Samuel Walker McGowan (born 4 January 1829 in
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...
,
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
- died 18 April 1887
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
) was a scientist and public servant who oversaw the creation of the first
electrical telegraph
Electrical telegraphy is point-to-point distance communicating via sending electric signals over wire, a system primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most wid ...
line in the
Southern Hemisphere.
That first telegraph line in Australia ran from Melbourne to
Williamstown.
Legacy
In 1872
Mount McGowanwas named by
Charles Todd after his Victorian counterpart, while surveying the
Overland Telegraph Line
The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was an electrical telegraph system for sending messages the between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Completed in 1872 (with a li ...
. After his untimely passing in 1887, his former staff commissioned a stained glass window in his parish church, the Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Balaclava with plaque inscribed "In memory of Samuel Walker McGowan, Deputy Postmaster General of Victoria, one of the vestry of this parish . . .
In 1982, McGowan Place, Dickson, Canberra was named in his memory
See also
*
Postmaster-General's Department
The Postmaster-General's Department (PMG) was a department of the Australian federal government, established at Federation in 1901, whose responsibilities included the provision of postal and telegraphic services throughout Australia. It was ...
Further reading
* Wikibooks contributors. ''History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia, Biographies, Samuel Walker McGowan'' (Wikibooks, The Free Textbook Project
* Wikibooks contributors. ''History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia, Biographies, William Philip Bechervaise'' (Wikibooks, The Free Textbook Project
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGowan, Samuel
1829 births
1887 deaths
Public servants of Victoria (state)