The installation was carried out by James Cromyn under directions forwarded from England by his uncle Alexander Graham Bell, an early developer of the telephone.
The Balranald railway line was a Victorian Railways broad gauge line that branched from Barnes on the Deniliquin railway line and ran to Balranald.
The newspaper has a circulation of 5,000 and services the areas of Hay, Booligal, Balranald and Ivanhoe.
Penarie is situated at a junction on the road between Balranald and Ivanhoe, where a branch road leads to Oxley.