Mr Todd’s Marvel: How One Man Telegraphed Australia to the Modern World by Adam Courtenay

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Ex library copy with no external stickers. Sticker on inside front cover now covered with blank ex libris bookplate sticker. RFID patch on inside back cover. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Interior and binding are still very good.

In 1855, talented astronomer and scientist Charles Todd had a dream to build a telegraph line across Australia to connect it to the world. This dream was a bold one and he would have to wait for technological advances to catch up with his ideas.

By 1870, however, Singapore and Indonesia were joined to the World's growing telegraph network and it was Australias turn. Todd and his men would have to erect thousands of telegraph poles across the entire expanse of the country, from Adelaide to the northern coast, one pole every 80 metres, across land that was relentlessly inhospitable and largely unknown to them.

They overcame every obstacle and, as well as reducing the transmission of information to the country from months to hours, revealed the splendour of the continents interior to its rapidly growing population. This is their story.