Darwent & Dalwood

alt=State Library of South Australia, B 47769/3L|thumb|Joseph Darwent, taken 1872 by Henry Jones '''Darwent & Dalwood''' was a partnership of Joseph Darwent and William Dalwood put together expressly to tender for work on the Overland Telegraph Line.

==The partners== Accountant '''Joseph Darwent''' (c. 1824 – 20 October 1872) arrived in South Australia aboard ''Posthumous'' in June 1849 in the employ of the South Australian Railway Company, an English company touting for the contract to build a railway from Adelaide to the Port. This company amalgamated with others, to form the successful bidder, [https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Gov03_10Rail-t1-body-d27.html Adelaide City and Port Railway Company], of which Darwent was appointed secretary. However, by October 1851 the under-capitalised company had abandoned the project, and the Government revoked the agreement and took over construction. The first train ran on the line in 1856; the first Government-owned railway in the British Empire.

When his position at the Railway Company ended in 1851 Darwent joined the gold rush to Victoria and made a series of gold strikes in the Bendigo region that left him, "556 Pounds the richer". He returned to Adelaide and embarked on business as a shipping and stock agent with an office in Grenfell Street, as well as a wheat and flour merchant, managing for a while to corner the trade in those commodities between Adelaide and Britain and to the Americas. He was a founder of the South Australian coastal steamer trade between Port Adelaide, Wallaroo, Port Lincoln and Port Augusta, with ships ''Coorong'', ''Aldinga'', ''Omeo'' and ''Gothenburg'' on his books.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39272959 |title=Obituary |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XXXVII |issue=8102 |location=South Australia |date=4 November 1872 |accessdate=19 March 2018 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Darwent's nephew '''William Royse''' (6 April 1838 - 10 August 1892), born in Sheffield, was in Adelaide by 1859,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1859-11-28 |title=SHIPPING NEWS. |work=South Australian Advertiser |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1199641 |access-date=2022-07-24}}</ref> and in 1861 was in Dunedin, New Zealand, acting as shipping agent for Darwent's steamship ''Maid of the Yarra'',<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 October 1861 |title=Steam to the Taieri |pages=5 |work=OTAGO WITNESS |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18611026.2.15.1 |access-date=24 July 2022 |via=National Library of New Zealand}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hoskin |first=John |date=31 December 2018 |title=MAID OF THE YARRA |url=https://www.flotilla-australia.com/2hsmith.htm#maid-yarra-hs |access-date=24 July 2022 |website=FLOTILLA AUSTRALIA - AUSTRALIAN SHIPPING LINES}}</ref> capitalising on the burgeoning trans-Tasman trade resulting from the Otago gold rush.

Darwent married Eliza Atchison (c. 1829 – 12 March 1885) in 1852; their children included Frederick Arnold (1854), James Thornhill (1858), Frank Atchison (1859), Lucy Harriet (1861), Charles Beauchamp (1863).

Another nephew, metallurgist '''Joseph Darwent, jun.''' (1847 – 10 August 1926), born in Sheffield, married Winifred Teresa Kelly (c. 1850 – 7 January 1941) on 16 May 1869. He was a draughtsman on the telegraph line for Darwent & Dalwood.<ref>{{cite news |date=10 September 1872 |title=Topics of the Day |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28688660 |accessdate=20 March 2018 |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |location=South Australia |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}, The line about prospecting with John Selby Westcott is incorrect; he went farming at Coonawarra.</ref> He found gold {{convert|151|mi|km}} south of Port Darwin in 1871,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28603737 |title=The Gold Fields |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |location=South Australia |date=11 August 1871 |accessdate=20 March 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> but priority was disputed.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207723574 |title=The Yam Creek Diggings |newspaper=The Express and Telegraph |volume=IX |issue=2,658 |location=South Australia |date=10 September 1872 |accessdate=20 March 2018 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28688850 |title=Northern Territory Gold Discovery |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |location=South Australia |date=17 September 1872 |accessdate=20 March 2018 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He later had a property near Coonawarra, lived in Penola, where he was a member of the District Council for 35 years and chairman for 25.

'''William Trevett Dalwood''' (c. 1834 – 22 August 1909) arrived with his parents Caleb (c. 1810 – 25 September 1851) and Hannah Dalwood, née Trevett ( – 27 August 1878), a newborn brother Theophilus (died 1847) and sisters Sarah Ann (later Lethaby), Elizabeth Jane (later Baum),<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39130723 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XXVIII |issue=5508 |location=South Australia |date=24 June 1864 |access-date=25 July 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Achsah Mary Dalwood (married Ralph Drummond), in September 1840 aboard ''Lysander''. Youngest son Thomas Caleb (died 1909) was a prolific portrait painter. Caleb was licensee of Park Gate Hotel, Goodwood; Hannah ran it for four years after his death.

His first employment was with a pair of oxen carting water, Adelaide not yet having the luxury of reticulated water. His business expanded to carting stone, for which there was a huge appetite, for the construction of buildings and for laying roads. He expanded his operations to quarrying and thence to mining. He was soon a director of half-a-dozen mining companies,

Dalwood married Emma Frearson on 6 September 1855. Her father was also a contractor, and in 1860 Dalwood's assistant. Their children included Frederic William, William, Augustus George, George Trevett Palmerston, Britannia Frances, Silva, Georgia Blanche, Olive Lavinia, Eva Beatrice and Constance Louise Gertrude; they had a home on Melbourne Street, North Adelaide.

==The contract== On 20 August 1870 SS ''Omeo'' left McLaren wharf, Port Adelaide with passengers W. A. Paqualin (supervisor), Joseph Darwent, jun., Stephen King, Charles Tym (another of Darwent's nephews), William Dalwood, and Government officers William McMinn (Overseer of Works), R. C. Burton (his assistant), J. L. Stapleton, and A. Hawley,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39195821 |title=Overland Telegraph Officers |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=XXXV |issue=7420 |location=South Australia |date=25 August 1870 |accessdate=22 March 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and 75 laborers engaged by Darwent & Dalwood in steerage. Dalwood was present only as an observer, and was a passenger on the return voyage.  ''Omeo'' also carried 80 draught horses, a dozen head of cattle (whether beef cattle or working bullocks was not mentioned), and provisions for the journey. In the hold were over 1,000 bundles (50) of galvanised iron telegraph wire, 3,000 insulators and other hardware.

Omeo arrived safely on 9 September, berthed at Port Darwin and was promptly unloaded. A telegraph pole was ceremoniously erected by a daughter of Capt. Bloomfield Douglas, the Government Resident. A month later, all was good news and optimism: {{convert|60|mi|km}} of line had been erected, and work was progressing at {{convert|15|mi|km}} per week,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196736506 |title=Latest News |newspaper=The Evening Journal (Adelaide) |volume=II |issue=596 |location=South Australia |date=16 December 1870 |accessdate=20 March 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> expecting completion in eight or nine months.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196736780 |title=Latest News. |newspaper=The Evening Journal (Adelaide) |volume=II |issue=605 |location=South Australia |date=29 December 1870 |accessdate=20 March 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Another 50 tons of wire and 3,528 insulators were despatched in February, with only the last 50 tons of wire to be shipped. In June it was anticipated the northern section would be completed ahead of time, and they could continue southward and do some of the central section.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197657391 |title=The Overland Telegraph |newspaper=The Evening Journal (Adelaide) |volume=III |issue=746 |location=South Australia |date=15 June 1871 |accessdate=20 March 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

It therefore came as a shock to people in Adelaide to learn that Overseer of Works (northern section) McMinn had taken the extreme action of cancelling Darwent & Dalwood's contract as from 3 May, and had sent all their workers back to Adelaide, on the basis of their falling so far behind that there was no prospect of completion by 1 January 1872.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245000780 |title=The Overland Telegraph |newspaper=Gawler Times |volume=III |issue=124 |location=South Australia |date=14 July 1871 |accessdate=20 March 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> :They had in six months, despite the Territory's notorious wet season, erected poles to a distance of {{convert|225|mi|km}} and strung wire for {{convert|129|mi|km}}. With the imminent dry season progress would have been many times greater. Against that however was the compounding problem of logistics over increasing distances, for which Darwent & Dalwood were probably insufficiently prepared without bringing in additional men and animals. The sacking of the workers by McMinn was on the basis of an insurrection, denied by the men.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197658224 |title=Messrs. Darwent & Dalwood's Contract |newspaper=The Evening Journal (Adelaide) |volume=III |issue=773 |location=South Australia |date=18 July 1871 |accessdate=20 March 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

:The Government, having determined to complete the line on time at any cost, despatched two teams, one to work south from the termination of Darwent & Dalwood's work, and the other north from the central section's termination. It was intended by Charles Todd to have a third team working simultaneously south from the Roper River, but that idea was scotched on the grounds of safety. Livestock despatched consisted of 500 bullocks and 168 horses, with wagons, harness and supplies to match. Things did not eventuate entirely as planned. Insufficient water was to be found for the bullocks and hundreds either perished of thirst or were too weak to work. In November 1871 the schooner ''Gulnare'', which had been working as a supply vessel, struck a reef near Melville Island and had to be towed back to Darwin and abandoned. With the retirement of John Hart and reorganisation of the ministry, Charles Todd was empowered to establish a supply base on the Roper River, but it was not until May 1872 that the river had subsided sufficiently to be of any use. :The British Australian Telegraph Company completed the laying of the undersea cable from Singapore on 18 November 1871, and the Overland Telegraph Line was not completed until August 1872, but was substantially in use from May 1872 by the expedient of carrying messages by horse or camel across the uncompleted section.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196742551 |title=History of the Adelaide to London Telegraph |newspaper=The Evening Journal (Adelaide) |volume=IV |issue=1109 |location=South Australia |date=24 August 1872 |accessdate=20 March 2018 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In May 1875 William Dalwood brought his case for compensation before the Chief Justice and a special jury, arguing that his company had been sacked without just cause; that they could have completed the work by the deadline. His claim was denied on the grounds that he was precluded by the terms of the contract from disputing the judgment and determinations of the Overseer of Works. He was awarded £10,000 on the value of work done. (Cost to the government for their work was around £100,000 and took 18 months.)

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darwent and Dalwood}} Category:Telegraph companies

Darwent & Dalwood

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