WHY WAS PALMERSTON AVENUE THROUGH TODAY'S DROMANA (VIC., AUST.) A THREE CHAIN ROAD? THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. :: FamilyTreeCircles.com Genealogy
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WHY WAS PALMERSTON AVENUE THROUGH TODAY'S DROMANA (VIC., AUST.) A THREE CHAIN ROAD? THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

Journal by itellya

NOTICE.-ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH WORKS.- I hereby give notice to all land proprietors on the Melbourne and Cape Schanck road, via St. Kilda,Brighton, Frankston, and Dromana, to CUT, or cause to be cut, all TREES on their land within the distance of 20 (twenty) feet from the LINE of TELEGRAPH now being constructed on the above mentioned road, in accordance with the Act for Electric Telegraphs,Vict. 17, No. 22, Clauses 3, 4, and 5. In default of the aforesaid being done, the same shall be done at their risk, and I will not be responsible for damage to fences, &c..
(Signed) E. L. CROWELL, Contractor.(P.8, Argus, 19-9-1859.)

TENDERS ACCEPTED.
line of telegraph from Melbourne to Cape Schanck, 60 miles, at 46l. per mile, E. L.Crowell, 2,760l., additional mileage to be charged at the same rate ; line of telegraph between Melbourne and Williamstown, additional mile-
age as per gazetted contract, No. 447, E, L.Crowell, 1,280l. 14s. 4d.(P.5, Argus, 17-9-1859.)

It was in 2010 that I saw a map showing the zigzag route of the electric telegraph through Jamieson's special survey in Rosalind Peatey's PINE TREES AND BOX THORNS, apparently on page 20. If my memory serves me correctly, the line reached the south boundary of the Survey directly opposite today's Ponderosa Place, the boundary between Samuel Rudduck's grant (Karadoc) and William Cottier's grants that became Walter Gibson's Glenholm.

Early photos of the road around Anthony's Nose, post 1880's show telegraph poles and I had always assumed that the telegraph line had passed through Dromana en route to the fort at Pt. Nepean. It is now obvious that the original line was to the Telegraph Station at Cape Schanck which was soon after relocated to Flinders where it operated for many decades, William Seagrave* being prominent in its history. The line to Cape Schanck was intended to relay shipping intelligence to Melbourne and the most direct route from the southern boundary of the Survey was TODAY'S FREEWAY. Palmerston Avenue was obviously intended to link up with Clarendon St at Burrell Road, (the boundary between Dromana Township and the Arthurs Seat pre-emptive right, which was supposed to climb the cliff from Anthony's Nose to link with the north-south section of Latrobe Pde.)
(*SEE END OF JOURNAL.)

As most travellers to the Peninsula would travel by craft plying the bay and those hoofing it would go through Dromana on the beach road as far as they could (the ti tree swamp below the present bowls club being the first obstacle), the latter (at the time Crowell was constructing the line) would wet their whistles at Richard Watkin's SCURFIELD HOTEL on the east corner of Permien St and Esplanade before veering uphill along Latrobe Parade to pick up the road to Cape Schanck. Thus nobody really used Clarendon St., the original three chain road through the Dromana area. The only evidence of it for many many decades probably consisted of ruts made by Crowell's heavy dray which carried the telegraph poles to the appropriate locations. The Desailley boys may have used this track when they went to Tootgarook to build some huts for Edward Hobson in 1838. (I SUCCEEDED ONCE, Marie Hansen Fels.)

The first proposed CONSTRUCTION on Palmerston Avenue was a railway line to Portsea in the boom times of the late 1880's. No doubt an argument deployed by advocates of the railway was rapid carriage of troops to the batteries at Pt. Nepean to ward off a much feared invasion. The line was obviously surveyed along Palmerston Avenue which was the southern boundary of Charles Barnett's grant (c/a 13, section 1 Kangerong), across today's Jetty Rd from the 1927 Panoramic estate (Captain Ross's grant.) The railway never eventuated but Barnett's grant was henceforth called the RAILWAY ESTATE.

If there was a fault in Crowell's telegraph line, finding it may have involved a bit of riding but the line was plain for all to see. Not so the submarine cable to Cape Schanck which apparently came via Tasmania and King Island. Here is the link to a marine survey near King Island done by M.G.H.W.Ross, the aforementioned Captain Ross.
Chart of Bass' Strait : shewing the line of submarine cable / soundings by Commander M.G.H.W. Ross, R.N. Marine Surveyor


Just one decade after the patent for the COPYING ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH had been lodged, Cowell's construction was underway. This 1849 article stated that messages could be transmitted over ANY DISTANCE but the writer would hardly have imagined that would include places separated by sea.
HOW IT WORKS

SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE.
There seem to be no reports of the submarine cable reaching Cape Schanck by 1859, all the reports of this being in 1869 when submarine cable take 2 reached Flinders. The Cape Schanck office opened in 1861.

OFFICES OPENED DURING 1861.
During the past year communication has been extended to the following places, and offices were opened thereat on the dates undermentioned :
Cape Schanck, 6th September ; Schnapper Point,22nd March ; Wahgunyah*, 8th February ; Chiltern, 28th March ; Yackandandah, 28th February ; Hamilton, 23rdMarch; Taradale, 30th November; Woodend, 23rd October; Spencer-street Station, 28th October ; Inglewood, 25th October ; Stawell, 7th October; Carisbrook, 6th March;
Clunes, 8th February.
report of the General Superintendent of Electric Telegraph

MY MISUNDERSTANDING.
I'd thought the line to Cape Schanck was to provide communication with England. However I thought of the great race to the north in 1860, the Burke and Wills tragedy and the "Alice", and turned to Wikipedia.
1872 - Port Darwin: The first connection from Australia to the world by submarine cable was the above-mentioned Java to Port Darwin link. In short time the cable failed and was finally restored to service with connection again to England in October 1872, a four-month break in service. The cable had been initially brought ashore at Darwin in November 1871, with Australia’s first international telecommunications message being received on 19 November..[7][8]

Did you know that the original name of Darwin and the name of the declared HIGHWAY (three chain road*)through Dromana were the same?
On 5 February 1869, George Goyder, the Surveyor-General of South Australia, established a small settlement of 135 people at Port Darwin between Fort Hill and the escarpment. Goyder named the settlement Palmerston, after the British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston.
(*See the Kangerong parish map. Most government roads were one chain wide. Palmerston Avenue is three times the width of the beach road.)

TSMANIAN CABLE LANDED AT FLINDERS.
The laying of the Tasmanian submarine cable, which was commenced on Tuesday last, has by this time probably been completed, and in a few hours the two colonies will be in electric communication with each other. The Victorian end of the cable was landed on the Flinders beach within a few yards of the pier, and a temporary office has
been erected there. The line between Flinders and Cape Schanck is not yet completed, but the contract has been taken, and the contractor is bound to finish his work within three weeks, there being only seven miles of
wire to be constructed. The Tasmanian end of the cable will be landed at the mouth of the Tamar, and the central office will be in Georgetown. An account of the proceedings in laying tho Victorian end will be found in the supplement.(P.4, Argus, 23-4-1869.)


PHOTO OF ROSALIND'S MAP. There is no need to photograph this because the route of the electric telegraph line is shown on the parish of Kangerong map.
DROMANA TOWNSHIP PLAN

KANGERONG MAP

Note the width of Palmerston Avenue on both maps.


FROM MY JOURNAL:
http://www.familytreecircles.com/victoria-and-its-metropolis-pioneers-of-the-mornington-peninsula-victoria-australia-62686.html
SEGRAVE, William, Flinders.
Born in Surrey he was engaged in the old country in electrical telegraph work (much detail.) He came to Autralia with the expedition to lay a submarine cable from Tasmania to Victoria in 1869 and has been in charge of the Victorian terminus ever since.He is now local superintendent of both land and cable departments and postmaster.An associate of the Telegraph and Electrical Society, he was married in 1873 to Miss A.Foy and has a family. (N.B. This is my summary of William's 1888 biography, not Alexander Sutherland's flowery prose. William's biography is in volume 2. I did not note the page number but it would be soon after Henry Prosser's biography on page 398.)

Born circa 1850 and directly descended from aristocracy from the time of the Domesday Book,William was about 19 when he left for Australia. He and Ann (nee Foy)had at least three daughters, the eldest dying aged 21 in 1900. (The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946) Saturday 17 November 1900 p 55 Family Notices)
Ann gave birth to a son in 1876 but no marriage notice has been found.

Married twice he died at Elsternwick in 1933 at the age of 83. He and his second wife were both Justices of the Peace; they had one son but none of William's children outlived him.(P.20, Argus,27-5-1933,obituary.)

His second wife,Julia, died in 1953. I wonder if he used Morse Code for the proposal.
SEGRAVE—LLOYD.—On the 14th April,1904, at the Presbyterian Church, Hawksburn, Victoria, by the Rev. W. S. Rolland, William Segrave, J.P., superintendent of Submarine Telegraphs, to Julia, third daughter of the late John Lloyd, J.P., of Battery Point, Hobart, Tasmania.(P.9,Argus, 13-8-1904.)

SEGRAVE/ SEAGRAVE.
In my reference to William earlier in this journal I have written his surname as Seagrave. While I have changed the spelling in the surnames list, I have not corrected this mistake which probably came from rate records. The same spelling is used below.

There are several other buildings around Flinders with links to the Telegraph Station. Barrett, built in 1871 at 119 Wood Street was occupied by William Seagrave, project manager of the cable station. Highbury, built in 1875 at 65 Cook Street was occupied by G. Day, an employee of the company. Both houses were owned by the Victorian and Tasmanian Submarine Cable Co.
From: CABLE STATION, FLINDERS

Surnames: BARNETT COTTIER CROWELL GIBSON ROSS RUDDUCK SEGRAVE
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by itellya Profile | Research | Contact | Subscribe | Block this user
on 2018-02-02 22:00:19

Itellya is researching local history on the Mornington Peninsula and is willing to help family historians with information about the area between Somerville and Blairgowrie. He has extensive information about Henry Gomm of Somerville, Joseph Porta (Victoria's first bellows manufacturer) and Captain Adams of Rosebud.

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