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Katherine River Overland Telegraph Line Pylon - NT

Katherine River Overland Telegraph Line Pylon

Historic Site

Position

DEG: -14.434622 132.282609

DMS: 14º 26' 4.64" S 132º 16' 57.39" E

UTM: 53 L 8402473mN 207010mE

Altitude: 108.97m

Address & Contact

95 Gorge Rd
Lansdowne NT 0850

Phone: N/A

Email: N/A

Web: N/A

Information

The Overland Telegraph Line from Port Augusta to Port Darwin was Australia’s most significant infrastructure project of the 19th Century. It connected Australia to the rest of the world via submarine telegraph cable reducing communication times from Adelaide to London from 100 days to a few hours.

The line reached Katherine by Christmas 1870 and crossed the “Katherine River” at this location. Pylons were built in 1898 – 00 to solve the problem of floodwaters interfering with the wires during the wet season and for the added telegraph traffic.
The 1899 towers are 9.1 metres stone Cairns with two 15.2 metre steel poles in each. The towers are 400 metres apart across the Katherine River.

During WW11 the line was upgraded, rebuilt and transferred to the 1926 Railway Bridge. The old telegraph line at this location continued in service until 1967, almost 100 years after it was built.

On the 10th July 1996, the two pylons were declared a places of national heritage.

PlaceID	113713

Map

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TrekNotes Near This Place (2)

Nearby Places (47)

Wildflowers

Weather

Closest Weather Station

Tindal at 23/07:00pm CST

Distance from Katherine River Overland Telegraph Line Pylon 14.56km SE

Temperature	Feels Like	Rel. Humidity	Dew Point	Pressure	Rainfall	Wind Direction	Wind Speed	Gusts
30.8°C	27.4°C	21%	6.0°C	1013.3hPa	0.0mm	SE	13km/hr 7knots	17km/hr 9knots

Closest Climatic Station

Katherine Aviation Museum

Distance from Katherine River Overland Telegraph Line Pylon 1.39km SW

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Mean Max. °C	34.6	33.9	34.2	34.0	32.1	30.1	30.4	32.3	35.8	37.7	37.4	35.9
Mean Min. °C	24.2	23.9	23.1	20.8	16.8	13.8	13.0	14.6	20.1	23.7	24.6	24.5
Mean Rain mm	261.9	243.7	207.3	45.9	5.0	0.4	1.1	1.7	6.8	33.2	88.1	223.9