0:00:35 > 0:00:38It was a moment that changed Australia.
0:00:38 > 0:00:44The first European, a Scotsman, called John McDouall Stuart, had crossed the continent.
0:00:46 > 0:00:53Australia in the mid-1800s was isolated, divided between two cultures,
0:00:53 > 0:00:58the red centre, a vast barrier to communications with the outside world.
0:00:58 > 0:01:06Mr Stuart should be sent out with the very best revolvers and force his way, in spite of all opposition.
0:01:07 > 0:01:08Fire, Mr Kekwick.
0:01:10 > 0:01:15Two men took up the challenge to reach across the great unknown of the Australian outback.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20One defied physical torment attempting the impossible.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25The other staked his reputation on a breakthrough as profound as the modern internet.
0:01:25 > 0:01:34For £128,000, I will build this line to the north coast or God strike me, die trying.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36One a triumph,
0:01:36 > 0:01:38the other, a tragedy.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45Together, they built a wire that connected Australia to the world.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59It's August, 1872.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03The place, the very centre of the Australian continent.
0:02:05 > 0:02:11This man is about to send a message over a revolutionary new medium.
0:02:11 > 0:02:18A simple piece of number-eight gauge wire will flash his words across the vast Australian outback.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23His action here today will change Australia forever.
0:02:23 > 0:02:29The man is South Australian Superintendent of Telegraphs,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31Charles Todd.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38'Wish to inform of the completion of the telegraph, which is an important link
0:02:38 > 0:02:39'in the electric chain of communication
0:02:39 > 0:02:43'connecting the Australian colony with the mother country.'
0:02:52 > 0:02:58Now he must wait. The answer, when it comes, is more than a simple reply.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03It's the realisation of a dream he's pursued for nearly twenty years.
0:03:06 > 0:03:12Charles Todd migrated from Britain with his young wife, Alice, in 1855.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15He was 29, she barely 18.
0:03:18 > 0:03:25They arrived in Adelaide, capital of the South Australian colony, under twenty years old.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31Officially, Todd was to take up the position of government astronomer.
0:03:31 > 0:03:36Alice had left a close family in England and keenly felt the gap that went with her new home.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42Todd's job may have been astronomer but his obsession...
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Look, you see that wire?
0:03:45 > 0:03:46..was the telegraph.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48One day,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51that will connect us with home.
0:03:54 > 0:04:00Just three months after arrival, he'd built the government's first telegraph line,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04a mere twelve-and-a-half kilometres long, to the local port.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09Three years later, he was thinking much bigger, and extended the link to Melbourne.
0:04:11 > 0:04:16Newspapers of the day reveal the isolated Australian colony's hunger
0:04:16 > 0:04:19for information from the outside world.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25Special sections highlighted news from London, but it was often months old.
0:04:25 > 0:04:32The news from Britain came via Perth, then by steamer to Adelaide and the eastern colonies.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35But once the line was joined from Adelaide,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39journalists from Melbourne rushed to Perth, catching the mail ships.
0:04:39 > 0:04:44On the voyage back, they transcribed the British newspapers,
0:04:44 > 0:04:48then telegraphed from Adelaide, beating the ship by days.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53This meant that South Australia really became the centrepoint of communication.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58As people arrived from Perth, the first news would come to Adelaide
0:04:58 > 0:05:01and then be passed on commercially to the eastern colonies.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04So Adelaide became the communication pivot,
0:05:04 > 0:05:07and therefore earned the money for becoming the communication pivot.
0:05:07 > 0:05:12The honourable member seems to be under the impression that the proposition
0:05:12 > 0:05:15of an electric telegraph might be interfered with by the natives.
0:05:15 > 0:05:22From 1858, Todd goes to his political masters with an even bigger plan.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Todd imagines a telegraph line running north,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28through the mysterious centre of Australia.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35At Darwin, it will connect to the international cable at Java, running all the way to London.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38A telegraph wire to the world.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45But Todd's telegraph will bring him up against the immensity of the Australian outback.
0:05:47 > 0:05:52In 1858, no-one has crossed the Australian continent.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55The vast centre is a blank on the map.
0:05:58 > 0:06:05But one of the few who had pushed into the interior was a tough explorer,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07John McDouall Stuart.
0:06:11 > 0:06:18Born in Dysart and educated in Edinburgh, Stuart had emigrated to Australia in 1838.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32In 1860, working as a bush surveyor for an influential grazier,
0:06:32 > 0:06:37Stuart was the first European to reach the very centre of the continent,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41and the mountain that would eventually bear his name.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46He did it by travelling light and travelling quick.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Whereas other explorers from Europe
0:06:49 > 0:06:53regarded the desert as something to be conquered by an army
0:06:53 > 0:06:56with lots of equipment and lots of men,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00Stuart took a few men, a string of horses and set out.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05'We then gave three cheers for the flag, the emblem of
0:07:05 > 0:07:10'civil and religious liberty, and may it be a sign to the natives that the dawn of liberty,
0:07:10 > 0:07:15'civilisation and Christianity is about to break upon them.'
0:07:17 > 0:07:23Stuart was attempting an epic first - crossing Australia south to north.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27But his reasons were purely practical.
0:07:27 > 0:07:34His grazier employer wanted to drive cattle from Adelaide to Darwin, for export to India.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40The travelling was tough,
0:07:40 > 0:07:45but in June 1860, Stuart encountered an even greater challenge.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02His party had been travelling unannounced for months
0:08:02 > 0:08:06through tribal lands, using up resources as they did so.
0:08:09 > 0:08:15Finally, the Warramungu responded to what they saw as a gross insult.
0:08:22 > 0:08:27'If they had been Europeans, they could not better have arranged and carried out their plan of attack.
0:08:29 > 0:08:35'They had, evidently, observed us passing in the morning and examined our tracks to see which way we had
0:08:35 > 0:08:39'gone and knew we could get no water down the creek,
0:08:39 > 0:08:41'but must retrace our steps to obtain it from above them.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45'They therefore lay in wait for our return.'
0:08:51 > 0:08:54THREATENING SHOUTS
0:09:02 > 0:09:03Fire, Mr Kekwick!
0:09:10 > 0:09:15Stuart never revealed how many died that day.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20With such as these for enemies in our rear, and most probably far worse in advance,
0:09:20 > 0:09:24it would be destruction to all my party for me to attempt to go on.
0:09:24 > 0:09:32Moreover, we have only half rations for six months, four of which are gone, so the men now complain
0:09:32 > 0:09:37of great weakness and are unable to perform what they have to do.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40The trek home is an ordeal.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45By the time he returned to Port Augusta, a journey of 2,500 kilometres,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47he was physically exhausted.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54In December 1860, barely able to walk, Stuart arrives in Adelaide.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57News of his exploits runs ahead of him.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02Knowing the press would be eager for his story, he writes an account of his journey.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05But he is unwilling or unable to talk.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12For all of his skills in the bush, Stuart is a troubled character.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14He was engaged to be married.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19When he came around the corner and saw his cousin kissing his fiancee,
0:10:19 > 0:10:21and without asking any questions, he turned on his heels
0:10:21 > 0:10:26and left and never saw her again, and migrated to Australia.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30So that was one theory about why he might have come here in the first place.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34At that time, the British Empire was at its zenith.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39So Stuart's part of the legion of young men who come to these colonies,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42hopeful to make a fortune,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45return in their mid-fifties and live like a squire.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55Stuart's grazier employer was James Chambers.
0:10:55 > 0:11:02Chambers was a self-made, very rich pastoralist and mining entrepreneur,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04who came from England with nothing
0:11:04 > 0:11:08and by building up a transport industry of coaches and horses,
0:11:08 > 0:11:12was able to expand an empire
0:11:12 > 0:11:18to the extent that he became the richest man in South Australia.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23On this return, Stuart stayed at Chambers' house
0:11:23 > 0:11:29where to the horror of Chambers' daughter, Elizabeth, he retreated to his room to drink for days on end.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31Stuart was in poor health.
0:11:31 > 0:11:38His trips left him with scurvy and dehydration, both made worse by his greatest weakness.
0:11:40 > 0:11:46South Australia, like most frontier territories, was a place of hard drinking, no doubt about that.
0:11:46 > 0:11:52But I think it was noted that Stuart was drinking more than the normal bushman would.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58But in the outback, it was a different story.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02Stuart was looking to gain his self-respect.
0:12:02 > 0:12:07He was known around Adelaide as a failed businessman.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12He drank too much, and didn't behave himself when he did so.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15But in the desert, he could redeem himself.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19He could get away from alcohol, and he could be...
0:12:19 > 0:12:24respected and known as the great bushman that he was.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26SHOUTS OF "Hear! Hear!"
0:12:26 > 0:12:30In parliament, debate rages over the Aborigines' attack which turned Stuart back.
0:12:30 > 0:12:37If civilisation is possible, the lives of a few savages are not to be considered!
0:12:39 > 0:12:43The attack on Stuart made people feel vulnerable, even in Adelaide.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48It was almost like the Japanese coming into Australia in 1942.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51There was that same sense of imminence and of danger.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53The public and the parliament
0:12:53 > 0:12:55and the newspapers recognised that Stuart
0:12:55 > 0:12:59was the best explorer that South Australia had.
0:12:59 > 0:13:05If they wanted to know what was in the centre of their continent, Stuart was their man.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09In colonial Australia, explorers were always front page news.
0:13:09 > 0:13:10Good God.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16Todd realised Stuart was the man he'd need to make his dream a reality.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25"Three miles north of the centre is a high hill on which I planted the flag
0:13:25 > 0:13:27"from which
0:13:27 > 0:13:30"I could see the ranges to the north-east
0:13:30 > 0:13:34"and which gave me a better idea of the country for water."
0:13:34 > 0:13:38With Stuart's help, Todd could find a path across the continent,
0:13:38 > 0:13:44the vital first step for an overland telegraph joining Australia to the outside world.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52The South Australian parliament is quick to support another Stuart expedition.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54They won't be stopped by an Aboriginal attack.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58Mr Stuart must be sent out with the very best revolvers
0:13:58 > 0:14:03and force his way in spite of all opposition.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06Not all members agreed.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10For the gratification of a mere curiosity,
0:14:10 > 0:14:14we are not entitled to send an army expedition
0:14:14 > 0:14:17for the purpose of fighting a way through a hostile tribe.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19But they were roundly defeated.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24Does this continent not belong to Great Britain?
0:14:24 > 0:14:31And if it belongs to Britain, Britons, in passing through it, have the right to protect ourselves.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35SHOUTS OF "Hear! Hear!"
0:14:39 > 0:14:43This time, the expedition, with its search for a way across Australia,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45will be for Todd's overland telegraph.
0:14:47 > 0:14:53With the added government support, there's more men and weapons, and a greater sense of urgency.
0:14:57 > 0:15:03South Australia isn't the only colony looking for a way across the continent.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07Todd's telegraph line to Melbourne had brought unwelcome news.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11The Victorian colony has appointed its own rival expedition
0:15:11 > 0:15:13to cross the country.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18"To the members of which, he would say in name, are all assembled
0:15:18 > 0:15:21"and in the name of the colony at large.
0:15:21 > 0:15:27"May God speed you and three cheers for Mr Burke."
0:15:28 > 0:15:34Their leader, Robert O'Hara Burke, was determined to beat Stuart to the north coast.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42Stuart was now in a race.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48Across the 1850s, Victoria had been the centre of a massive gold rush
0:15:48 > 0:15:51that had remade the Australian economy.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55Thanks to the gold-rich Victorians, the Burke expedition had
0:15:55 > 0:15:59five times the budget, and twice the number of men.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Burke was also four months ahead.
0:16:03 > 0:16:09By the time Stuart left, they had already reached Coopers Creek in the far west of New South Wales.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13What happened was that the Royal Society in Victoria
0:16:13 > 0:16:15decided it was an affront to them,
0:16:15 > 0:16:20as gold-rich gentlemen, to not know what was in the centre of Australia.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23So they sent Burke and Wills out.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25At the same time, the South Australian government
0:16:25 > 0:16:29wanted to know what was in the centre of Australia,
0:16:29 > 0:16:31so they could build an overland telegraph line.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36But once the two explorers set off at about the same time, the newspapers
0:16:36 > 0:16:40and the public got behind them in the belief that it was a race -
0:16:40 > 0:16:41the first people
0:16:41 > 0:16:44to cross the continent straight through the centre.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48Stuart was ridiculed by the Melbourne press.
0:16:48 > 0:16:55Yet on hearing of his departure, the Victorian government still sent a horseman warning Burke not to delay.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Stuart is unfazed.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14An expert in crossing the desolate outback, he knew small groups travelled faster.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21Time, Mr Kekwick?
0:17:21 > 0:17:2412:01 and 15 seconds, sir.
0:17:25 > 0:17:30'Stuart had this remarkable ability to find water.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34'He studied where the birds went. He studied Aboriginal tracks.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36'He studied the lay of the land.'
0:17:36 > 0:17:39This was his great, great ability
0:17:39 > 0:17:41and why he was such a good explorer,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43better than anyone else.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45He could find water where others couldn't.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53After four months, he returns to the creek where he was attacked.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56This time, he passes through without incident.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06The country's harsher,
0:18:06 > 0:18:08water harder to find.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10But the party keeps moving forward.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14Stuart has ventured deep into the north.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20There, he met a barrier unlike anything seen before.
0:18:24 > 0:18:30Stretching for kilometres at a time was a dense kind of scrub called bulwaddy bush.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33It was like a natural form of razor wire.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41'The horses would not face it.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46'In the short distance we penetrated, it has torn our hands, faces, clothes,
0:18:46 > 0:18:51'and what is of more consequence, our saddlebags, all to pieces.
0:18:51 > 0:18:57'Had we gone further into it, we should have lost everything off the horses.'
0:19:04 > 0:19:09Later, as the men recover, the real impact of the bulwaddy sinks in.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Stuart was less than 200 kilometres from the Victoria River,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15from where he could have made it to the coast.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19But now he must face an agonising reality.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23He can't cut through the bulwaddy's dreadful forest of thorns.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36It's the end. They're beaten, at least for now.
0:19:38 > 0:19:45They return south, a two-and-a-half month journey back to civilisation, and familiar habits.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10Every time Stuart comes back to Adelaide, he returns to his alcohol.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12Maybe it was a comfort to him
0:20:12 > 0:20:14to get over the mental deprivation of the trip
0:20:14 > 0:20:16and help perhaps suppress
0:20:16 > 0:20:18some of his bodily symptoms as well.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33On the 23rd of September, 1861, just days after his return,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36Stuart is called to the office of Governor McDonald.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38Mr Stuart.
0:20:38 > 0:20:39Mr Todd.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42South Australia is not ready to give up.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44They're determined the telegraph will be theirs.
0:20:44 > 0:20:45Mr Stuart.
0:20:45 > 0:20:46Governor.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49McDonald was a visionary who supported Todd's plans
0:20:49 > 0:20:53for a telegraph connecting Adelaide to the rest of the world.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Competition from other colonies was heating up.
0:20:58 > 0:21:04Both Queensland and Western Australia had joined the race and were pushing different routes.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Meanwhile, nothing had been heard of the Burke and Wills expedition,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11sponsored by the wealthy Victorians.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13From this point here to here...
0:21:13 > 0:21:18Todd and McDonald knew that Stuart was the key to finding a path for the overland telegraph line.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20That's correct.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Every time Stuart set out on his six expeditions,
0:21:23 > 0:21:26he always must have had at the back of his mind
0:21:26 > 0:21:28that he would die in the attempt.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33But this is particularly true in respect of the last one.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37He was in serious ill health, even before he set off.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42I would have advised him not to go back again like he did, straight away,
0:21:42 > 0:21:43to do yet another expedition,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46because he was putting his life at risk.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49- To the Queen.- The Queen.
0:21:49 > 0:21:56In October, 1861, just five weeks after he returned, Stuart is again sent out.
0:21:56 > 0:22:01The official send-off is an event for Adelaide society.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06- Posts need to be 20 feet high, and 18 inches at the base.- Got that.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11We also need repeater stations every 150 miles, with reliable sources of water, of course.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13That won't be difficult.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18Todd had worked feverishly compiling details of the telegraph's requirements.
0:22:18 > 0:22:24Stuart not only had to cross Australia, he also had to find the resources needed to build the line.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26God speed you, Mr Stuart.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37The party had only been gone a day when Adelaide received bad news.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41Message for Mr Todd.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43Thank you.
0:22:52 > 0:22:58"A most unfortunate incident occurred at the Hart And Hound, a little inn just north of the city.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00"One of the horses becoming restive,
0:23:00 > 0:23:05"Mr Stuart advanced, but the horse reared and struck him
0:23:05 > 0:23:09"in the temple with its forefoot, rendering him insensible."
0:23:09 > 0:23:13It was five weeks before Stuart was again fit to travel,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16but by then it was the middle of summer.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Temperatures soared above 40 degrees.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21There was no shade.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26Waterholes dried up behind him as he moved forward.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31'Both men and horses suffered from the excessive heat.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35'This is the hottest weather ever I have experienced in the latitude.'
0:23:37 > 0:23:40His health was deteriorating rapidly.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44'I feel this heavy work more than I did the journey of last year.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49'I feel my capability of endurance beginning to give way.'
0:23:49 > 0:23:52What made matters worse were the orders he was under
0:23:52 > 0:23:55from Todd and the government which, as with the last trip,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58directed him to make for the Victoria River.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03What must be remembered is that he is not abiding by his rule
0:24:03 > 0:24:08to go where the water leads him, and it proves to be a disaster.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11Stuart's physical problems were getting worse.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Now he had sandy blight.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17It would plague him for the rest of the trip.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20He could barely see the horizon.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Sandy blight's a disease of the eyes where you get
0:24:24 > 0:24:26mucus and pus pouring out of the eyes.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29The eyelashes stick together and they turn inwards
0:24:29 > 0:24:31and they scratch and scar the cornea,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34so that eventually it renders you totally blind.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37Mr Auld!
0:24:40 > 0:24:43He was forced to entrust surveying duties to one of his men.
0:24:43 > 0:24:44Climb that tree.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Yes, Mr Stuart, sir.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51When Stuart's out in the desert,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54the lack of water makes personal hygiene very difficult,
0:24:54 > 0:24:57and the bug that causes sandy blight is spread by flies.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00And they were certainly a massive problem for Stuart.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09FLY BUZZES
0:25:23 > 0:25:29'Stuart wrote in his diary that he would prefer to lay his head down'
0:25:29 > 0:25:34and expire, rather than not succeed in his goal of crossing the Australian continent.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37This time, to reach the Victoria River,
0:25:37 > 0:25:43he must cross one of the bleakest environments in the country, the notoriously tough Tanami Desert.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46But he had come prepared.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51Back in Adelaide, George Hamilton, who provisioned Stuart,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55had made large water-bags, ready for the desert crossing.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58The aim was to effectively turn horses into camels.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10Stuart, confident the bags would give him
0:26:10 > 0:26:14extra time to find the scarce water, set out across the Tanami.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23The bags last less than half a day.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25Mr Stuart!
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Mr Stuart! The water bags are leaking.
0:26:35 > 0:26:41What a disappointment they turned out to be for Stuart who was relying so heavily on them.
0:26:41 > 0:26:46It seems that they worked fine in Adelaide, but after several weeks
0:26:46 > 0:26:51getting them to the centre of Australia, the binding tore apart.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53Unfortunately they leaked.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Stuart now faced a serious problem.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00The waterhole where they camped was drying up.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04Food was now scarce, and his men were worn out.
0:27:04 > 0:27:09But to turn back would be another failure to cross the continent.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13'I am very much disappointed with the water bags.
0:27:13 > 0:27:19'In coming this distance of 21 miles, they leaked out nearly half.'
0:27:27 > 0:27:30And that night, the horses began to fail.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45Mr Thring.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06GUNSHOT RINGS OUT
0:28:14 > 0:28:16Unable to make it to the Victoria River,
0:28:16 > 0:28:20and desperate not to turn back, he makes a risky decision.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22He abandons his orders.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25He'll go north-east.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30He turns for the Roper River, 300 kilometres away.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34He knows nothing of the country but it's the only choice left.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44His gamble pays off.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58'Coming upon a small creek with running water and the valley being covered in beautiful green grass,
0:28:58 > 0:29:02'I have camped to give the horses the benefit of the high grass.'
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Stuart was near the end.
0:29:15 > 0:29:20Exactly nine months after leaving Adelaide, he breaks through to a mangrove swamp.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12It was the 21st of July, 1862,
0:30:12 > 0:30:17the first time a European had crossed the continent of Australia.
0:30:37 > 0:30:43'Thus have I, through the instrumentality and blessing of divine providence,
0:30:43 > 0:30:47'been led to accomplish the great object of the expedition.'
0:30:49 > 0:30:52Stuart had been very lucky.
0:30:52 > 0:30:57The beach he arrived at was the only accessible landing for hundreds of kilometres.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01They had found a route for Todd's overland telegraph.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04When Stuart gets to the north coast,
0:31:04 > 0:31:06it must have been a feeling of tremendous elation
0:31:06 > 0:31:08to have achieved his goal.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14And yet instead of staying for a while on the coast
0:31:14 > 0:31:15to rebuild themselves,
0:31:15 > 0:31:18they turn around the next day and head straight home,
0:31:18 > 0:31:20and it's always puzzled me why he did that.
0:31:20 > 0:31:25With all the food supplies, as it were, available to him on the coast, he didn't stay.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33On his return journey, Stuart's condition deteriorates alarmingly.
0:31:33 > 0:31:40He's virtually blind from the effects of sandy blight and scurvy, his body is completely emaciated
0:31:40 > 0:31:45and at the very time that he needs good nutrition, he's trying to live on boiled flour and water.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47It's mush. The guy's starving.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51He kept himself upright in order to achieve that,
0:31:51 > 0:31:53but after that he seemed to slump.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56He no longer led from the front.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59He gave that to one of his experienced bushmen.
0:32:06 > 0:32:11For Stuart and his men, the return journey is one of incredible suffering.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15The waterholes that served them on the way up are now often dry.
0:32:15 > 0:32:20The struggle to feed and water both his stock and his men is acute.
0:32:23 > 0:32:29The focus of the expedition turns to getting back to Adelaide alive.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32Mr Stuart, sir. Mr Stuart.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34Mr Stuart, please. Mr Stuart, sir.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48He ends up being carried in a makeshift stretcher.
0:32:48 > 0:32:54Scurvy, malnutrition, sandy blight and pure exhaustion drag Stuart into a delirium.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58Are you all right, Mr Stuart, sir?
0:32:58 > 0:33:01Poles need to be 20 feet high and 18 inches at the base.
0:33:01 > 0:33:03Share a toast with me, John.
0:33:04 > 0:33:09We need repeater stations every 150 miles, with reliable supplies of water, of course.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12Good luck, Mr Stuart.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16Twenty poles to the mile, and we'll need repeater stations every 150 miles.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19- Share a toast with me, John. - Mr Stuart, sir?
0:33:19 > 0:33:22Are you all right, Mr Stuart?
0:33:22 > 0:33:23Good luck, Mr Stuart.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26Do you think you're up to it, Mr Stuart?
0:33:26 > 0:33:28MOCKING LAUGH
0:33:34 > 0:33:37God speed, Mr Stuart.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41Stuart's convinced that he won't get back to Adelaide alive.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45In fact, more to the point, he names the spot where he's going to die.
0:33:45 > 0:33:53He tells those around him that he feels that his life would pass away at Central Mount Stuart.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56That is, in the centre of the continent.
0:34:00 > 0:34:05'I have kept King and Nash with me in case of my dying during the night,
0:34:05 > 0:34:09'as it would be lonely for one young man to be there by himself.'
0:34:22 > 0:34:29Meanwhile, all Australia is shocked by the news that the rival Victorian expedition has collapsed.
0:34:29 > 0:34:35Burke and Wills are dead. A party's sent to Coopers Creek to retrieve their bodies.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39Ironically, they pass through Adelaide on the return to Melbourne.
0:34:39 > 0:34:45It can't be said, strictly, that anyone on the Burke and Wills expedition crossed the continent.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48They never saw the sea.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05On the 14th of November, 1862,
0:35:05 > 0:35:10Stuart's ragged party reaches the outskirts of the settled districts.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15The extraordinary trek has taken almost a year.
0:35:21 > 0:35:27Their condition is pitiful, but Stuart has not lost a single man.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47The local telegraph takes the news to Adelaide.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55(The Commissioner Of Crown Lands.)
0:35:58 > 0:36:01The Honourable Commissioner Of Crown Lands.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06HE WHISPERS
0:36:15 > 0:36:17Through you,
0:36:17 > 0:36:20I beg to inform His Excellency
0:36:20 > 0:36:21and the Governor-in-Chief...
0:36:23 > 0:36:25..and the government...
0:36:29 > 0:36:33(..that I have crossed the continent...)
0:36:41 > 0:36:43..that I have crossed the continent.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49"I have accomplished
0:36:49 > 0:36:51"the object
0:36:51 > 0:36:54"of the expedition party.
0:36:54 > 0:37:00"I will be on the evening train tomorrow."
0:37:03 > 0:37:07In the space of one message, Stuart's triumph meant Todd's
0:37:07 > 0:37:12dream for an overland telegraph was now tantalisingly possible.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15CROWD CHEERS
0:37:15 > 0:37:17BAGPIPES PLAY "Auld Lang Syne"
0:37:20 > 0:37:28When Stuart returns, Adelaide gathers to celebrate the biggest moment in South Australian history.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32In Melbourne, on the same day, Burke and Wills are buried.
0:37:33 > 0:37:38But Stuart is chronically unable to play the role of hero.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42One gets the feeling that Stuart would rather not be there.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44Stuart in fact says nothing.
0:37:44 > 0:37:52Nothing's recorded in the newspapers of what occurs, or if he does say it, he says it in such a mumbling way
0:37:52 > 0:37:55that it's not taken down by the journalists.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58Congratulations, Mr Stuart.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17Stuart and Todd now go in different directions.
0:38:17 > 0:38:24Stuart, a victim of his demons, retreated to a beachside hotel to drink.
0:38:24 > 0:38:29For Todd, the struggle to make the telegraph a reality is only beginning.
0:38:31 > 0:38:36In 1863, the South Australian government annexed all the land
0:38:36 > 0:38:41to the north coast, creating the Northern Territory as a dependency.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44The move gave them control of the vital landing spots
0:38:44 > 0:38:48for the proposed international line from Java.
0:38:51 > 0:38:57In the years to come, Todd mined Stuart's carefully kept journals to plot a course across the centre.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01But the real battle was political.
0:39:03 > 0:39:09The Queensland colony strongly campaigned to take control of the line, and had a compelling case.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15In 1870, matters came to a head.
0:39:15 > 0:39:20The South Australian parliament meet for a day of dramatic debate.
0:39:20 > 0:39:24Todd had to convince them that if they wanted the telegraph, they had
0:39:24 > 0:39:28to make an offer to the company that controlled the vital line to London.
0:39:28 > 0:39:33More importantly, it had to top the offer already made by Queensland.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36Gentlemen...
0:39:37 > 0:39:39..I have done the figures
0:39:39 > 0:39:42and I plead with you to take this chance.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47For £128,000, I will build
0:39:47 > 0:39:53this line to the north coast in two years, or God strike me,
0:39:53 > 0:39:55die trying.
0:39:57 > 0:40:03Let us not look back and say how once we might have been a mighty force.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10Let us look to the future
0:40:10 > 0:40:12and carve...
0:40:12 > 0:40:13our names...
0:40:13 > 0:40:15into history.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23South Australia beat Queensland
0:40:23 > 0:40:29because they offered to pay all construction costs for the line to Darwin.
0:40:29 > 0:40:34The British Australia Telegraph Company had given the South Australians
0:40:34 > 0:40:38just one day to make the biggest decision in their history.
0:40:38 > 0:40:43The line was to be built in three sections - one north from Adelaide,
0:40:43 > 0:40:45one covered the centre
0:40:45 > 0:40:47and one down from the north coast.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53Todd was under pressure.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57We need the strongest horses, saddles, carriages.
0:40:57 > 0:40:59Everything possible in only a few months.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02We're going to have to draw on every ounce of goodwill in this colony.
0:41:07 > 0:41:13Construction would be a massive undertaking, as work teams retraced the land first surveyed by Stuart.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17The schedule was punishing.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27Todd's biggest problem came from the north.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31Within a year, tropical rains had made construction a nightmare.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33Work was brought to a stop.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41Fed up, the men refused to even try.
0:41:45 > 0:41:50In November 1871, the British arrived early.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54The telegraph company landed the undersea cable at Darwin.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58Realising his teams were not even close to meeting their deadline
0:41:58 > 0:42:02due in a month, Todd himself went north to take command.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06Charles's great qualities was his personal example,
0:42:06 > 0:42:07his character.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10He led out the front, but he delegated as well.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13He had the ability to inspire the men with him,
0:42:13 > 0:42:16and he could tell stories, he could crack his jokes,
0:42:16 > 0:42:20but it was always encouraging them to say, you know, there's another forty poles.
0:42:20 > 0:42:22We've got so many miles to go.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25He could just keep that encouragement going and going.
0:42:30 > 0:42:32Todd got the crews back to work.
0:42:32 > 0:42:33Gentlemen.
0:42:33 > 0:42:40I reckon that is the closest thing we'll get to a bath for many months, eh? So well done.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45Todd's performance was remarkable, but the line was now six months over schedule,
0:42:45 > 0:42:50and there was still a yawning gap of 400 kilometres of wire to finish.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53In their desperation for the telegraph, the South Australians
0:42:53 > 0:42:56had agreed to heavy penalties if construction ran behind.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00Now the British Telegraph wanted their money.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05If the overland telegraph hadn't gone ahead, Charles would have had
0:43:05 > 0:43:10to have left South Australia under a cloud, and that's a fact.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14Todd's response is an Australian Pony Express.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18Horsemen carried telegraph messages between the gap in the line.
0:43:18 > 0:43:23Riding almost non-stop, it takes five days.
0:43:24 > 0:43:29Suddenly, communication time with London is slashed from months to less than a week.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33But then, a stroke of luck.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36What saved the day for the overland telegraph
0:43:36 > 0:43:39was that the submarine cable failed dismally
0:43:39 > 0:43:43and that in fact let Charles off the hook. It gave him the extra time.
0:43:43 > 0:43:48The submarine cable linking Darwin to London had broken down.
0:43:49 > 0:43:55The British Australia Telegraph Company dropped their claims for compensation.
0:44:05 > 0:44:10Once the line is complete, Todd makes a journey south.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14As a tribute to the man who pioneered the route, he will
0:44:14 > 0:44:19send the first message from beneath the shadow of Central Mount Stuart.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31It's August 1872.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34Standing in the middle of Australia,
0:44:34 > 0:44:38Todd connected his portable relay to the overland telegraph.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46But what of the man who made it possible?
0:44:46 > 0:44:53After his return to Adelaide, Stuart's reputation rapidly declined.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57'Mr Stuart has ruined his health by his explorations.'
0:44:57 > 0:44:59No!
0:44:59 > 0:45:04Some honourable members might think that brandy and tobacco had to do with this.
0:45:04 > 0:45:09But there was no saying whether it was not the brandy and tobacco which had kept him alive!
0:45:11 > 0:45:13Alcohol bit hard.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16Public sympathy ebbed away.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24In 1864, Stuart left Australia for good.
0:45:26 > 0:45:32Two years later, he died, uncelebrated, in London, aged just 50.
0:45:35 > 0:45:40Stuart's funeral was a very low-key affair. There was seven people there.
0:45:40 > 0:45:48There was no great service or any great recognition, in either Britain or in Australia that the man
0:45:48 > 0:45:56who had really blazed the path through the centre of Australia was finally being laid to rest.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05At Central Mount Stuart, Charles Todd waited for his reply.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16MORSE CODE IS TAPPED OUT
0:46:23 > 0:46:26Finally, a string of responses flooded in,
0:46:26 > 0:46:28announcing the wire was connected.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32'Message from the Chief Secretary.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36'Accept my congratulations that your troubles are now over.'
0:46:47 > 0:46:51After spending hours relaying triumphant messages back and forth
0:46:51 > 0:46:56to Adelaide, he signed off with a simple "Goodnight".
0:47:00 > 0:47:02The overland telegraph line was open.
0:47:03 > 0:47:10When the undersea cable was fixed two months later, Australia was connected to the world.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
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