Hailed as Australia's most ambitious engineering feat of the 19th century, the 150th anniversary of the connection of the Overland Telegraph line was celebrated yesterday.

150 years ago the connection of two wires in the remote location of Frew Ponds, about 660km south of Darwin in the Northern Territory, revolutionised communication between Australia and the rest of the world.

Around 130 people including dignitaries, historians, descendants of workers and members of the community gathered at the original joining pole yesterday to honour the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line that crossed the continent from Adelaide to Darwin.

"There has always been a unique and close bond between Territorians and South Australians, and I think there is no clearer representation of that link than the Overland Telegraph line, which marked its 150th anniversary," the Administrator of the Northern Territory, Vicki O'Halloran, said.

Mrs O'Halloran had travelled to Frew Ponds together with Frances Adamson AC, the Governor of South Australia, to recognise the 'historic occasion'.

She said the connection of the wires marked 'a major turning point in our country's history and the connection of our nation and its people'.

"The completion of the Overland Telegraph saw the start of many industries that still make up the fabric of life in the Territory, and the ongoing advancement of telecommunications has made modern day life in the bush and remote parts of the country possible," she said.

"The story of the Overland Telegraph line isn't one for the Northern Territory nor is it one for South Australia - it is a shared story of a shared endeavour and a shared purpose."

NT Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Chansey Paech, said the joining of the two telegraph lines at Frew Ponds 150 years ago was 'a historically momentous occasion that shaped the economic and social prosperity of the Northern Territory and reformed Australia by breaking its isolation from the rest of the world'.

"Back in the day, the completion of Overland Telegraph Line was as exciting and pertinent to the worldwide communication landscape as the more recent arrival of the internet," Mr Paech said.

"The vibe would have been amazing.

"The many tales of tenacity and toil; tears, triumph and tragedy that ran along the wire continue to bear witness to the strength and commitment of those who worked so hard, in adverse and extreme conditions to connect our country to the rest of the world."

In 1872 the so-called 'whispering line' connected to a subsea cable from Port Darwin to Java and beyond to England - launching a revolutionary telegraphic network that enabled Australia to communicate with the world within hours rather than months - four years before the telephone was patented.

More than 3000 kilometres long, the Overland Telegraph Line was made up of 36,000 telegraph poles, insulators, pins and many tonnes of wire, with eleven repeater stations along the route boosting the signal.

Today, the Frew Ponds area, which features the original joining pole and dozens of Oppenheimer telegraph poles, is a declared heritage site.

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