Wire through the heart, the overland telegraph line

[bob10]

They were tough in those days, Bob


https://youtu.be/TPFSdX9r_Gk

[jimr1]

They were tough in those days, Bob


https://youtu.be/TPFSdX9r_Gk
So now I know who Alice springs is named after , plus the Todd River , and not forgetting Stuart Highway . Yes he and his men were tough alright !!..

[Ean Austral]

A good book called the Singing line tells the amazing story of this feat. Written by the great grand- daughter who came over and followed the remains of the original line if I remember correctly.

Cheers Ean

[bob10]

Ean, while I was in Darwin, a Norforce member took me to the last campsite ,of the builders of the OTL, before Darwin. Not much there of course, then. But good to be actually there. Bob

[Ean Austral]

Rum Jungle near Batchalor got its name from the supply team getting stuck there during a wet season and they sat there and drunk all the rum rations and ate the food supplies, even when they were able to move on.


A lot of history around the roper river is also related to this story.




Cheers Ean

[vnx205]

Another book related to the telegraph line is "Alice on the Line" by Doris Blackwell and Douglas Lockwood.

Doris was a young girl there just 30 years after the completion of the line. Her father, Thomas Bradshaw was the officer in charge of the Alice Springs Telegraph Station from 1899 to 1908.

Alice on the Line: The Overland Telegraph, One Family's Story - Doris Blackwell, Douglas Lockwood - Google Books (http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Alice_on_the_Line.html?id=N_J2PwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y)

[JDNSW]

Another book related to the telegraph line is "Alice on the Line" by Doris Blackwell and Douglas Lockwood.


You beat me to it!

John

[V8Ian]

Rum Jungle near Batchalor got its name from the supply team getting stuck there during a wet season and they sat there and drunk all the rum rations and ate the food supplies, even when they were able to move on.


A lot of history around the roper river is also related to this story.




Cheers EanAs you do, I've done the same on the banks of the Norman. :D Raid the freight.

[JDNSW]

When I was working in the Simpson in 1966 a supply truck from Alice failed to arrive, and for some reason we had not been notified of their departure until several days later when we asked where the supplies were. They had by this time been stuck in the Hale R. floodout about 100 miles from camp for about three days with a broken front axle swivel housing. When found they had run out of water - but the supplies included about a dozen cartons of XXX. They were in a very good mood when the rescue party found them.

John