Preceeding optical fibre, Telstra had microwave across the Nullarbor, rolled out in the 60's or 70's or thereabouts. Prior to even that they had some satellite capacity (late in the game) along side open wire carriers.
The need for a communications link across the continent was the spur for the development of an east–west crossing. Once Eyre had proved that a link between South Australia and Western Australia was possible, efforts to connect them via telegraph began. In 1877, after two years of labour, the first messages were sent on the new telegraph line, boosted by eight repeater stations along the way. The line operated for about 50 years before being superseded, and remnants of it remain visible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullarbor_Plain#Telegraph
So somewhere in the 1930s they replaced the telegraph with voice-grade telephone lines?
Eight repeater stations! Presumably, essentially what we would call a "relay" today. (Is that where it got the name?)
How were they powered? Did somebody have to take batteries out to the stations on horseback every week?
The original East-West Telegraph link was built before Federation,when,in effect,the States were different countries.
The Repeater Station at Eucla,on the SA/WA border,for instance,had two separate operating stations on either side of a large room.
For a Westbound message,the South Oz guy would read the Morse Code coming in,write it down,& pass it to the WA guy,who would send it on,& vice versa.
The Telegraphists,& their families lived in houses associated with the station.
This is how Line Telegraphy was done in the early days,& these were very early days,indeed
Yes,this is exactly where the term "Relay" comes from.
Although,the Electrical Relay had been invented,& ultimately,did allow unattended "repeater stations". it was not immediately adopted throughout the world.
The pressure to do this was not as great in Australia,& the American West,as in Europe,& the more populated East of the USA.
After all,if you had to station Linesmen at remote places to keep the line operating,why not keep the tried & true Operators?
Batteries,& indeed,other essentials were usually brought by sea,as most of the old Telegraph stations on the East-West Telegraph were near the coast.
The Trans Australia Railway was completed in 1917,& a new set of telegraph lines were run alongside that,with unattended repeaters,using Electromagnetic relays.
The old East-West line finally closed in 1927,according to Wiki.(another Wiki page)
I would suggest it was mainly used as a standby system for the last few years of its existence.
I guess,the Phone lines would have been installed in the 1930s,or so.
By the time I had any interest in the "new" E-W lines,they carried Multichannel voice systems,& VFT Telegraph systems.
The Long Line guys were pretty good at cramming channels onto a couple of pairs of wire!
We had a ISB HF Radio backup system for the E-W landline,where I worked.
It had four speech channels & two VFT Telegraph channels,but it was not an adequate backup for the landline.
At the time,"the writing was on the wall",for both systems,as the East-West microwave system came into being.opening in 1969.
Interestingly,the microwave system fairly closely followed the route of the original E-W Telegraph line.
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