Old Telegraph Station - 59 Murray Street
| Place type: | Building |
|---|---|
| Address: | 59 Murray Street |
| Town or Locality: | Gawler |
OLD TELEGRAPH STATION
by John Clift.
The year 1839 was an epic period for the district with the arrival of John Reid and family as the first white settlers here and also the official foundation of the Gawler township on July 1.
As envisaged by Colonel William Light on his earlier explorations through this area, it soon became a popular resting place for weary travellers, bullock drivers from copper fields in South Australia and other travellers to and from the North and Murray River districts.
It soon became known as the “Gateway to the north”. Development was rapid and the energetic enterprises of our early pioneers earned favourable recognition of this area to be likened to a “Colonel Athens”. Prosperity brought construction and many stone two-storey buildings appeared. Notable among the early structures was the Old Telegraph Station built in 1863 and officially opened on July 1 of that year. Like so many other early Gawler buildings it was built of local stone quarried from the foothills at Gawler South.
The necessity for such a building was brought about by the extension of the magnetic telegraph to this area in 1857. Temporary accommodation was provided in a room at the Globe Inn, now known as the Kingsford Hotel. Charles Todd connected and tested the apparatus and excellent communication was established. Mr W R Lewis was the first telegraph master.
In 1860 the magnetic telegraph was shifted to the premises of the Gawler Implement Company, Murray Street, with Mr D G Sands being the official operator at that time. Mr W Rossi was the operator from 1863-1866 at the Old Telegraph Station. Postal services were transferred from H Dean’s bakery opposite the Old Spot Hotel to the Telegraph Station, but not without opposition, as reported by Mr George Loyau in the “Handbook of Gawler”. “The office was moved to the Telegraph office on 1st July 1863, when a large meeting of townspeople was held and resolutions passed asking the Government not to move it, but it was considered that the two departments could be better worked under one roof, and time has not proved they were wrong”.
The ingenuity of the early Gawler residents is possibly no better illustrated than by what must be a rare scheme of postal notification. In 1866, English mails being spasmodic, notification was served by the firing of a ship’s cannon from the residence of Dr W H Popham, High street, Gawler, and the people would congregate to collect their mail. Also, complaints were made by the telegraph master that due to “street noise” he experienced difficulty in hearing the Morse communication.
With the building of the Post Office next door at 61 Murray Street, transfer of operations took place on September 9, 1867. The Telegraph Station did not operate as a public building for many years and was used as the letter carrier’s residence. On August 1, 1898 the premises were transferred to the Gawler School of Mines and it was during this year that the galvanised iron structure at the rear was erected and a few alterations made to the main structure. The school vacated the premises in 1915, but the Commonwealth Government still rented part of the building as an electoral office until 1953. The building was again devoted to adult education classes until 1966, when they transferred to the existing premises of the College of Further Education in Finniss street.
A Gawler branch of the National Trust of South Australia was formed on January 27, 1966, and with the Old Telegraph Station being under the threat of demolition, the branch maintained that it should be [preserved and would be an excellent venue for a museum to house the ever-increasing number of items donated. Much was required in the way of restoration. The large upstairs room was one of the first major undertakings, being developed as a dining room have been developed on various themes, including an old-style kitchen. It is hoped that in the future a display of the artefacts collected, depicting Gawler’s important industrial and engineering history, will be developed.
Growing concern was felt for the ever-increasing salt damp and cracking to areas of the building, but with the assistance of two grants under the National Estate scheme, the underpinning and replacing of infected stone, inclusion of copper damp courses, tie rods, repointing, painting and upgrading of plumbing etc., the building was restored to some of its original grandeur. As the oldest public building in Gawler still standing, this must constitute a worthy example of the preservation of our heritage for our future generations.
Researched by National Trust Gawler Branch Volunteers (2020).
Please <click here> to view photos of the Old Telegraph Station at 59 Murray Street, Gawler.
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