Broome to Java Telegraph Cable - Historic Engineering Marker #85 - Cable Station Djugun, Western Australia, Australia
By Team MavEtJu on 17-Oct-15. Waypoint GA7632

Broome to Java Telegraph Cable - Historic Engineering Marker #85 - Cable Station

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH NETWORK

One of the marvels of the mid-nineteenth century was the electric telegraph. Major technological advances by British and European inventors and the creation of a standard code by the American, Samuel Morse, paved the way for the rapid expansion of communications systems throughout the world. In 1850 the first submarine cable was laid between Dover in England and Cape Gris Nez in France. Soon there was a boom in cable production and British companies were formed to lay cables to all parts of the globe.

After several costly unsuccessful a ttempts Brunel’s legendary iron ship The Great Eastern in 1866 laid the first trans-Atlantic cable. By 1870 there were submarine cables linking the UK to Suez and to Singapore.

THE AUSTRALIAN CONNECTION

In 1870 the British Australia Telegraph Company [BAT] was formed to link Australia directly to the British telegraphic cable system, by extending the cable from Singapore via Java to Port Darwin. In 1873, three British companies, The British India Extension Telegraph Company, The BAT and The China Submarine Telegraph Company were amalgamated to form the Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Company [EET Co]. The driving force behind the British cable companies was a Scottish born entrepreneur Sir John Pender, founder of Cable and Wireless.

In 1872 Australia was connected telegraphically with the rest of the world after a cable was laid by BAT from Banjoewangie [at the eastern end of Java] to Darwin. This coincided with the completion of the construction of an overland telegraph cable from Adelaide to Darwin. The first message sent directly from London to Adelaide occurred on 22 October 1872. A second submarine cable from Java to Darwin was laid in 1880.

THE JUSTIFICATION FOR THE BROOME TO JAVA CONNECTION

Due to frequent breaks in the Banjoewangie to Darwin cables as a result of volcanic activity in the Timor Sea there arose an urgent need to lay a third cable from Java to Australia, ostensibly away from the seismic zone. (Since the science of plate tectonics did not evolve until the mid 1960’s the planners could not have been expected to know that the security to be provided by the new cable was somewhat illusory.) In fact the operating cable from Broome to Java was ruptured by seismic activity on 11 July 1890.

Contents of the plaque:

BROOME TO JAVA SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLE

The 1650 km long submarine cable from Banjoewangie, Java to Broome was laid for the Eastern extensions, Australasia and Chine Telegraph Company Limited by the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance company using the SS Seine. The operation took ten days and was completed on 26 February 1889. The supervising engineers were Clarke, Forde and Taylor. The cable link greatly facilitated the development of the Broome and Kimberly regions. This building, now the court house, served as the cable station until 1914.

The Institution of Engineers Australia, Shire of Broome 2006

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For more information, please see this page at the Heritage Register at the Engineers Australia website: Nomination