Film 'Twenty to the Mile, the OTL'.

In 2022 we celebrate 150 years since the opening of the Overland Telegraph Line.

This complex and extraordinary engineering feat connected South Australia with London telegraphically. It was the 'internet of the 19th Century', and its history is an important part of Australia's story.

The producers are seeking final funding for an education documentary film tracing the history of the OTL's construction from Port Augusta to Port Darwin, across country only visited by the Aboriginal tribes who lived there and John McDouall Stuart, a decade earlier.

The film will tell the story of the successes, challenges and tragedies of the two years it took to build the line, and stories of the people who lived along it. It is an incredible story, largely unknown in today's Australia. Communication with London went from 7 weeks to 7 hours and life in Australia changed forever.

'Community Investors' are being asked to donate funds to help complete the film, which is based on Derek Pugh's book 'Twenty to the Mile - The Overland Telegraph Line'.

To see a film teaser, see https://vimeo.com/696350058
Or listen to the ABC Conversations podcast on https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/overland-telegraph-line-nt-charles-todd-derek-pugh/13793392