The Peake is the Anna Creek outstation.

Because of the size of Anna Creek the Peake, which is about 70 kilometres south of Ooodnadatta has its own staff although ringers come and go between the two centres.

This photo was taken not far from the old Telegraph Station. Details about the station and what it looks like today cane be seen here

140 years ago this building must have seemed like an outstation on the moon.

Even today it takes a 4-wheel drive vehicle to get the last few kilometres to it. Back then the trip would have been of astronomical proportions.

This is the Peake Telegraph station, constructed as part of a commutations network that crossed the Australian continent from north to south.

The Peake is an outstation on Anna Creek Station, the world’s largest cattle property run by the S. Kidman Company.

I did the photography for a story on Anna Creek for the R.M. Williams Outback magazine back in March this year.

The telegraph station is on this section of the property. It’s just south of Oodnadatta on the Ooodnadatta Track.

Two things stand out about this old telegraph station. The first – how substantial the buildings are. The second – the beauty of the surround landscape.

It was one of 12 repeater stations between Adelaide and Darwin and its completion brought Australia closer into contact with London via telegrams when news could arrive in around 24 hours instead of months.

Getting back to my point about an expedition to the moon….back in 1872 or thereabouts when the telegraph line opened between Adelaide and Darwin this was remote in the extreme. To get here people had to cover some of the most rugged and dangerous country in the world and be completely self sufficient at the same time.

36,000 poles and 3,200 kilometres of wire were used to link the two cities at a time when explorers had only just before passed through or died only a few years before.

A project of epic proportions.

Looking at tombstones in the bush is an interesting pastime……there’s always a story behind every one.

A case in point is the grave of Benjamin Daggett, accidentally shot in the kitchen of the Anna Creek station homestead in outback South Australia back in April 1883.

“Erected by his friends and fellow workmen” says the inscription.

No mention of cheating in a game of cards that’s rumoured to have led to the shooting.

The details lost in the the sands of time.

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Thanks to all those people who sent me emails with best wishes for the opening of my Lake Eyre exhibition. It was a successful evening with lots of positive feed back from those who attended.

Everyone enjoyed themselves…..a relaxed group, a great meal and entertainment provided by local musiician and songwriter John O’Dea which went into the early hours next morning.

I’ll spare you the pictures.

It might have been a mild summer and it certainly went out on a soggy note but I’m not finished with it yet.

Shooting in summer, particularly in the early morning or late afternoon can often produce really vivid colours.

However photographing outside of these times, particularly in the middle of the day brings dramatic tones that illustrate the harsh summer conditions of Outback South Australia.

Old ruins, like these at Partacoona station between Quorn and Hawker in the Flinders Ranges show how hard life would have been for the early settlers.

Not even a tree for shade.

Some old fences are just standing out for a photograph.

The wooden posts seem to get more texture with age.They go in all sorts of crazy angles, the wire adding to the chaos.

In this digital age colour rules, but sometimes it takes away from what the photo is all about.

That’s where black and white still has a real place in photography.

It allows the viewer to focus on what is the real story.

f22, 1/40th sec, ISO 200 hand held. Focal length 180mm

Taken at Nilpena Station, northern Flinders Ranges adjacent to the iconic and now disused wool shed.