mpleted his difficult portion of the task, and the
part nearest to Adelaide had also been finished before the time agreed
upon; but it fared differently with those who had undertaken to
construct the northern section. Their horses died, their provisions
failed, and the whole attempt proved a miserable collapse. The
Government sent a party to the north, in order to make a fresh effort.
Wells were dug, at intervals, along the route, and great teams of
bullocks were employed to carry the necessary provisions and materials
to the stations; and yet, in spite of every precaution, the result was a
failure. Meanwhile the cable had been laid, and the first message sent
from Port Darwin to England announced that the overland telegraph was
not nearly finished. The 1st of January, 1872, being now close at hand,
Mr. Todd was hastily sent to complete the work. But the time agreed upon
had expired before he had even made a commencement, and the company
threatened to sue the South Australian Government for damages, on
account of the losses sustained by its failure to perform its share of
the contract. For the next eight months the work was energetically
carried forward; Mr. Todd rode all along the line to see that its
construction was satisfactory throughout. He was at Central Mount Stuart
in the month of August, when the two ends of the wire were joined, and
the first telegraphic message flashed across the Australian Continent.
But, meantime, a flaw had occurred in the submarine cable, and it was
not until October that communication was established with England. On
the second day of that month, the Lord Mayor of London, standing at one
end of the line, sent his hearty congratulations through twelve thousand
five hundred miles of wire to the Mayor of Adelaide, who conversed
with him at the other extremity. The whole work was undertaken and
accomplished within two years; and already not only South Australia,
but all the colonies, are reaping the greatest benefits from this
enterprising effort. Another undertaking of a similar character has been
completed by the efforts of both South and West Australia; along the
barren coast on which Eyre so nearly perished there stretches a long
line of posts, which carries a telegraph wire from Perth to Adelaide.

[Illustration: KING WILLIAM STREET, ADELAIDE.]

A period of depression began in South Australia after 1882. For a time
everything was against the colony. Long droughts killed its sheep and