Gayndah MEG
The staff and volunteers of Gayndah Museum recently formed
a MEG. The museum is located in Simon Street, Gayndah, which
is the main shire town of Gayndah Shire in the South Burnett
region and has five historical buidlings in its complex.
One of the main
attractions is a working historical sawmill complete with
steam engine. The Marshall engine in the sawmill was tested
in England on 18 September 1924. The boiler was shipped to
Australia and re-tested on 16 May 1933 after being sold to
the Cracow Gold Mine for 1,000 pounds. The engine was transported
by sea to Rockhampton and then went by rail to Theodore. Using
teams of horses, it is claimed to have taken six weeks to
travel the remaining 30 miles from Theodore to Cracow. It
was operational in Cracow until 1963. In March 1973, it was
moved to Gayndah, this time using a low-loaded and a dozer
and was steaming again for the Gayndah Orange Festival later
that year.
Gayndah Electricity
Supply
There
was a mixture of private companies and local government authorities
supplying electricity to towns in the first decade or so of
the twentieth century.
In Gayndah
in April 1915, Mr. E. J. Redmond of Bundaberg, with the Gayndah
Shire Council's approval, applied for and received an Order
to supply electricity to Gayndah. However, he found that it
was difficult to raise capital and acquire machinery, which
led to the Federal Treasurer advising him not to begin the
project during wartime. Eventually, in January 1917, he was
able to form the Gayndah Electric Light Company Ltd. The next
stage was to gain government permission for overhead wiring
in the town. He also required an extension to his Order to
allow him to fulfil his obligations. It was not until the
second half of 1918 that he completed the mains and supplied
electricity to the town of Gayndah
There
were troubled times ahead for the company. In 1928, the shire
clerk wrote to the government complaining that the Gayndah
Electric Light Company was inefficient to the extent that
local businesses were being forced to install private plants.
The owner of the company explained that his plant was not
functioning properly due to lack of funds and claimed that
he owed $2,500. The supply to the town continued to deteriorate
and in February 1929, it was sold to Mr. F. W. Bestman from
Gympie. However, it is claimed that his machinery was old
and the installations and fittings were poor, which led to
the government's Electrical Engineer, Mr. J. Grier threatening
to withdraw permission to operate the undertaking. Nevertheless,
it seems that the feeling at the time was that a bad supply
was better than none at all and the company was given another
chance.
(Edited
by Dr. J. King. Source: Thomis, M. (1987) A History of the
Electricity Supply Industry in Queensland ( Brisbane : Boolarong
Publications) Volume 2, p. 93 and p.145)
In October 1938, the
Gayndah Shire Council purchased the electricity supply undertaking
from Mr. Bestman. An application was submitted to extend the
supply area to include the whole shire. The Council placed
an order for additional generating plant to cope with the
planned extension of the supply area. The order was for one
75-kva Harland alternator, which could be belt driven from
existing Ruston suction gas engines and one 62.5-kva E.C.C.
motor generator set.
The distribution system
in 1939 was 240 volts d.c. and when available, 415/240 volts,
50-cycle, three-phase a.c. The system was in the process of
changing over from d.c. to a.c. supply.
In 1939 there were
970 people living in the supply area and out of this number,
192 were electricity consumers.
( Source: Tait's
Electrical Directory , 1939-1940, p.182. QEM Archive)
Gayndah Powerhouse
Switchboard. QEM Archive.
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