Story: Engineering on the sea floor
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.
About this item
Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: PUBL-0047-1876-103
Wood engraving
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
