Eyre Telegraph Station, Former telegraph repeater station in Nuytsland Nature Reserve, Western Australia
The Eyre Telegraph Station is a ruined communications facility on Western Australia's coast, featuring limestone walls, timber-framed verandahs, and iron roofing. The building stands within the Nuytsland Nature Reserve near the Nullarbor Plain cliffs.
The first telegraph line between Adelaide and Albany was built in 1875–1877, and a modest wooden repeater station stood here. The present limestone building replaced it in 1897, staffed by a Telegraph Master and assistants. After 50 years of service the station closed in 1927 and stood abandoned until 1977, when the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union restored it as the Eyre Bird Observatory.
The station's name comes from Edward John Eyre, who found water at the nearby sand patch in 1841 and rested three weeks during his 3,200 km coastal journey. From 1977 the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, now BirdLife Australia, ran the building as the Eyre Bird Observatory, Australia's first, and birders still work and stay here.
The station sits 49 km south of Cocklebiddy, reached by a rough track off the Eyre Highway; allow time for the slow, sandy final stretch. The building lies below the Nullarbor escarpment among mallee and dunes, so carry your own water, fuel and food, as no supplies are available nearby.
The building was later converted into the Eyre Bird Observatory, Australia's first birdwatching facility. Today it draws birders who document rare species passing over this remote coastal area.
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