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Place Names Register Extract

Charles River

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Name Charles River
Type Designation Stream
Place Id 11704
Place Type Feature
Status Registered
Date Registered 5 August 1959
Location (Datum GDA94)  
Latitude: -23° 41' S (Decimal degrees -23.6914)
Longitude: 133° 53' E (Decimal degrees 133.8846)
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Locality / Suburb  
  Stuart
Local Government Area  
  Alice Springs Town Council
History/Origin The Charles River, rising in the hills north of Alice Springs, is a tributory of the Todd River and is believed to have derived its name like the Todd River, after Sir Charles Todd who was responsible for the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line.

Sir Charles Todd (1826 - 1910) was born in Islington, London. He arrived with his wife Alice in Glenelg, South Australia, on 4 November 1855 to take up the post of Observer and Superintendent of Telegraphs in South Australia, responsible for the equipping of the new Adelaide Observatory. Whilst responsible as Post Master General for many ventures such as the setting up and supervision of a network of meteorological stations and the design and construction of a number of major telegraph lines connecting Adelaide to outlying areas then Melbourne and Sydney, it is as Superintendent of the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line that Todd is most famous. Running from Adelaide to Darwin and connecting Australia to Europe by way of a submarine cable, this tremendous feat was completed on 22 August 1872 with the first messages between London and Adelaide being exchanged on 22 October 1872.

Register & Gazettal information

Date Gazettal Comment
05/08/1959 NTG34
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