HERITAGE TASMANIA TASMANIAN HERITAGE COUNCIL October/November 2014
The Back to Waddamana Day. Photo: David Scott
Back to Waddamana Day
The timely inclusion of the Great Lakes Power Hydro Tasmania’s Sustainable Resources Scheme in the Tasmanian Heritage Register earlier Manager, Sandra Hogue, said that Waddamana A this year added to the celebration of the Hydro’s was Tasmania’s first state-owned hydro-electric centenary year in 2014. power station and the first step in the establishment The Back to Waddmana Day on October 26 of a statewide electricity grid. It is important provided an excellent opportunity to reflect on the because of its association with the birth of 'the role of the Waddamana power plants and the Great Hydro' and the push by government to drive Lakes Power Scheme in the course of Hydro- economic growth through hydropower industrialisation in Tasmania’s 20th century history. development. “The listing underscores the important contribution made by ‘the Hydro’ to Tasmania’s social and economic development over the past century, and is a fitting tribute in our centenary year,” Sandra said. The Great Lakes listing includes the two power stations at Waddamana and the adjacent village, as well as Miena Dam and other infrastructure. Member of the Tasmanian Heritage Council, Chris Tassell, said the Great Lakes Scheme including the Waddamana power plants is a tremendously Visitors at the Waddamana important part of Tasmania’s history and highlights Power Station. the story of hydro-industrialisation as a driver for Photo: David economic growth in Tasmania in the 20th century. Scott. “Both Waddamana A and Waddamana B are
substantially intact examples of early 20th century In 1916 power generation began at the hydro-electric power stations in generally good Waddamana A Power Station. Between 1939 and condition, retaining a high degree of integrity in 1949 Waddamana B was built to meet the respect to their construction and equipment. They increasing demand of electricity in Tasmania. are excellent examples of hydro-electric generating technology from 1910 to the 1950s.”
DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES, PARKS, WATER AND ENVIRONMENT GPO BOX 618, HOBART TAS 7001 PHONE: 1300 850 332 (local call cost) | FAX: 6233 3186 EMAIL: [email protected] www.heritage.tas.gov.au
buildings. The warehouse is located in a part of Launceston that was once the focus of intense waterfront trade. It was built in the late 1830s adjacent to a canal and river frontage, which is now reclaimed land. It is important to recognise that approval to develop the C H Smith site issued by the Heritage Council in August 2011 remains in place. From the Heritage Council’s perspective, there is no impediment to the rest of the site being developed while the issues around the Canal Street building are being
resolved. It is understood that permit conditions Tasmanian Heritage Council representative, Chris Tassell, talks to ABC News reporter, Ellen Coulter, about the significance of the Great imposed by the Launceston City Council have Lakes Power Scheme. Photo: David Scott. bound the developer to conserve the heritage “The Heritage Council is pleased to have been able buildings on the site before the development is to collaborate with Hydro Tasmania to enter the completed and retail activities can occur. This is a power scheme in the Heritage Register in time for matter for the Launceston City Council to progress. the centenary celebrations,” Mr Tassell said. The Heritage Council has been working with the Heritage Listed elements of the Great Lake developer, Launceston City Council and State Scheme include Waddamana A and B stations, Government to find a solution to the management Waddamana village, elements of the water supply of the Canal Street building into the future. system including Miena 1 and 2 Dams, Liawenee, In the last financial year 98 per cent of the 207 Waddamana and Shannon canals, Penstock applications made to the Heritage Council were Lagoon, Hilltop Camp and the sites of McAuley’s approved. The Canal Street warehouse was Hut, house and segments of the Red Gate considered too significant to demolish. Tramway. Only Liawenee Canal is still an operating
Hydro asset. Port Arthur and Female Factory finalists in The Waddamana Power Station Museum is open Tasmanian Tourism Awards daily between 10 am and 4 pm. It is closed on Christmas Day and Good Friday. Admission is free. The Port Arthur Historic Site and Cascades Female For further information phone 6259 6105 Factory Historic Site are both finalists in the 2014 Tasmanian Tourism Awards, to be announced in Heritage Council decision – C H Smith site, Hobart in November 2014.
Launceston Port Arthur is a finalist in three categories: Major Tourist Attraction, Heritage and Cultural Tourism; In early October, the Heritage Council refused an and Restaurants and Catering. application to allow the demolition of the Canal Street warehouse (former cordial factory) on the In its first ever entry into the Tourism Awards, the CH Smith site in Launceston. Cascades Female Factory is a finalist in the Tourist Attraction category. The decision was based on evidence provided by the developer, representations made by members The awards will be announced in Hobart on Friday of the community, a sound understanding of the 7 November, with the winners going on to the heritage values of the 1830s Canal Street Australian Tourism Awards in February 2015. warehouse within the context provided by the Historic Cultural Heritage Act 1995 and the
Tasmanian planning system. The Canal Street warehouse and former cordial factory is one of Launceston’s oldest surviving
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Port Arthur steels itself for restablisation − A place for Tasmanians to share and publish untold stories of war, never before seen photos Port Arthur’s most emblematic ruin, the and stowed away memorabilia. Penitentiary, has been the focus of major − A calendar of events that will feature conservation works for the better part of 2014. The commemoration events being held throughout engineering project, which will cost in excess of the Centenary. $7 million, will ensure that the ruin, once the largest − Historical information about Tasmania’s rich building in Tasmania, will endure for generations to military history. come. A critical and much anticipated milestone of the project was realised in October and provided The ‘Tasmania Centenary of ANZAC’ Facebook quite a spectacle as the largest of a series of steel page provides a casual, two-way channel for columns wound their way down to Port Arthur on engaging with the Tasmanian community on the the Arthur Highway. Tasmanian Centenary of ANZAC. You’ll find the The series of 14 steel columns were manufactured pages at: www.centenaryofanzac.tas.gov.au in Kingston, Tasmania by Saunders and Ward. The (website) www.facebook.com/centenaryofanzac largest of these columns, is 12 metres in length and (Facebook) weighs 4.8 tonnes. A local manufacturing workforce of 20 employees is contributing to the conservation New book of historic photographs reveals of the Penitentiary, which is a familiar feature of the remarkable lives of remote Tasmanians World Heritage Listed site. Tasmanian historians Nic Haygarth and Simon Project Manager Lucy Burke Smith said: “The Cubit have drawn on Tasmania’s rich photographic columns are part of a suite of engineering archive to assemble a remarkable book that interventions which will ensure the stability of the showcases 20 historic Tasmanian mountain huts remnant walls and reinterpret the internal spaces and their stories. differently from that of the past 30 years. It will also enhance the visitor experience.” The book features black and white photographs of miners’, hunters’, shepherds’, and piners’ huts from “We deployed staff to capture the spectacle of the shores of Great Lake to the Savage River these enormous structures arriving on site which forests taken between 1900 and 1955. will undoubtedly be a vision like no other seen here at Port Arthur – there is a strong sense of The images, predominantly taken by amateur anticipation and excitement among the team.” photographers, are extraordinary at two levels: The project, due for completion in December this They often depict extraordinary and sometimes year, is an excellent example of the ongoing rare examples of Tasmanian vernacular conservation works to the Port Arthur Historic Site architecture. They include, for example, the hybrid and how it combines progressive engineering tent huts use by osmiridium miners on the Nineteen practice with excellence in conservation. Mile Creek field near Waratah and perhaps the first known photographs of skin sheds, special buildings
invented in Tasmania to dry skins to supply to the international fur trade. Centenary of ANZAC website and Facebook page are now live But the images are also extraordinary for what they reveal about early Tasmanian life. The huts they The official Centenary of ANZAC website and feature are symbols of the endeavour, hope, Facebook page have been launched. The website ingenuity and perseverance of people trying to is a hub of Centenary of ANZAC commemoration make a living in remote, challenging environments. activities and information for Tasmanians. It includes: − An interactive timeline that shows significant Tasmanian and Australian historic involvement in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations since the Federation of Australia in 1901. Heritage Bulletin: October/November 2014 3
About the authors Simon Cubit has a PhD in history from the University of Tasmania. The focus of much of his research and writing has been human activity in the band of high country from the Central Plateau to Cradle Mountain. His broad-ranging interests, from high country characters, land use practices and architecture, are reflected in his popular ‘Mountain Stories’ blog. Mountain huts have a special attraction and were the subject of his most recent book, the classic Tasmanian High Country Huts (2013) with Des Murray. Nic Haygarth also has a PhD in history from the University of Tasmania at which he is an honorary Stockman Jacky Brown and his wife, Linda (nee Broomhall) and associate. A prolific published author, he is children at Middlesex Station near Cradle Mountain. Photo: by Henry passionate about the rural, regional and remote Montgomery supplied by Nic Haygarth. areas of Tasmania including the mining fields and high country. His books include The Wild Ride: Thus we have the example of Margaret Brandum, Revolutions That Shaped Tasmanian Black and shepherd’s wife at Great Lake determined to beat White Wilderness Photography (2008) and A the terrible isolation of her post during the 1880s by Peopled Frontier: the European Heritage of the building a remarkable library; of the Davis brothers Tarkine Area (2008). ‘following the phantom’ by thinking they could farm the snow prone Vale of Belvoir in 1903; of Linda Brown, the child bride facing the prospect of raising Just Tassie Books move to Campbell Town children in the unforgiving remoteness of Middlesex Much-loved specialist bookshop Just Tassie Books Plains in 1901; and Arthur Youd, called the 'King of now has a fitting new home in the heart of the Snarers’ by his peers, for his resilience, Tasmania. toughness and skill as a high country hunter. Formerly of Hobart, Just Tassie Books has These stories of Tasmanians, both unknown and relocated to Campbell Town in the Northern forgotten, reveal the lives of ordinary people who Midlands, and is settling into the well-established by any contemporary measure lived quite Book Cellar, beneath The Foxhunters Return. The extraordinary lives. atmospheric arches of convict-built stone cellars are a backdrop that does justice to the depth and breadth of the books on offer. Just Tassie Books at The Book Cellar now offers the largest collection of Tasmanian books available for sale… both old and new. Books are by Tasmanians, about Tasmania, of Tassie families, or with a Tasmanian twist. With the move, many highly sought after books that were previously quarantined in Just Tassie Book’s private collection have been released to the market. “We’re hoping to be the first place to go for people looking for any Tasmanian book, including hard-to- find Tassie titles,” says bookshop proprietor Michael Roach. “Visitors to Campbell Town are intrigued by the memorial convict brick trail which Heritage Bulletin: October/November 2014 4
begins outside our door at the Red Bridge. They Events often seek additional information on Tasmanian convict and family connections… our strong “As much as they can gorge”: Strategies of collection of local Tasmanian history books can colonial containment and Indigenous help in this regard.” mobility at Oyster Cover Aboriginal Station in Tasmania Professional Historians Association and the Tasmania Archive and Heritage Office Public Lecture Series Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, Ground floor, 91 Murray St (LINC Tasmania) 1 pm to 2 pm, Thursday 6 November 2014
This talk by Krystyn Harmen examines the strategies of containment, including the issuing of food and other rations, the implementation of a system of official visitors and the provision of an onsite overseer and his family. It explores the mobility of the Aboriginal inhabitants at Oyster Cove. RSVPs are essential. To book your place please contact Caroline Evans at [email protected] A fine collection of books in a historic setting. Photo courtesy of Just Tassie Books. History of telecommunications
Launceston Historical Society Campbell Town has long been a favoured stopping Meeting Room, QVMAG Museum at Inveresk place for travellers between the north and south of 2 pm, Sunday 16 November 2014 the State. The Book Cellar ticks all the boxes … fabulous books to browse while stretching your This talk by Steve Radford will cover the history of legs, great coffee (and loos too!) the manual and electric telegraph, the development of the telephone, and the discovery of radio waves The Book Cellar provides a bookshop experience which led to the invention of electronic devices and that is worth going out of your way for. It is open the modern communications revolution. The seven days a week. development of telephone services in Australia, For further information contact Michael Roach, and especially in Tasmania, will be discussed in phone 6381 1602 or 0414 369 837 or email some detail up to the 1990s. Steve Radford was a [email protected]. technician with the PMG Department from 1963. In 1972 he transferred to the Department of Civil Aviation as a Flight Service Officer and worked Hydro Tasmania’s newsletter across Australia. Hydro Tasmania’s latest newsletter about cultural After the talk the new book Around the Block: heritage can be found at Launceston, Tasmania - 1966 to 1978 will be http://www.hydro.com.au/about- launched by Richard Mulvaney, Director of the us/publications/cultural-heritage QVMAG. Everyone is welcome. Christmas afternoon tea will be served. For further information email [email protected]. If you would like to contribute information, advertise an upcoming event, subscribe to receive this newsletter via email, or This will be followed by a Mini Book Fair with books cancel your subscription, please contact Robyn Shaw, by Launceston Historical Society members on sale. Communications Co-ordinator, on 6165 3702 or [email protected]
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