VICTORIA & SOUTH AUSTRALIA. — Canadian-born Samuel Walker McGowan is credited with bringing the telegraph technology to Australia. Lured by the opportunities opened up by the discovery of gold in Victoria, McGowan came to Melbourne, Australia, in 1853.
Isolated from telegraph technology in America and limited by a lack of equipment and suitable component manufacturing firms in Australia, McGowan succeeded in opening up the first telegraph line in Australia on March 3, 1854. It ran from Melbourne to Williamstown.
The network of telegraph lines quickly spread throughout Victoria, and then to Adelaide, South Australia.
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Construction began on the Adelaide-Melbourne electric telegraph line in April 1857, and the line opened on July 21, 1858.
