[ih] Australian Overland Telegraph Line

[Brian Carpenter]

There's another great book about the Australian line, written by a
descendant of the original Alice after whom Alice Springs was named:
The Singing Line
(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3392468-the-singing-line). Sadly
my copy seems to have gone walkabout.

   Brian

On Wed, Nov 29, 2023 at 5:26 AM John Shoch via Internet-history
<internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>
> I'm no expert, but.....:
> --Early telegraphy (wired, pre-Marconi) often had operators writing down
> messages as they came in, and re-keying them on to the next station.
> --This has often been cited in the evolution of digital communications.
> --Many years ago Lewis Branscomb (then Chief Scientist at IBM) started a
> talk with a description of the first telegraph line built across Australia,
> from Adelaide in the South to Darwin in the North (where messages could be
> re-sent on an underseas cable to Java, and then on to Europe)
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Overland_Telegraph_Line
> --There were, I think, 11 "stations" built across the route -- with
> operators to receive and re-transmit messages.
> --Branscomb cited a book about one station built in the outback at Alice
> Springs -- "Alice on the Line";  initially set ca. 1900;  I tracked down a
> copy and read it.
> https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alice-on-the-line-doris-blackwell/1026425911
> https://openlibrary.org/works/OL26452045W/Alice_on_the_line?edition=key%3A/books/OL8647342M
> --The book has great stories about the hardships in getting to and running
> a telegraph relay station in the desert.  [Sadly, the book is also a
> disturbing reflection of social and racial aspects of this very different
> time and place......]
>
> --I also have a set of Boy Scout semaphore flags, which I have used in
> talks on digital communication.
> --Messages can be forwarded along a string of people.
> --It has a 2-of-8 encoding, allowing 28 regular symbols (plus two
> sort-of-out-of-band pause and error signals).
> --With the 28 regular symbols, it provides a good lesson on the difference
> between bit-rate and baud [yes, the purists will remind us that "baud rate"
> is redundant, or a first derivative.....]
>
> John Shoch
> --
> Internet-history mailing list
> Internet-history at elists.isoc.org
> https://elists.isoc.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history