About this Event
The 3200-kilometre-long Overland Telegraph Line from Adelaide to Darwin was completed in 1872. It transformed Adelaide into Australia's communication hub, connecting the continent with the rest of the world and heralding the dawn of instant global communication. One-hundred-and-fifty years later, author Rosamund Burton traced the path of this largely forgotten strand of wire through the country's vast desert interior to the flood-prone Top End.
Struggling with a lack of experience and fitness, Rosamund and her friend cycle the first 800 kilometres from Adelaide through the Flinders Ranges to the deserted outback town of Farina, battling piercing winds and pelting rain, visiting sites and chatting with locals as they go. Climbing aboard a four-wheel drive with her husband, she continues along remote dirt tracks searching for derelict telegraph repeater stations, before completing the journey, from Alice Springs to Darwin, delivering an unwieldy campervan.
The author moves across the continent, storytelling, sharing its sometimes brutal history and listening to those who live in this harsh but beautiful country. This quest for connection with the land and an understanding of its people is also an exploration of what it means for the author, being Irish born, to belong in Australia.
This event is part of SA History Festival.
Bookings Essential.
Free Event.
Copies of the book can be purchased at the event.
Rosamund Burton was born in Ireland and grew up in England, before returning to Ireland with her family when she was 18. She became an actress, performing at Dublin's Gate and Gaiety Theatres, and in the film Educating Rita with Julie Walters and Michael Caine. She then worked for the UK's first left-wing think tank. She moved to Australia in the mid-1990s following her fascination with her mother's stories of growing up in Australia. She writes for a range of newspapers and magazines and lives in Sydney with her husband Steve.
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- Stay at home if you are unwell or have a cough, fever, sore throat, fatigue or shortness of breath.
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The City of Charles Sturt would like to acknowledge the land we occupy today is the traditional lands of the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual relationship with their country. We also acknowledge the Kaurna people as the custodians of the greater Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Ngutungka West Lakes, 9 Charles Street, West Lakes, Australia
AUD 0.00
