trying to use the stamps again. The cancellations were usually a series of wavy lines with a postmark showing the place and date. See also No 11. Martin Walker collection
A uniformed postal officer collects mail from a cast iron street posting box in front of the Bank of Adelaide, King William Street (near the Currie Street corner). Behind (left), in front of the T&G building, is a signal box for the electric tram network.
SLSA B18703A postal worker examines the label on a bag of mail received from overseas. Passenger lines such as the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co (P&O) had contracts to carry mail on their weekly services between England and Australia. Martin Walker collection
On 22 August 1872, the day the Overland Telegraph Line was completed, Charles Todd and a small party were camped at Ti Tree, near Central Mount Stuart, and he used this instrument to receive and respond to messages of congratulations.
SLSA B78443The first telephone exchange opened in 1883 in a corner of the Telegraph Room. Ten years later, a new exchange opened on the ground floor of the GPO extension. By 1909 the original ornate electric light fittings had been replaced. See also No 32.
SLSA B11699A postal worker uses a Universal stamp-cancelling machine. Cancellations stopped people using the stamps again. Letters had to be arranged so that the stamps were all in the top right-hand corner before being loaded into the machine. See also No 6. Martin Walker collection
This photograph was taken on 13 May 1955, the day before the manual exchange closed; left to right: Margie Matthew, Nell Knight, and Gwen Smith. Automatic switching equipment would now handle calls. Central subscribers had new telephone numbers starting with LA.
SLSA B62198Going back to the days of Cobb & Co, there is a long tradition of coaches (horse-drawn then) having contracts to carry mail as well as passengers and parcels between the city and country towns. This coach was operated by the SA Railways.
SLSA B62625In August 1856 John Ewens was sent to Portland in Victoria to meet Charles Todd who was returning with an agreement to build the Intercolonial Telegraph line. He taught Todd to ride and travelled back to Adelaide with him as Todd planned the route of the line.
SLSA B9828The Telegraph Operators room was on the northern side of the first floor of the GPO. On each desk is a sending machine. The spools have paper tape into which Morse Code messages could be pre-punched and sent more quickly that an operator could tap them out.
SLSA B1947As the telephone network expanded into country areas, small exchanges were established in major towns to handle local calls. Usually attached to the post office, they provided well-paying jobs for young women such as Frieda Juncken.
SLSA BRG205/1/41Overhead telephone and telegraph lines were strung along the streets and entered the GPO from Franklin Street. (Only later were telecommunication lines put underground.) The thicker wires are telephone cables containing 25 separate wires.
SLSA PRG280/1/43/251This charabanc – an early form of stretched limo – is about to leave Mannum for Adelaide, crammed with passengers. One passenger is adjusting the ropes that control luggage tied on to the front fender and running board of the vehicle.
SLSA B62664Inland letters were letters to be delivered to a suburban or country address in the same state. Before postcodes (which were introduced in 1967) mail sorters had to have their wits about them to ensure letters reached the right destination. See also No 2. Martin Walker collection
Charles Todd and his son-in-law Professor William Bragg built this equipment to experiment with wireless telegraphy in 1899, hoping to use it to communicate with lighthouses. The experiments were successful but a complete installation would be too expensive.
SLSA B22181Richard Randall Knuckey was in the first team to survey Darwin in 1869. He was appointed a supervisor of the Overland Telegraph Line in 1870 and overseer of the SA section of the line to Western Australia. He was appointed inspector of telegraph services in 1880.
SLSA B7232By the end of 1891, the Central Exchange switchboard had to be extended from 600 lines to 800 to meet the growing demand for new services. At the top are the counterweights and pulleys which controlled the cords. The lighting is provided by gas.
SLSA B9373In 1916, the Eight Hours movement was celebrated with a parade through the city streets on 11 October 1916. The Electric Telegraph Construction Branch mounted telegraph poles on drays with phone line insulators adorning the horses’ bridles.
SLSA PRG 280/1/11/174Born in Yorketown, pioneer aviator Harry Butler, awarded the Air Force Cross, brought two aircraft with him after World War I and set up an airfield at Hendon. He carried the State’s first air mail over water in a flight to Minlaton on 6 August 1919.
SLSA PRG280/1/19/44Before they were forced underground because of problems caused by the new and expanding electric tram network, telegraph and then telephone wires were strung along the streets. As demand for these services grew, so did the poles and wires.
SLSA PRG 631/2/464On 15 November 1872, at the banquet celebrating the completion of the Overland Telegraph Line, it was announced that Todd had been awarded a CMG. Many thought he deserved a knighthood but it wasn’t until June 1893 that his KCMG was awarded.
SLSA B69996/19Work on the Overland Telegraph Line proceeded more efficiently after a depot was established on the Roper River where materials and stores could be unloaded closer to the Line. Robert Patterson is wearing a dark coat and boater; Charles Todd has a pith helmet.
SLSA B9762The GPO opened in May 1872 while Todd was in the Northern Territory. He saw it for the first time in October. The Telegraph Operating Room on the first floor was now the hub of Australian communication. Todd is in the light-coloured suit on the left.
SLSA B78442A five horse team hauls a Hill & Co coach crammed with passengers, parcels, and the all-important Royal Mail. Four rows of seating outside the coach are provided for the adventurous. The coach to Mannum ran twice daily via Mount Pleasant. See also No 41.
SLSA B63930Seven young telegraph operators, dressed for the office, pose for the camera. The job was much sought after but required a high degree of discipline to achieve the exacting and unforgiving standards of accuracy demanded.
SLSA B47754The first air mail flight to Perth left Adelaide’s Parafield airport on 2 June 1929. Keen philatelists covered their envelopes with the special air mail stamps. This Vickers Viastra II was one of two which went into service for West Australian Airways in March 1931.
SLSA B16589While an assistant takes notes, Todd, now Sir Charles, observes the operation of the new telephone exchange, replacing one in the Telegraph Operating Room. The new exchange went into service on 24 July 1894. See also No 10.
SLSA PRG631/2/527Surveyor-General George Goyder established a camp at the base of Fort Hill in 1869. This became the basis for the settlement which followed with the arrival of the OTL workers. The hill was flattened in 1965 to build a iron-ore loading wharf.
SLSA B78436A new type of switchboard went into service at the busy Port Adelaide exchange on 19 August 1916. Incoming calls were automatically connected instead of the operator plugging in. On the boards behind are numbers for public telephones and emergency services.
SLSA B52727On 7 November 1871, the cable which would link Australia to Java was hauled onto the beach at Port Darwin. On 20 November, the tiny settlement was in touch with the world. This photo is included in a memorial unveiled on the same spot in 2021.
SLSA PRG742/5/84Charles Todd’s original position in SA was Astronomical and Meteorological Observer as well as Superintendent of Telegraphs. Astronomy was an enduring interest throughout his life. This photo was taken at the National Conference in Adelaide.
SLSA PRG280/1/15/210This is the Overland Telegraph construction camp, 80 miles from the river mouth and only 112 miles from the Line. Smaller vessels could land supplies and materials here, saving hundreds of miles from a very much longer journey by sea to Port Darwin and back overland.
SLSA B4635Kauper, Butler’s business partner, was a pioneer in Australian radio broadcasting and the designer of the circuit in the famous pedal wireless. Behind Butler is the Bristol monoplane, the ‘Red Devil’, which is now displayed in Minlaton, Yorke Peninsula.
SLSA PRG280/1/25/292Molly Price is the daughter of Alice Springs Postmaster F A (Fred) Price, appointed in 1916. Molly became an expert horsewoman and skilled station hand. Following the death of her father, she helped her mother run the Woolla Downs sheep station.
SLSA PRG1365/1/179John Little, telegraph master, Darwin; Robert Patterson, expedition leader; Charles Todd; and Alexander Mitchell, surveyor. There are two versions of this photograph: the photographer, Captain Samuel Sweet, had the men change into better clothes!
SLSA B69996/15The coaches are in Franklin Street just west of the GPO. The mail contract was a lucrative business for John Hill and Co, worth thousands of pounds a year. At one stage they had one thousand horses doing the work. See also No 29.
SLSA B10333The Willunga mail coach was another Hill & Co service and ran twice daily. The town was famous for its quarries which supplied most of the slate used in the GPO. Note the number of passengers sharing the ‘box seat’ with the coachman, Charles Thomas Shilton.
SLSA B19173Operators and supervisors at the new Adelaide Central Exchange which opened in 1909 in Franklin Street, west of the GPO, with a 3000 line switchboard. The building was criticized for its austere appearance and ‘cheerlessly plain’ interior.
SLSA B60141Alfred Birdseye provided a regular daily motor car service to Mannum, leaving the GPO at 7:00 am carrying mail. A new passenger service was introduced on 3 April 1922. The driver, well protected by a leather coat, has stopped to greet a dog named Bounce.
SLSA B62622
