Western Australia - Colonial: 1861-1900.
Overview of developments.

Summaries are provided below for:

  1. construction of the major telegraph line initiatives;
  2. Telegraph Offices opened in the first 10 years;
  3. milestones in the Legislation for and the administration of the Telegraph Department in Western Australia;
  4. the dates for new developments in telegraph forms and date stamps;
  5. extent of usage of the telegraph lines -
    Colonial use;
    early international use.

To access copies of original documents, including Annual Reports, etc, see the list elsewhere.

1. Telegraph lines.

21 June 1869 First line in W.A. completed - from Perth to Fremantle.
17 January 1872 Line from Perth through Guildford, Newcastle and Northam to York completed.
26 December 1872 First line to Albany completed.
8 December 1877 The line from Albany to Eucla to the line from Port Augusta, South Australia to Eucla became operational.
1889 First international cable (Broome to Java) operational.
1901 First cable to Cocos Island, Mauritius and Durban operational.

For the listings of the construction of the telegraph lines and the opening of all Telegraph Offices in W.A., use these hyperlinks.

 

2. W.A. Telegraph Offices opening in the first 10 years.

Region 1869 to 1871 1872 to 1874 1875 to 1878
Southern 1869:
Fremantle.		 1872:
Albany, Bunbury, Pinjarra(h), Vasse.
1873:
Mount Barker.		 1875:
Konjunup.
Wheatbelt 1871:
Guilford.

1872:
Newcastle, Northam, Williams River, York.

1874:
New Norcia, Berkshire Valley.

 1876:
Gin Gin.
1877: Beverley.
Goldfields      
WA to SA     1876:
Bremer Bay, Esperance Bay, Israelite Bay.
1877:
Eucla, Eyre.
Mid West   1874:
Arrino, Carnamah, Dongarra, Geraldton, Greenough.		 Northampton (1878)
Gascoyne      
Pilbara      
Kimberley      
Perth & Suburban 1869:
Perth.		    

A letter from Mr. J. C. Fleming to the Colonial Secretary Mr. F. P. Barlee dated 3 May 1875 incorporated a list of the Telegraph Offices operational by May 1875 together with the monthly salaries for each Office in the Telegraph Service.

 

3. Legislation and Administration.

June 1868 The Western Australia Telegraph Company Guarantee Act was passed. It funded the construction of the Perth-Fremantle telegraph line.
2 January 1871 The Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company Guarantee Actwas passed and the Western Australia Telegraph Company was subsumed under the new Company name. The Legislation also guaranteed the payment for nine years at the rate of 6% on the paid up capital of the Company (which was £12,000) as well as on the added capital which was necessary to build a line from Perth to Geraldton. The condition was that the Geraldton line had to be constructed within three years of the other two.
1871 The status of various Post Offices was changed to Post and Telegraph Offices.
1872 The Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company constructs the Perth to Albany line.
1873 Western Australia Post and Telegraph Department became the sole owner of the Colony's telegraph system.
1874 Telegraphic Messages Act amended to define the legal status of a telegram and its transmission especially relating to the conveyance of a message or to a commitment of a financial or business undertaking.
1887 Telegraphic Messages Act amended to enable the Governor to call an election by issuing the writ by telegram.
1889 Mr. R. A. Scholl, the Postmaster General appointed Mr. L. J. Stirling, Postmaster at Fremantle, as Head of the Postal and Telegraph Department of the Colony.
1893 The Post and Telegraph Act 1893 regulated postal and telegraphic services within the Colony including provisions to establish and maintain postal and telegraphic infrastructure. Inter alia, it specifically provided that any person, who unlawfully removed a post or any part of the apparatus used or employed in connection with telegraph fines, should be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour.
1896 Legislation was passed which altered the designation of various positions throughout the Public Service. In the Telegraph Department, the most important change was for Mr. E. W. Snook - whose position was changed from Chief Inspector of Telegraphs to Superintendent of Telegraphs.

 

4. Forms and date stamps.

Earliest recorded forms:  
Transmission form: 2 December 1889 (WC-TO-3).
Delivery form: 17 June 1881 (WC-DO-3).
Earliest use of a Telegraph date stamp: 28 May 1910 at Perth.
Earliest use of an Telegraph oval date stamp: 17 January 1897 at Cue.
Stamps not used to pre-pay telegram charges until after Federation.  

Listing of all Western Australian telegraphic stationery.

 

Gold rushes.

 

5. Colonial use.

The Blue Book for W.A. reported that, during 1888:

International use.

Inter graph After telegraphic connection was made to complete the line from Adelaide to Europe, the demand for the international service grew steadily - despite the high rates charged.

The graph shows a constant rise in demand especially after both the 10s 6d. per word rate was introduced in 1876 and the South Australia-Western Australia link had been competed in 1877.

The data on which the graph is based are included elsewhere.