Historedia
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Submarine Cable Arrival

When
18-19 November 1871
Where
Port Darwin
Part of
London–Australia telegraph cable lands at Darwin

The submarine telegraph cable from Java arrived at Darwin on 18 November 1871, earlier than the 31 December deadline. Connection occurred the following day, linking Australia to global networks.

The British-Australian Telegraph Company laid the cable from Banyuwangi, Java, to Darwin. The arrival on 18 November 1871 preceded the contractual deadline. The connection on 19 November 1871 reduced communication time with Europe from months to hours, marking the end of Australia's isolation.

Sources

  1. Australian Overland Telegraph Line Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-28
  2. Darwin, Northern Territory Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-07

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.