{"product_id":"twenty-to-the-mile-derek-pugh-9780648142195","title":"Twenty to the Mile: The Overland Telegraph Line","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe greatest engineering problem facing Australia - the tyranny of distance - had a solution: the electric telegraph, and its champion was the sheep-farming colony of South Australia.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn two years, Charles Heavitree Todd, leading hundreds of men, constructed a telegraph line across the centre of the continent from Port Augusta to Darwin. At nearly 3,000 kilometres long and using 36,000 poles at '20 to the mile', it was a mammoth undertaking but in October 1872, Adelaide was finally linked to London.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Overland Telegraph Line crossed Aboriginal lands first seen by John McDouall Stuart just 10 years before. Messages which previously took weeks to cross the country now took hours. Passing through eleven new repeater stations and the remotest parts of Australia, the line joined the vast global telegraph network, and a new era was ushered in.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach station held a staff of six. They became centres of white civilization and the cattle or sheep industry and, in many places, the Aborigines were displaced.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe unique stories of how men and women lived and\/or died on the line range from heroic through desperate to tragic, but they remain an indelible part of Australia's history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'...a book written with heart and determination ... a lasting tribute to the inventiveness and tenacity of the people behind the planning, building and execution of the Overland Telegraph - a true nation building endeavour.'\u003c\/em\u003e - His Excellency, The Honourable Hieu Van Le, AC.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Derek Pugh\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0648142191\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780648142195\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Derek Pugh\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/08\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.95lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.67d","brand":"Derek Pugh","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43990711304447,"sku":"9780648142195","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_d9918f1a-dd22-47c3-867a-746f10229d0c.jpg?v=1683306229","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/twenty-to-the-mile-derek-pugh-9780648142195","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}