2457) Charles Heavitree Todd’s Overland Telegraph, Australia: 150th Anniversary of Australian Overland Telegraph Line: The Royal Australian Mint (RAM) has issued a $1 (One Dollar - AUD) Uncirculated Commemorative Coin to celebrate the milestone: Date of Coin issue: 2022:
Life in Australia changed forever when Charles Heavitree Todd’s Overland Telegraph Line opened.
An extraordinary engineering feat, the line stretched 2,839 km from Port Augusta to Darwin through the dry Australian outback, on 36,000 poles.
Charles Todd (07.07.1826 – 29.01.1910) worked at the Royal Greenwich Observatory 1841-1847 and the Cambridge University Observatory from 1847 to 1854.
He then worked on telegraphy and undersea cables until engaged by the Government of South Australia as astronomical and meteorological observer, and Head of the Electric Telegraph Department.
In 1855 the South Australian Government requested George Airy, the Astronomer Royal, to select an observer and superintendent of electric telegraph at a salary of £400. Airy nominated Todd, who was appointed on 10.02.1855. Todd reached Port Adelaide in the Irene on 04/11.
In 1857, Todd conceived the idea of the transcontinental telegraph line from Adelaide to Darwin.
Most of the country in between except for the explorations of Charles Sturt and others was unknown, and it was many years before Todd could convince the South Australian government of the practicability of the scheme.
By 1870 it had been decided that the Australian Overland Telegraph Line should be constructed from Port Augusta in the south to Port Darwin in the north, though the other colonies declined to share in the cost. The southern and northern sections of the line were let by contract, and the 1000 miles in between was constructed by the department.
In 1870 the Post Office and the Telegraph Department were amalgamated, and Charles Todd was appointed Postmaster General. At this time Todd was busy with the construction of the Overland Telegraph.
The contractor at the northern end threw up his contract and Todd had to go to the north himself and finish it.
Everything had to be sent by sea and then carted, but he met each difficulty as it arose, and overcame it successfully.
The line was completed on 22.08.1872, but the undersea cable to Darwin had broken and communication with England was not effected until 21 October.
After the first messages had been exchanged over the new line, Todd was accompanied by surveyor Richard Randall Knuckey on the return journey from Central Mount Stuart to Adelaide, to be met by an enthusiastic crowd.
His next great work was a line from Port Augusta, South Australia to Eucla in Western Australia – a distance of 759 miles (1,221 km) – in 1876, again surveyed by Knuckey.
In the 1880s, Todd's department would replace the rotting poles along the OTL with Oppenheimer's patent telescoping poles.
The Commemorative Coin placed in a Coin Card:
This 2022 $1 Uncirculated Coin commemorates the 1872 opening of the line and Australia’s historic telegraphic connection with the rest of the world.
The inscriptions are - "150th Anniversary" (on the upper periphery) and "The Overland Telegraph Line" (on the lower periphery).
The Coin Card.
The specifications of this Coin are:
Country of Issue: Australia; Coin Theme: "The Overland Telegraph Line"; Denomination: $1 (One Dollar - AUD); Weight: 9.00 grams; Metal Composition: Aluminium-Bronze (Al-Br); Coin Quality: Uncirculated (U); Minted by: Royal Australian Mint (RAM); Mintage: 15,000 pieces; Designer: S. Stojanovic.
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