Thanks for posting the 1901 map. I'm amazed at the extent of the network back then.
Of course, in 1901, each of those lines was measured in (low double-digit) words per minute. Now the metric is more like feature films per second. And the word "cable" once again means a communication line, not a message transferred over one.
I do find it impressive that Australia was more or less connected to the rest of the world by telecommunications in 1872 once the overland telegraph line was completed. The US was only connected reliably connected to Europe about six years earlier in 1866. So not a bad effort given the vaster geographic distances to span between Europe and Australia.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/1901_East...
And somewhat related, a wonderful book called The Victorian Internet:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0802716040/
If you ever wondered whether the Internet really is a "series of tubes", here are the tubes:
http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/f...
That photo is from an interesting article (by my namesake James Geary) about undersea cables:
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-03/who-protects-i...
Enjoy! :-)