Pat Martin, Eucla Ruins at Sunset (February theme: Amazing places)

Before the telegraph came, communication between Western Australia and the rest of the nations took months, but when the Eucla telegraph line and manual repeater station were established in 1877, transmitting messages only took a few seconds. There used to be a bustling town here but its original location was abandoned due to the rabbit plague that infested the area in the 1890s; the vegetation that kept the sand dunes together was eaten and the town gradually disappeared under the sand. Its ruins are still visible.

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