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Before telegraph lines were established in Queensland, communication across vast distances was possible only via post, dependent on railways and ships.
In April 1861, the first telegraph line in Queensland was established, revolutionising communication in the colony. The first line linked Brisbane to Ipswich and later extended to Sydney. By 1886, there were over 8000 miles of telegraph line linking the major cities and ports of the colony.
Many women worked as telegraph operators; challenging dominant social ideas about what women were ‘capable’ of doing. On 9 December 1899 the Brisbane Courier declared that:
“A glimpse at the telephone girls employed on the switchboard in the General Post Office tells the observer that they have come to stay and that the rubbish talked by fearsome male fogies to the effect that work would prove disastrous to the ordinary female’s nerves … was mostly lies built on prejudice.”
The telegraph was later surpassed by the telephone, and today, the internet has once again revolutionised communication across the vast State of Queensland.
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 | Letter from the General Superintendent of the Electric Telegraph Department to the Surveyor General about potential sites for telegraph stations, 4 March 1861
Queensland State Archives Item ID 1139513, Digital Image ID 2924 Surveyor General’s Department |
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 | 1861 Burke and Wills died on expedition | |
1861 American Civil War started |
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