Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/188

 l62 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY The Railway-Builders Sir Charles Todd — ^the Postmaster-General and Superintendent of Telegraphs, who, years before, had brought the project officially before Sir Richard MacDonnell. The work was commenced from both Port Darwin and Port Augusta. The two ends gradually approached each other, and were ultimately connected near the centre of the continent. Many were the vicissitudes and the obstacles to be overcome ; first, floods, and then the scarcity of water. Numerous stories are told of the great prixations endured by the men in crossing the bush and desert, and the construction reflects honorably on the engineering skill of Mr. Todd and his subordinates. Direct communication between Adelaide and Port Darwin was established on August 22, 1872. The event was hailed with much enthusiasm, including the ringing of bells and display of bunting. Mr. Todd at that time was near Central Mount Stuart, and from the heart of the Australian continent exchanged welcome congratulatory messages with the several the first through message Adelaide. South Australians mother land. Congratula- followed. Bonuses were party to the amount of the day, Mr. H. Ayers, was the distinction of C.M.G. actual cost of construction Stow: — "It was a bold with a population of about construction of 1,800 miles country, most of which was had not been travelled except the explorer Stuart colonies. On October 22 was sent from London to were drawn close to the tory despatches and banquets granted to Mr. Todd and ^7,500. The Premier of knighted, and Mr. Todd had conferred upon him. The was ^453,000. Says enterprise for a little colony 150,000 to undertake the of telegraph through a a terra incognita, or at least through by any white men, and his gallant band." Within the sue- Charles Tod,>, k.c.m.g. ceeding two or three years stations on this telegraph line proved useful as bases for exploring parties |)enetrating the deserts west and east. The exploration so vigorously pursued in the previous period was brought to a sort of climax in these years. In 1870, Mr. John Forrest — now Sir John Forrest — at present the Premier of Western Australia, but then a young man attached to that colony's survey department, conducted a party overland from Perth to Adelaide along the southern coast. He kept principally to the route taken by Kyre in 1840, but though the itinerancy of the expedition was pursued with ability, it brought little practical advantage to the colonies concerned other than to open the way for the construction of a telegraph line between the two capitals, which was completed in 1877. With the expeditions over the continent by Stuart, the only great problem remaining to be settled by explorers was the crossing of the tract of country separating South Australia from the western seaboard. There was a good deal of healthy rivalry