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Port
Augusta
Monday June 18
Mayor
Joy Baluch
Gayle Mather
Tahnee Jackson
Pauline Hedger
Vince Coulthard
Hawker
Tuesday
June 19
Tracey
Spencer
Blinman
Wednesday
June 20
Lisa
& Jordan
John & Michelle Henery
Blinman
Community
Julian Todd
Leigh
Creek
Thursday
June 21
Nicole
Slater and Laurie Cowan
Rex Guthrieand Michael Diorio
Overland Telegraph Descendents
Coral
Fee
Visitor Information
Centre Staff
Iga
Warta
Friday
June 22
Coulthard
Family Members
Marree
Saturday
June 23
Chelsea Rose
Jan White
Shirley Oldfield
William
Creek
Sunday
June 24
Helen
Anderson
William Creek Hotel Staff
Oodnadatta
Monday
June 25
SOTA
Year 7 Class
Women of the Outback
Alan
Wilson and Bev Kemble
Rosanne
Woodforde
Oodnadatta Aboriginal School
Student Representative Council
Ruby Plate and Adele McCallum
Dr Terry Cutler
Lynnie
Plate
Mataranka
Tuesday
June 26
Peg McFarlane
Maryanne Lewis
Alice
Springs
Wednesday
June 27
Brenton McRae
Alec Ross
Tennant
Creek
Thursday
June 28
Alderman
Peter Davenport
SOTA Students and Parents
Jimmy Hooker
Katherine
Friday
June 29
Bill Daw
Peter Haddow
Emma & Caitlyn Lowe
Norman Rosas
Pine
Creek
Saturday
June 30
Tex
Moar
Bolda Hunter
Gaye Lawrence
Darwin
Sunday
July 1
Duguid
Children
John Ahnfeldt
Eddie Quong
Irene Patanzis
Katrina Fong Lim
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Repeater
Station - Forum Archive
Chats and Forum Archives
| Biographies
| Special
Dates
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Forum: Overland
Telegraph History - Truth or Fiction
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Japanese
POWs and Insulator Caps - Ann Clancy
- Sat, 23 Jun 2001, 09:25 
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Does
anyone know the truth about the story that Japanese
POWs or Internees made insulator caps for the OT line?
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Re:
Japanese POWs and Insulator Caps - Z
B - Sat, 30 Jun 2001, 19:42 |
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I
have seen examples of porcelain insulators marked
"Made in Occupied Japan" circa 1946/7. Am unsure of
their use on the OT, these particular ones were recovered
from an old aerial line south east of Tailem Bend,
Sth Australia. These were the smaller "short skirt,
subscriber" insulator used on minor aerial routes,
rather than the "long skirt, trunk" style of insulator
found on major or "trunk" route constructions.
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Re:
Japanese POWs and Insulator Caps - Z
B - Sat, 30 Jun 2001, 19:33 |
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Life
On The Oveland Telegraph Line - Bill
papazoglou - Fri, 22 Jun 2001, 12:41 |
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From
the Journal of Frederick Goss-Telegraph operator in
the 1870's to 1890's.
On August 1st 1882, Fred volunteered to take up a
vacancy as an Assistant at Powell's Creek.
"Bush telegraph was in operation. One morning, about
9.00am, the station boy came in and reported that
a man with two pack horses had left Tennant's Creek
that morning for the Powell. To check up on this,
we called up Tennant's Creek Station master and found
the report was correct. The man had left an hour before,
150 miles away. We questioned the boy about the report
and he said he had been told it by a bush native.
That was as far as we could get.
The blacks(sic)will not give away their methods"
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Story
from Jean Colquhoun -  Bill
papazoglou - Fri, 22 Jun 2001, 12:02 |
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From
the Journal of Frederick Goss-Telegraph operator in
the 1870's to 1890's.
The fishing and duck shooting were very good pastimes
then at "The Katherine". They were also used to supplement
the "once a year" store supplies that came from Adelaide
by boat around the east coast, and then out bush to
the stations (telegraph and cattle), by bullock wagons
or horse teams. Try to imagine only putting in a grocery
order once a year and then waiting, maybe months,
for it to be delivered!
Any gunman who shot down a duck from above Katherine
Gorge lost it immediately. The scaly head of a crocodile
would break the surface of the water and with one
SNAP the duck would be gone.
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Story
from Jean Colquhoun - Bill papazoglou
- Fri, 22 Jun 2001, 11:44 |
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From
the Journal of Frederick Goss-Telegraph operator in
the 1870's to 1890's.
"One day a fault occured between The Shackle and Pine
Creek, which meant I had to close the office for two
days at the most, and started out to locate the fault.
"As it happened the telegraph line, which I had to
follow, was close to the road track. I met a man coming
towards me and had a chat. There was something that
seemed foreign to the circumstances. It was clear
to me that he and his horse had been working. He wore
an open necked cotton shirt with sleeves rolled up,
and a slouched felt hat. I noticed a quart pot on
his saddle, and yet it seemed that he did not belong
to that life.
"After a minute or two he said, as if diving my thoughts,
"I suppose you are wondering who I am. I am the Duke
of Manchester." It was on the tip of my tongue to
reply, 'Oh, how do you do! I'm the Prince of Wales.'
But something restrained me from doing so. I introduced
myself, and after answering a question as to how far
he was from the Hotel, we parted.
"The next evening when I returned I found he was the
Duke of Manchester - the next issue of the weekly
paper from Palmerston (Darwin) settled that beyond
a doubt. He was looking for an investment and apparently
believed in doing the job himself."
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An
O.T linesman who went from Adelaide to Darwin by foot.
- Hamish Macintyre - Fri, 22 Jun 2001, 11:29
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This
is part of a story provided by an OT descendant by
the name of Barrie Skidmore, it comes from an article
titled 'Overlander' about his grandfather, 'I was
speaking to a man who once covered practically the
whole distance between Adelaide and Darwin, about
2,200 miles, on foot. He is Mr Chris Dabovich of Forestville,
now 73. He used to be head linesman in the Telegraph
Department, and in 1900 took part in duplicating the
wire to Darwin. "We didn't have motor trucks and tower
wagons in those days," said Mr Dabovich. "Horse-drawn
wagons and camels were used by our gang. We lived
on damper and tinned meat, and struck some pretty
dry stages." A year or so later he went through to
overhaul the line, walking from pole to pole practically
the whole way from Adelaide G.P.O. to the Darwin Post
Office. A 14-ft ladder, carried from post to post,
was used to examine the fastenings to the insulators.
The job took about two years.'
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The
Tragedy of Strangways Springs - Farrah
Sando - Fri, 22 Jun 2001, 11:07 |
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Mr
Adrian Hewish of Milang sent me this information regarding
his great great grandparents.
Adrians grandparents, Albert and Mary lived and worked
at Strangways Springs (102 miles north of Marree).
One morning after returning from work, Albert found
his wife, Mary, dying in her bed. He threw back the
bed clothes to find a huge snake in her bed, which
quickly slithered away and into the bush. Mary was
pregnant at this time and Albert was at his wits end.
Albert knew there was a doctor at Marree, but knew
the doctor would be unable to travel to them through
miles of sand and drought striken land. Hastily he
sent a telegram to the train superintendant at Quorn
(300 miles away), he requested the hire of an engine
and her crew to bring the doctor to his dying wife.
This was granted, the doctor was on his way. Sadly
the doctor didn't make in on time Mary passed away
before he arrived.
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More
descendents - Ann Clancy - Fri, 22
Jun 2001, 10:48 |
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The
descendents of Bagot and Stapleton also came forward
in response to our newspaper articles.
Bagot was the man who won the contract to construct
the Southern section of the Overland Telegraph line
and subsequently supervised the middle section as
well.
James Stapleton was the telegraph operator who was
speared at Barrow Creek. It has been intresting to
see the concern exressed by Stapleton's descendents
about the reprisals against Aboriginal people that
followed the attack on Barrow Creek.
We are also aware that Alec Ross, who appears on the
Alice Springs section of the web site is a descendent
of Ross, who also worked surveying, exploring and
constructing the OT.
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Finding
descendents - Ann Clancy - Fri, 22
Jun 2001, 10:42
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Hi,
it's Ann from Centenary of Federation. We've been
tracking down descendents of the men who surveyed,
built and maintained the OT line. We put out a press
release - which brought forward about fifty people
who are descendents. They're a really enthusiastic
crowd, but not many of them are on the Internet, so
they haven't found their way into the chat rooms.
People we identified included Julian Todd and Brett
Knuckey (thanks to both of you!). We've also found
descendents of Mitchell, who surveyed the line, descendents
of Alfred and Christopher Giles, who explored for
the line, descendents of Clarke, who supervised the
northern party of operators and who telegrpahed the
news of the death of Kraegen, and descendents of teh
families who operated the telegraph stations at Katherine,
Daly Waters and Tennant Creek. We'll try to put up
a few of the fascinating stories that these people
have sent into us. Watch this forum!
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Re:
Finding descendents - jack ryan -
Mon, 25 Jun 2001, 11:18 |
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I'm
a bit slow off the mark. Replied to Roger, but feel
I should expand a little on my earlier information.
GGF John returned to Adelaide immediately the Survey
under Goyder was complete, but his two brothers Edward(Ned)
and Jeremiah(Jerry) remained. I should have included
this info. to Roger, they were both involved in early
survey work around Darwin and Southport, Ned for most
of the time until his departure in 1878. Jerry died
there. jackryan@optusnet.com.au
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Heavitree
is Sir Charle's middle name - or is it?
- Julian Todd - Wed, 20 Jun 2001, 17:59 |
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In
The Singing Line by Alice Thomson she refers
to Heavitree being Sir Charles middle name.
Is this accurate?
Where did this name come from? His father was Griffith
Todd and his mother Mary nee Parker. Perhaps it was
Mary's mothers maiden name? There doesn't seem to
be any use of the Heavitree name again in the family
after.
Can you help us solve this puzzle?
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Sir
Charles Todd - astronomer and meteorologist
- Julian Todd - Wed, 20 Jun 2001, 14:30 |
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Sir
Charles was passionate about astronomy and meteorology.
But how much do we know about his work in this area?
Regrettably of lot of his fine work in astronomy has
been largely overshadowed by his magnificent management
of the building of the Overland Telegraph Line.
What can you tell us about Sir Charles' work in astronomy
and meteorology?
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Sir
Charles Todd - the leader of men -
Julian Todd - Wed, 20 Jun 2001, 14:19 |
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Sir
Charles was a very practical and organised man with
an ability to get on well with men and earn their
respect. It would seem that he did not seek any glory
but rather sought to accomplish a great task. On his
return to Adelaide from northern Australia he left
his horse at Burra and caught the train to Adelaide.
He asked for no fanfare and was only greeted by the
Chief Secretary, he then went onto check the progress
of the new post office.
Is this also your understanding? What anecdotal evidence
do you have to support this?
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Are
there any OTL descendents out there?
- Roger Edmonds - Wed, 20 Jun 2001, 14:12
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If
you are a descendent of anyone involved in the Overland
Telegraph Line - please let's hear your story. Tell
us who your forebear was and what they were involved
in.
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Re:
Are there any OTL descendents out there?
- jack ryan - Sat, 23 Jun 2001, 17:45 |
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Feeling
my way here! My Great grandfather John Ryan and his
brothers Edward(Ned) and Jeremiah(Jerry) were members
of the Northern Territory Survey Expedition 1868-69.
John Ryan returned to Adelaide when the survey was
finished, but Ned and Jerry remained as part of the
volunteer force preparing for the arrival of first
settlers later that year. Ned and Jerry both later
worked on O.T. Line Maintenance in Palmerston and
Southport. Jerry died there in 1874 and Ned eventually
returned to Adelaide in 1878. One of the last "men"
of the original Expedition. He is buried at Coward
Springs. jackryan@optusnet.com.au
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Re:
Are there any OTL descendents out there?
- Patricia
Benz - Thu, 21 Jun 2001, 22:33
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My
Great Great Grandfather James Trowbridge, Went to
the
Northern Territory in about 1870 with Dalwood and
Darwin's party., and claimed to have drawn the first
pole on the OTL.
He was later present at the banquet held in the Town
Hall to commemorate the success and enterprise of
the Government in carrying out the work. He would
have been 38yrs old.
Can anyone verify this information for me?
Pat...
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Re:
Re: Are there any OTL descendents out there?
- jack ryan - Mon, 25 Jun 2001, 11:06 |
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It
is awhile since I did this research, Pat. However
the S.A.Advertiser,11Nov1872 recorded the arrival
of the S.S.Omeo from Port Darwin and the passenger
list included a Troubridge(sic)as a member of one
of the returning work parties. If memory is good the
work was now complete on the O.T.Line. Diligent searching
of earlier Advertiser Shipping columns may reveal
your descendant's departure. His age seems about right
too! Can't help with the subsequent dinner attendance.
jackryan@optusnet.com.au
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Re:
Are there any OTL descendents out there?
- Tina Lowe - Thu, 21 Jun 2001, 14:12 |
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My
family was involved with the metal replacement telegraph
poles. 1884 they arrived at the Alice Srings OT Station
to make the delivery of the metal OT poles. Many decendants
still live in the Territory. William and Mary Hayes
travelled with 5 children the 6 was born at Farina
on the trip.
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Relation
- CJW w - Wed, 20 Jun 2001, 18:37
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My
great,great Grandmother, Francis Anne Davies nee Todd
was the niece of Charles Todd. We are told she came
to live with the family after the death of her own
father, Charles' brother, till she was married. Her
twin daughters are buried with Charles Todd's mother-in-law,
Charlotte Bell in the West Terrace Cemetry Adelaide.
Fiona Warwick
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Created by Kate Dibben, Open
Access College, South Australia, Australia
email:
kdibben@oac.sa.edu.au
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