Longreach Powerhouse History
Longreach
Powerhouse was constructed in 1921 following four years of
frustrated agitation by the Shire Council in an attempt to
obtain a generating license and a State Government building
loan. In part, the delay was caused by the insistence of the
Longreach councillors that the planned powerhouse should be
larger than the one at Barcaldine, which was the only town
in the Central-west at that time to have a generating station.
Eagle
Street, the present CBD, was alight with electric lights ready
for the Christmas celebrations in 1921. Residential premises
were connected soon after. At first, electricity was used
only for lighting purposes. As electric household appliances
became available in Longreach from about 1925, the most popular
items for local homes were irons, toasters and kettles. However,
it was later in the 1950s that these and other electric appliances
became more affordable to everyone.
The
Longreach Powerhouse generated current in DC mode and was
set to run for 24 hours each day. The council did economise
– often the engines were unattended from around midnight through
the early hours of the morning. Power was also shut off on
moonlit nights when it was thought that residents could use
the ‘free light' of the moon to go about their business.
The
original powerhouse used charcoal gas to power the generating
engines. Timber was plentiful and labourers were easy to find.
However, during the Second World War, there were not so many
people available to work. At that time, the Shire Council
had to call for volunteers to cut and charcoal timber. Power
outages were frequent.
By
1952, the local timber was becoming sparse. The powerhouse
was converted to run on coal gas – the first known use of
this form of energy in the electricity industry in Australia
.
DC
current gave way to AC in 1956. Coal gas was supplanted by
diesel engines in 1971. Both changes came about by the increased
demand for electricity for the town and the expanding rural
network. Generating costs escalated steeply after 1974. The
powerhouse ceased to generate in September 1985 when electric
power was delivered to the region from the state grid via
a transmission line, which originated at Gladstone Power Station.
Later
Stanwell Power Station became the source of power for Longreach
and the surrounding area. Until an upgrade in 1998, this line
was subject to frequent and lengthy outages caused by wind
and storm activity along its length.
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