This is the 14th article in a series of columns written by Alan Henderson about Deniliquin district historical events and issues. Alan’s grandfather purchased ‘Warragoon’ on the Finley Road in 1912. Alan was born in the Deniliquin Hospital in 1944 but moved to Canberra in 1967. In retirement he has written a family history, Boots, Gold and Wool, and will share some of his research in this local history column.
If you think the internet was revolutionary, let me tell you about the telegraph.
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When the first Europeans arrived in the Deniliquin district, communications depended on transport.
Letters, newspapers, and other mail were delivered on foot, horseback, or later, by stagecoach.
James Maiden provided the first mail service, starting on a fortnightly basis in February 1847, from Seymour via a punt at Moama to properties north of Deniliquin.
A post office opened in north Deniliquin in January 1850.
A letter addressed to relatives’ ‘home’ in England, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales would arrive via sailing ships a hundred or more days later.
By the late 1850s, steam ships would reduce sailing times to around 35 days.
The telegraph, “whereby coded messages could be sent over great distances using electrical signals transmitted along wires”, revolutionised communications and broke the link between transport and communication for those that could afford the fees, generally government and businesses, including newspapers.
The first electric telegraph established in Australia linked Melbourne and nearby Williamstown in 1854.
By 1858 there was a link between Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide.
In 1872, following the completion of the line from Port Augusta to Darwin, the Australian telegraph network was linked to the overseas submarine cable network.
The extension of the telegraph to Deniliquin in March 1859 highlights the commercial value of the telegraph.
In 1858 Dr D G Jones convened a meeting of pastoralists and business representatives, whose share subscriptions enabled the establishment of the Deniliquin and Echuca Electric Telegraph.
“The Victorian Government would not recognise the service because it was provided by a private company and refused permission to set up a terminal over the border at Echuca, so that the company was forced to establish the terminal station in a tent under a large gum tree at Moama” (Bushby, Saltbush Country page 334.)
Within a couple of years, the company was acquired by the NSW Government and the line extended to Echuca.
At six shillings for ten words, and four pence for each additional word in a message to Melbourne, the telegraph was expensive.
However, there were instances when drovers took mobs of cattle to Melbourne only to discover that market prices were dismal, and stock were brought home.
The availability of timely market information via the telegraph enabled pastoralists to take greater advantage of high prices and avoid or minimise losses when prices were low.
Little wonder they were prepared to subscribe for shares in a telegraph company.
In 1859, Dr Jones founded and initially edited this masthead, the Deniliquin Pastoral Times, with the first edition published on May 26, joining Albury and Wagga Wagga as the only Riverina towns with newspapers.
Governments provided newspapers concessional telegraph rates and presumably the Pastoral Times took advantage of this arrangement.
“One of the more important results of the publication of a country newspaper was the development of a sense of identity in a town or district …” (G L Buxton, The Riverina 1861-1891, page 71).
The American, Alexander Graham Bell, invented the telephone in 1876 and there were telephone exchanges operating in Australian capital cities by the 1880s, with major long-distance trunk calls possible by the 1890s.
An Australia-wide trunk network was in place by 1930.
Calls had to be connected by an operator in an exchange, until the introduction of subscriber trunk dialling from 1958.
A telephone exchange opened in Deniliquin in June 1903, initially with 22 local subscribers. Subscriber trunk dialling was introduced in Deniliquin in 1970.
My grandfather John Henderson purchased ‘Warragoon’ on the Finley Rd in 1912 but remained in Melbourne until 1921.
He wrote regularly to his manager and occasionally, on urgent matters, sent telegrams.
In August 1913 he began consulting the neighbouring Hetherington family with a view to sharing the cost of a telephone connection and, at least by November 1914, ‘Warragoon’ had a telephone.
Forty years later, calls would still frequently begin with “can you hear me“.
The first public radio station in Australia commenced in November 1923 – 2SB in Sydney.
2QN Deniliquin commenced transmission in September 1935.
The telegraph and radio combined to broadcast, ‘live’, the 1934 test matches against England.
Based on a continuous stream of telegraph messages, commentators would describe play, some supported by studio sound effects of crowd noises and bat meeting ball, such that “quite a large number of listeners … [thought] they were listening to a continuous broadcast from the cricket ground in England.” (Sydney Mail, 11 July 1934).
Television broadcasting commenced in Australia for the Olympic Games in Melbourne in November 1956.
Regional stations commenced on December 21, 1961 in Shepparton and Bendigo, and Ballarat in April 1962.
I assume, out at Blighty, I watched programs relayed from Shepparton or Bendigo, but I recollect frequently watching what we called ‘snow’.
We seemed to spend a lot of time fiddling with dials those days.
Postal services, the telegraph, newspapers, telephones, radio, and television represented significant steps toward a better informed and connected community, not least the telegraph.
The lag between these innovations being available in Melbourne and in Deniliquin was never substantial - less than a decade in the case of the telegraph and television.
The Pastoral Times provided the basis for a town identity and, by the 1870s, it was communicating with the world with news from London available in a matter of days, rather than months as was the case three decades earlier.
As well, with the telegraph and the arrival of the train in 1876, ‘just in time’ management of inventories of farm and other business supplies became realistic.
By the 1880s, towns across the continent could keep abreast of critical events – from 1888, on the first Tuesday of November, all telegraphic traffic ceased to enable the immediate communication of the results of the Melbourne Cup!
The most valuable race in the world at that time.
Historical column contributor