Story: Engineering on the sea floor

Arrival of the New Zealand cable at Botany Bay

Arrival of the New Zealand cable at Botany Bay

This lithograph of Frenchmans Bay, looking out to Botany Bay in Sydney Harbour, shows men hauling ashore the telegraph cable that first connected New Zealand to Australia and the world. The cable-laying ships Edinburgh (left) and Hibernia can be seen offshore. At the New Zealand end, the cable came ashore at Cable Bay, just north of Nelson. The Cable Bay station used a call sign, ‘waka’ (meaning canoe in Māori). The first telegraph message (also referred to as a cable) was sent in February 1876.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: PUBL-0047-1876-103

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Keith Lewis, 'Engineering on the sea floor - Submarine cables', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/artwork/6639/arrival-of-the-new-zealand-cable-at-botany-bay (accessed 20 April 2024)

Story by Keith Lewis, published 12 Jun 2006