The WADDAMANA Hydro Museum
WADDAMANA is a unique, hydro museum in northern central Tasmania. It is easy to reach and can be accessed by anyone. Here you can tour a real hydro electric station with all of the machinery still in place and read the explanation panels. There are no facilities at Waddamana, but there is accommodation at the workers hamlet.
Waddamana is just south of the A5 Highland Lakes Highway between Miena on the Great Lake and Bothwell in the south east. It is about 20 minutes south east of Miena on a gravel road into the wilderness, so this orientation is based on the locality of Miena.
From MIENA you are 50 minutes from DERWENT BRIDGE and DELORAINE. You are 60 minutes from WESTBURY, BOTHWELL, DEVONPORT and FRENCHMANS CAP.
Nearby places are described in the CENTRAL MOUNTAINS REGION, DELORAINE, GREAT LAKE, BOTHWELL, DERWENT BRIDGE, WESTBURY, DEVONPORT and the FRENCHMANS CAP information pages.
View Region Central Mountains of Tasmania in a larger map
FACILITIES: There is only a museum at Waddamana. However there is accommodation at the Waddamana Field Study Centre: Telephone: (03) 6259 6158 This is the old, restored hamlet of Waddamana. The nearest stores, cafes, hotels and petrol pumps are at MIENA and at DERWENT BRIDGE.
TOURIST information telephone (03) 6259 6158 or contact www.hydro.com.au/community/waddamana-museum
SIGHTS: Waddamana was the first hydro electric power station in Tasmania and it is now a museum. It has restored equipment and displays teaching you about the early days of hydro power in Tasmania. Best of all admittance is free. If you interested in photographing ancient machines, then you will find Waddamana a rewarding experience.
Next to the old hydro station is the old workers' hamlet. This is a time warp of the 1920s, when it was built. When you walk down the old streets, you can easily think that you are back in the 1920s. It is now a field study, accommodation site for groups studying the local area. Near Waddamana are:
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PENSTOCK LAGOON is just North of Waddamana. This is a popular fishing spot for Tasmanians.
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BRONZE SCULPTURES are at the Steppes Hamlet, just West of Waddamana on the A5 Highland Lakes Highway.
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ARTHURS LAKE is a popular fishing spot for Tasmanians. It is just north of Waddamana.
ROUTES: From the A5 Highland Lakes Highway drive east to a minor road C178, which is just south east of the GREAT LAKE. Then turn south west onto C178, a gravel road, which takes you to Waddamana about 17 kilometres to the south.
You can continue south east on C178, Waddamana Road, as it rejoins the A5 about 25 kilometres further south and then goes on to BOTHWELL. Beyond Bothwell the A5 joins the A1 Midland Highway, which goes on to HOBART.
Click to see the LARGER PHOTO GALLERY.
- MUSEUM
- HAMLET
1/ The Waddamana Power Station Museum is in northern central Tasmania. It is nestled in a small valley south of the Great Lake. The red building to the right is the old power station that is now a museum. The hamlet is hidden to the left of the pylons.
2/ This is the entrance to the Waddamana power station museum. It shows a classic, post Victorian style.
3/ The Waddamana power station is a large structure. It was powered by the water falling down the pipes from the hill to the right.
4/ These giant pipes once brought water to the huge turbines in the Waddamana power station from the Great Lake to the north.
5/ As you enter the office of the Waddamana museum, you are greeted by these 1950s paintings of the then young Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Phillip. Pictures like these were popular in buildings at this time.
6/ The Waddamana office was outfitted, as it was in the 1920s. It was good to see all these old business machines in their original working environment.
7/ The Waddamana engineers' office featured a model engineer dress in an outfit of the 1920s. The extensive use of wood paneling is obvious in this office. The whole business area was similar.
8/ As you walked into the shed, you are confronted by these rows of giant turbines. The control station was in the enclosed, wooden balcony to the right. It must have once been very noisy in the shed.
9/ The turbines at Waddamana have been restored to their original appearance. They ceased operating in 1965.
10/ This "runner" has had its guard removed to reveal its full mechanical appearance.
11/ This turbine has also had its guard removed to show how it was moved by falling water. This helps people to understand how the Waddamana turbines worked.
12/ This old poster at Waddamana had an ancient, sexist theme that advertised the safety advantages in using a wheel barrow.
13/ This diorama showed how water from the Great Lake was used to power the turbines at Waddamana.
14/ From the balcony you gained a great view of the many turbines below you. To the left were displays of ancient household machines that used the new electricity.
15/ Early electrical machines were also on display at Waddamana. This early electric stove was state of the art for kitchen machinery in the 1940s. It represented a tremendous leap forward from the old wood stove that grandma used.
16/ This old stove at Waddamana brought back tears of nostalgia, as my mother had one in the 1950s. She used to tell me how superior it was to the old wood stove.
17/ In this display are an electric sewing machine and a radio. The radio brought the World into your home, while the electric sewing machine was a tremendous time saver.
1/ Just south of the Waddamana power station is a small hamlet that once housed the workers and their families. All the houses were built in the 1920s, so walking amongst them was a time warp experience.
2/ These larger houses probably once housed the richer engineers of Waddamana. There were only a few of them.
3/ These more modest houses were once the best thing that a worker could hope to own. There were many houses like these at Waddamana.
4/ This larger house were probably the home of a more successful worker at Waddamana. The glassed balcony was later added.
5/ This empty area once held the many portable houses of Waddamana. These were much cheaper constructions than the houses shown above.
6/ This very large house most probably belonged to the manager of Waddamana. It was the only one of its kind in the hamlet.
7/ It was very easy to imagine the Waddamana workers playing football and cricket on this oval in the olden days. Looking down on them were the peaks of the misty mountains of the Southern Highlands.