State Library of South Australia

Charlotte Waters [B 11607] • Photograph

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Summary

Group of officials and staff of the Telegraph Station at Charlotte Waters. This is located close to the South Australian border with the Northern Territory. Surveyers McMinn and Knuckey located it in 1871 during the construction of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line. It was named for Lady Charlotte Bacon. In 1872 a telegraph repeater, post office, residence and general store were built. The photograph shows a group of telegraph officials, the cook and two Aboriginal children outside the brick building. The station was nicknamed Bleak House as it stood on a treeless plain. A researcher has suggested that the gentleman on the far right may be Ernest Giles, explorer, and the man next to him may be Alfred Giles, South Australian bushman and explorer. The same researcher suggests that the boy on the left could be Erlikilyika (Jim Kite) depending on when the photograph was actually taken and that a nearly identical photograph in the Peter Spillett Collection in the N.T. lists Station Master P.M. Byrnes as being on the right of the photo. Another researcher states that Jim Kite is not in this photograph, and that the men seated are Francis Gillen and Patrick Byrne.

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Physical description

Photograph; 14.4 cm x 10.6 cm

Dates / Publication details

Approximately 1880

Photographer

Brown, H. Y. L

Collection

Part of Charlotte Waters Collection

Subject

Aboriginal Australians -- Northern Territory -- Charlotte Waters
Telegraph stations -- Northern Territory -- Charlotte Waters
Telegraphers -- Northern Territory -- Charlotte Waters

Catalogue record

Return to catalogue

General notes

Geospatial coordinates indicate an approximate location.

Digitisation information

Date

16/01/2006

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

3,217 x 2,423 pixels (7.8 MP)

Size

23.42 MB

Location

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