WADDAMANA

 

1/ The Waddamana Power Station Museum is in northern central Tasmania. It is nestled in a small valley south of the Great Lake. This is the entrance to the power station museum. It shows a classic, post Victorian style.

2/ The Waddamana Power Station is a large structure. It was powered by the water flowing down the hill from the pipes to the right.

3/ This image shows the main power house from the down pipes view. The white building to the right is a more recent power house that was not open for inspection.

4/ This is a full view of the new power house with its feeder pipes.

5/ These giant pipes once brought water to the huge turbines in the power station from Pensock Lagoon to the north.

6/ This symmetrical view looks up the pipes to show how they bring the water at high speed from the top of the hill.

7/ As you enter the office at Waddamana, are you are greeted by these 1950s paintings of the then young Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Phillip. Pictures like these were popular in government buildings at this time.

8/ The office was outfitted, as it was in the 1920s. It was interesting to see all these old machines in their original business environment.

9/ The engineers' office showed a model engineer in a classic 1920s outfit. Note the extensive use of wood paneling, which really dated this building.

10/ 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 been very noisy.

11/ The turbines of Waddamana have been restored to their original appearance. They ceased operating in 1965.

12/ This "runner" has had its guard removed to reveal its full mechanical appearance.

13/ This turbine has also had its guard removed to show how it was moved by falling water.

14/ This ancient, sexist poster advertised the safety advantages of using a wheel barrow.

15/ This diorama showed how water from the Great Lake was used to power the turbines at Waddamana. This makes the relationship between the lakes and the hydro station very clear.

16/ From the balcony you gained a great view of the turbines. To the left were displays of ancient household machines that used the new electricity.

17/ This stove brought back tears of nostalgia, as my mother had one in the 1950s. She told me many times what an improvement it was from the older wood stove.

18/ In this display are an electric sewing machine and a radio. The radio brought the World into your home and the electric sewing machine was a tremendous time saver.

 

1/ A short walk from the power station brings you to the hamlet. Here the workers lived with their families. There were once many more structures in this hamlet than are extant today.

2/ All the houses were built in the 1920s, so walking amongst them was a time warp experience. The houses are now used by people touring the Great Lakes area. Waddamana is a great place to experience the serenity of the Tasmanian forests.

3/ These larger houses once housed the richer engineers of Waddamana.

4/ These more modest houses once housed the workers.

5/ Note how the houses of the hamlet are surrounded by forest. Waddamana was once a very isolated place. It frequently snows here in the winter.

6/ This empty area once held many portable houses. These were much cheaper constructions than the houses still extant and were long ago removed.

7/ This house belonged to the manager. It was the only one of its kind in the hamlet and was larger with more features

 

1/ This is your first view of the Waddamana Valley. The red building in the centre is the power station. The turbine feeder pipes are located in the forest to the right of the power lines. Recently a wind farm was built to the south of Waddamana.

2/ This is a telephoto view of the wind farm south of Waddamana. There were more than 20 turbines in this wind farm complex.

3/ This channel once took water from Pensock Lagoon to the turbine pipes at Waddamana. The strange colour was caused by the image being taken at sunset.

4/ This is Pensock Lagoon. It was a reservoir created to hold water from the Great Lake for use by the Waddamana Power Station.

5/ This is another view taken at sunset of Pensock Lagoon. This lagoon is popular with anglers.