Patterson divided the work into four sections with three working parties completing the most northerly sections leaving an option for the last section to be carried by pony express, if necessary. Work progressed slowly because of the effort in locating water. The beginning of November, with time running out and the wet season fast approaching, Patterson sent word via the Queensland telegraph line, for more reinforcements. He was most despondent and noted in his diary “flies and mosquitoes are unbearable. I am utterly weary of the whole thing. Can see nothing but blackness and suffering ahead.” Meanwhile, lying in harbour at Port Darwin Bay were the company ships Edinborough, Hibernia and Investigator. The shore cable was landed on 18th November 1871. The following day Australia was linked to the international connection and was in touch with the rest of the world. Darwin received the first memorable message. “Advance Australia!” Captain Halpin of the Cable Fleet sent to Captain Douglas the Governor’s Resident. “I have the honour to announce to you in the name of the Telegraphic Construction and Maintenance Company, that we yesterday completed perfect submarine cable communication with Java, the Mother Country and the Western World. May it long speak words of peace”. By now the southern and Central Sections were substantially advanced and well on the way to completion. But panic and chaos reigned in the north. Penalties of £70 per day were looming. The northern section was far from finished. “A wet season of remarkable intensity was upon them.” Todd said soon after. “Very severe stock losses were sustained.” Over twenty inches of rain fell in December. To add to their troubles, the Queensland Superintendent of Telegraphs had struck out publicly and published letters in several of the other colonies’ newspapers. He poured scorn on the impractical route of the telegraph line and urged that it be abandoned. On the day the contract expired, there were still over 300 miles to be completed. By the end of January, Todd was at the Roper River bringing good cheer and confidence as well as more manpower, horses, bullocks and equipment. It was April before construction on the northern line could be resumed. Meanwhile, the Central parties continued poling northwards. On the 22nd May, Todd sent the first trans - Australian telegram from Darwin to the temporary station on the Elsey. Knuckey then rode with it across the long gap to Tennant Creek where it was telegraphed to Adelaide. It was received nine days after it was sent. By June the northern section had reached Daly Waters. A pony express was organised to carry messages over the now rapidly diminishing gap in the line of 260 miles. Then the cable failed between Java and Port Darwin. There was no more talk of compensation. Finally on the 22nd of August the two ends met near Frew’s Ponds. It was joined by Patterson. He said “Adelaide was in communicaton with Darwin. It would have been with England, had the cable not broken down.” Todd, returning overland to Adelaide was at Central Mount Stuart. By evening he was inundated on his portable relay set with congratulatory messages from governments, foreign consuls and well wishers from all over the Colony. It was a bitterly cold night and an exuberant Todd called for hearty cheers from his companions, He said “No line passing through a similar extent of uninhabited country, where the materials had to be carted over such long distances, no line of equal length and presenting similar obstacles has been constructed in the same short space of time.” In Adelaide, the town hall bells were rung, flag poles decked with bunting adorned the GPO and the clerks were given a holiday for the afternoon. “This great work, the greatest ever accomplished in the Australias is now complete and we have received the first message right through from Palmerston to Adelaide.” reported the Adelaide Advertiser on 23rd August 1872. There were eleven telegraph repeater stations set up along the line to boost the morse code signal as it faded over distance. They were located at Beltana, Strangeways Springs, The Peake, Charlotte Waters, Alice Springs, Barrow Creek, Tennant Creek, Powell Creek, Daly Waters and Yam Creek. They were staffed by a stationmaster, up to four operators and a linesman to repair line faults. It was two months before the cable was repaired. On 22nd October 1872, the first of many messages between Australia and London traversed the lines. In the first year of operation there was a bumper wheat harvest. Being in touch with world markets greatly benefited the community. Undoubtedly the Overland Telegraph Line with its road/ stock route wending North and the telegraph repeater stations, greatly facilitated settlement of Central Australia and the Northern Territory. In later years the news of the sinking of the Titanic and the start of the Boer War was relayed through the Overland Telegraph line. Telegraph Operator 130 Australia’s Explorers’ Way Alice Springs Telegraph Station
