Memories from Jane, 29
Electricity
made a significant impact on my life for a number of reasons.
It meant debt, silence, links to the outside world – the phone
and travel.
Electricity
came to my family's property in Western Queensland in 1988.
That was the year I was in grade 7, it was Expo 88 and my
Mum was in Brisbane studying for her Child Health certificate,
so my Dad was my Home Tutor.
1988
was a significant year we got the phone and the power on our
property. The phone just beat the power. However, it was all
very exciting as we went from a party line to a real telephone
and we went from starting a generator to silence, knowing
that when I flick a switch light would still come on.
How
does travel and electricity fit together? Well in my case
very easily, my Dad has many skills. However to name a few
he is a grazier, Dad, home tutor and a qualified electrical
contractor and, I might add, the only one for roughly a 300km
radius around our property.
With
this in mind it meant that Dad and I travelled to many properties
in the Aramac and Jericho shires in 1988 to wire the houses,
sheds and bores to enable everyone to use electricity.
It
meant that my classroom was different everyday and that I
got to meet many lovely people and check out many properties.
Usually when the work was done, the owners and Dad would start
talking about cattle, and this would lead to a trip down the
paddock for a closer look.
Silence
and electricity are an easy fit, however in my family there
is a bit of a laugh to add. The day that the electricity was
switched on my Mum had her longest sleep in. It was about
11am when Dad went into Mum and Dad's bedroom and said to
my Mum, “are you getting up today?” and Mum replied “I am
waiting for you to switch on the generator so that I can do
the washing.” The generator usually goes on about 7a.m. Dad
chuckled and said “the power has been on since midnight.”
Debt, it is not just the quarterly power bill that we all
dread in the mail, debt was the cost of the electricity to
come to our property. $21,000 and back in the late 80s when
drought was upon us, that was a lot of money however an essential
investment to my parents. This meant that two years later
when the toil of the drought and interest rates were breaking
us we leased our property and went to work elsewhere until
the time was right to come home. It took ten years before
my parents were able to come home. I know that we were the
fortunate ones as some property owners who are still trying
to get the power on are paying upwards of $100,000 and it
has been said some are paying much more.
Electricity
does not come without its problems such as the summer blackouts
after storms. As our property is the last on the line we are
guaranteed to loose power at some stage. This has meant the
old generator has been kept in service and we go out and crank
her up when we need to. We all take electricity for granted.
However I thank my parents for their forward thinking and
risk taking as electricity has made our lives better for the
adventures that it has provided.
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