Eucla Telegraph Station: In the Outback region of South Australia
Every winter local holidaymakers come to grips with the vastness of Australia as an island continent as they make the epic journey to witness the annual migration of the Southern Right whales to the base of the Nullarbor Cliffs.
On the way, some call into Fowlers Bay for a spot of fishing or to wander through its spectacular dune system.
Some venture much further to the border of South Australia and the West where the remains of an ongoing battle against the perils of isolation are slowly being covered by the sand dunes of the Roe Plain.
The ruins of the Eucla Telegraph Station are a few kilometres across the border in Western Australia. Today, the occasional emu wanders passed the remnants of a nineteenth century innovation but back in the 1870s, Eucla was a bustling town with more than seventy staff dedicated to winning the battle against Australia's Tyranny of Distance.
Local guide, Steve Cooper spelled out its importance. “For the people of South Australian and Western Australia, the Telegraph was an absolute revolution in communication. It was as important for them then as the Internet is for us today.”
Prior to the telegraph, communication between Western Australia and the rest of the nation took months. Once the line had been established in 1877 vital information was seconds away.
“Oh yes it was a major achievement of its time and a massive event.”
Inside the Telegraph Museum at the Eucla Motor Hotel the exhibits and photos retrace the story of this amazing engineering feat. Supplies were dropped off at the nearby Eucla Jetty. Then the Post and Telegraph crews began the job of scaling the nearby sand-hills before following the route taken by explorer Edward John Eyre along the tops of the Bunda Cliffs and across the Nullarbor Plain. In South Australia, workers unloaded supplies at Fowlers Bay and began constructing their own telegraph station before branching out West.
The West Australians used jarrah while the South Aussies opted for tubular metal telegraph poles and at 4pm on the 8th of December 1877, the first telegraphic message flashed across the Nullarbor. In keeping with State rivalries the South Australian and West Australian telegraphists opted for their own ways of doing things. That meant messages had to be passed across the tables at the Eucla repeater station from one state rep to the other. Steve explains:
“I think you'll find there were two separate systems that basically had to be re-coded and sent on again once it changes states.
By 1927 the Eucla Telegraph Station had closed and soon the steady march of time and sand had all but wiped out any trace of a vital communications centre near the border. It also played a vital role in nation building, even if there was some classic parochialism.
“One excerpt from the local paper, The Eucla Recorder of 1899 is a good example,” explained Steve. ‘A great deal has been said about the Province of South Australia being a one horse colony being too slow for a funeral.’ and other equally untrue judgments. “So even back then there was a lot of rivalry. I think you'll find a lot people were as state-orientated then as they are now. Same as a good footy match isn't it?”
The Eucla Telegraph Station ruins are just over the border in WA. If you're crossing the Nullarbor drop into the Eucla Motor Hotel. Its museum is well worth a visit.
The Eucla Telegraph Station
Eucla, WA
12 kilometres from the border
