Work on the northern section of the Overland Telegraph Line was hampered by the conditions of the wet season. Robert Patterson, who had been sent north to expedite work on the Line, suggested a depot and camp be established on the Roper River. This could be supplied by ship. Eventually this was acted upon. In a season of abnormally high floods, Charles Todd aboard the Omeo, was able to direct the ship about 100 miles upstream where supplies and stock were unloaded. Conditions were still too wet for the work parties to get out.
Eventually, as the season eased, work was able to resume in April 1872. Conditions were never easy however as dense scrub had to be cleared to allow free passage for the posts and wire of the Line. Todd required posts to be no less than 250 metres apart. Post holes were dug by hand and a width of four metres along the Line had to be cleared. Where suitable local timber was cut and trimmed for pole. Otherwise heavy iron poles were carted in and used.
The Overland Telegraph Line from Darwin to Adelaide was one of the great Australian engineering efforts. The work parties made their way through virgin territory, much of it explored specifically for the purpose. They had to deal with the extreme conditions of the wet season in the Top End of the Northern Territory, and the desert conditions of the centre and northern South Australia. However when the Line was completed Australia was at last in speedy communication with the rest of the world. There was no longer a reliance on weeks-old newspapers and letters arriving by ship after a voyage of six weeks or more.
