Chapter 1 Waddamana - The Beginning

The Aboriginal meaning of the word 'Waddamana' is noisy water. To Tasmanians 60 years ago it meant a village and power station in the central highlands, the beginning of an industrial Tasmania and the first step on the ladder of development for the Hydro-Electric Commission.

The idea of using the water of the central highlands to generate electricity was born in the minds of four gentlemen soon after the turn of the century. Each played a part in the story which led to the Government forming the Hydro-Electric Department. The full story is well written elsewhere, but briefly it is as follows. The four gentlemen were Professor Alex McAulay, a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Tasmania; Mr Harold Bisdee, a landowner and grazier in the highlands area; Mr James Gillies, a metallurgist and mining engineer who was proposing to use the electricity generated to extract metals from complex ores; and Mr G. Brettingham-Moore, a civil engineer.

Professor McAulay, who was the father of Professor Leicester McAulay also of the University of Tasmania, built a summer cottage called Kanna Leena on some land on the upper reaches of the Shannon River, adjacent to property owned by the Bisdees. The families had been friends for many years, roaming this 'roof of the world' area on foot and on horseback during the summer vacations, with Harold Bisdee taking delight in showing the Professor the features of the countryside. Although Mr Bisdee was to dispute this later, it would appear to have been the Professor's idea to divert the water from the Shannon River into the Ouse, thus utilising the 'head' to run a turbine.

About this time Mr Gillies arrived in Tasmania seeking an abundant source of electricity to supply his new process of extraction. He was introduced to the Professor, and to Mr Brettingham-Moore, who was asked to examine the proposal in detail, and plans were developed to build a power station on the banks of the Ouse River. When the scheme was declared both feasible and economical, the next step was to obtain finance to proceed.

In 1908 an approach was made to the State Government asking them to carry out the work, with the power being purchased from them. The Premier, Hon J. W. Evans (later Sir John Evans) supported this idea, but the Government rejected it as being too costly. They did however grant Mr Gillies' Victorian company, the Complex Ores, Ltd, the right to use the water of the Shannon and Ouse rivers together with the Great Lake for the generation of electrical power. Complex Ores, Ltd set up a smaller Tasmanian company, the Hydro-Electric Power and Metallurgical Co Ltd, which raised some money on the stock market in London as well as on the mainland so that work could begin.

The McAulay family, who were by now very involved with the plans of the new company spent most of their holidays at Kanna Leena, sharing activities with the Bisdee family just along the road at Wihareia, this unusual name being derived from the first two letters of the names of the Bisdee brothers, Winchester, Harold, Reginald and Jack. Many of the visitors investigating the scheme stayed with the McAulays while in the area. One of these, Mr John Henry Butters, was an electrical engineer. He had been very impressed with the idea when working with Messrs. Siemens Bros who were asked to survey its feasibility. He offered his services to Mr Gillies, and was appointed Engineer in Chief. He became a frequent visitor to Kanna Leena so it is not surprising that Mrs McAulay was asked by him to perform the ceremony to signify the beginning of the scheme or that the McAulays offered Kanna Leena as the first headquarters for the engineers who came to the area.

Click to enlarge map

This, then, was the beginning. On a dry December day in 1910, watched by a small group of people Mrs McAulay turned the first sod and declared the scheme open. It had not been a grand opening but it matched the scale of the finances of the Company.

It is hard now to visualise what conditions would have been like in 1910 in the highlands. The countryside itself has not changed greatly. It was a mixture of timbered areas and grazing land, but with none of the thick rainforest encountered by pioneers on the West Coast. It was however, largely untamed and travelling was difficult. It was a two day trip from Hobart, by train to Apsley, and from there by coach or horseback to Bothwell. After an overnight stop the journey continued along the road from Bothwell, up Bakers Tier to Steppes, over St Patricks Plains towards Great Lake. A track barely discernible in its construction branched off to Wihareja. The nearest shop was at Bothwell, over 20 miles away. All requirements were brought from there on a dray. It was, and still is, a lonely, uncompromising part of the State.

Work on the Great Lake scheme began in two sections. A canal was to be built from the Shannon to take the water to Penstock Lagoon, and from there a pipeline would lead to the Power Station. At the other end, a start was made on the tramway to lead from Red Gate on the Bothwell road, to the site of the Power Station 17 miles away. The work on the canal was all done with a pick and shovel, explosives breaking up the ground.

 

Bullock teams working on the canal from Shannon River to Penstock Lagoon 1911

Initially bullock teams, then later teams of horses helped to move the large rocks. The work was hard and the men needed to be tough, not only for the work, but to survive the conditions. They lived in tents and were responsible for their own cooking and general welfare. Advertisements were placed in papers all over the State for labour. Hammer and drill men, wooden tramway construction men, pick and shovel men and stone builders were all offered work with wages ranging from 8s to 9s a day for labourers, up to 13s a day for stone builders. Additional inducements were offered in the form of camping equipment obtainable at the works with 'good money being earned under comfortable conditions'. Some of the men who joined the Company at the time recall the conditions and one in particular remembered walking from Deloraine to Kanna Leena with his brothers looking for a job. It was a two day walk for them over the Great Western Tiers. He must have found the conditions acceptable as he remained for some time, returning after the First World War and indeed continuing to live in the area until the Second World War.

Much of the money earned by the men found its way to the Bothwell hotels. Occasional sporting events were also organised to encourage them to make the journey. The men from the Company even formed a football team which challenged the locals in 1911. Unfortunately no record exists of who won, but undoubtedly the publicans did a roaring trade that day.

 Three families of engineers moved into Kanna Leena to supervise the work. Since only limited accommodation was available a second house, Lenn Parenna close to the site of the later Shannon Power Station was rented from the owner, another friend of the Bisdee family. Conditions in the camps were unsuitable for women, but the engineers' families moved into the area. 

Apart from the fact that her house was occupied, Mrs McAulay became rather disenchanted with the Company as the area she loved so well was rapidly being disfigured. The Bisdee family however continued their involvement for some time.

The city offices of the Hydro-Electric Power and Metallurgical Co Ltd were a suite of rooms in the old Australian Mutual Provident building.  Mr H. Bonniwell, who worked there, recalled organising the first pay for the men building the tramway to the Power Station at Waddamana.

Mr Butters returned from a visit to Red Gate with a list of the men's names together with the hours worked. He told me to get the pay made up and let him have the money as he would be returning there in two days time. I was told to pay them at the usual rate, but the overtime rate was left up to me. I was also told that the food was obtained in Bothwell by the foreman, Bully Hayes, and I was to charge the men 1/- for each meal A few hours later I was able to tell Mr Butters that the pay came to £600 odd.- He produced a cheque for me to fill in. When asked who was going to check the pay sheet the reply was that he would have to rely on me. I went to the Bank of Australasia, where the teller gave me the silver and copper, and then took me downstairs to the vault for the gold. We were admitted to the vault by a man named Bill, who, when told that I wanted six hundred of the golden sovereigns piled on the floor, picked up a square mouth shovel and in true 'pick and shovel' style, drove it into the shining pyramid and emptied it onto the scales.
After a bit of backing and filling the teller pointed to the scoop and told me that there was my £600. In response to my query as to how was I to know that there was the right amount, I was told that I could sit and count them if I wished, but the teller was going upstairs. I thought if it was good enough for him it was good enough for me, so picking up my scoopful of sovereigns I left the bank.

The country over which the tramway was laid was comparatively level, with no gradient of more than 1 in 11, with that being on the downhill slope for heavy loads. There was one bridge at the beginning over the Shannon, with several small passing places (loops) but the cost of £250 per mile was considered cheap and considering the loads it was to carry, was a very reasonable investment. There was a depot on the Bothwell road at Red Gate with stables near a mid-point of the trip being constructed later. There was no other access to Waddamana except on horseback or on foot.

Meanwhile in the highlands the engineers' families and the men in tent camps worked hard, though for the families it was not all hard times. They organised entertainments among themselves and explored the bush, which was new to them. The Bisdee family considered itself responsible for the area in some way, and made accommodation available for a curate, Mr Sigismund Woolley and his mother. Mr Woolley looked after the religious needs of the Company men. He was a conscientious worker who rode around the camps frequently. He was a smallish man with a florid face and deeply set intensely blue eyes. He held the first service in the area on September 16, 1912, with succeeding ones at monthly intervals except for one occasion where the record reveals vicar could not attend - horse ill.

Waddamana football team 1911

In addition to overseeing the religious needs of the district, the Bisdee family took advantage of the local conditions. Mr Bisdee opened a temporary store by driving to Bothwell himself to purchase the goods, which he then resold to the men from a hut near Kanna Leena. His nephew Athol supplied meat to the men in the camps by riding round once a week taking orders, and returning the next week with supplies, mostly obtained from stock on the family property at Wihareja.

The job of keeping the peace at this time was held by Trooper Edward Copplestone. He had been in the area since 1901 and was stationed at Great Lake. His job was mainly to keep an eye on the trapping and skinning of animals in the area, but as an ex-shepherd he was well suited to the job. He managed to win favour with the authorities for his diligence in obtaining a conviction in relation to the earmarking of sheep, His round was considerably altered by the advent of the construction works, with camps springing up along the route of the canal as well as at the Power House site.

In 1912 after a severe winter the Company temporarily ran out of money for the work. All activity ceased in the area for four months, which put an end to the Bisdee's commercial ventures, and although work was to resume there were severe financial pressures facing the Company. The headquarters of the Company moved from Kanna Leena down to the power station site on December 10, 1912. where some staff quarters had been built. The Company took the name Kanna Leena with them, but Mrs McAulay was annoyed by this, so she suggested the name Waddamana instead. She was also angry at the way they had left her beloved cottage, so the family relations with the whole scheme were somewhat soured. They attended the official opening of the Power Station some four years later, but their enthusiasm for the project, which had come about partly as a result of the Professor's foresight, had by now diminished.

Work restarted in February 1913, but although the works - 17 miles of wooden tramway, a gravity dam at Miena on Great Lake, the canal and pipelines associated with the Power Station - were all well under way, and the turbines and electrical gear were awaiting dispatch, the Company was finding it increasingly difficult to raise the money to complete the scheme. The costs had exceeded the estimates quite considerably. Having failed to raise the extra capital required in London, chiefly owing to the financial depression caused by the Balkan Wars, Mr Gillies approached the Government with the request that it might advance the additional money required. There were lengthy negotiations and several rejections, but finally Mr E. Parry, an electrical engineer working for the New Zealand government was called in to investigate the matter. He reported that the design of the scheme was excellent and the money expended had been well spent. He recommended that the Government should buy the Hydro-Electrical side of the Hydro-Electric Power and Metallurgical Co Ltd, which it did in 1914, to form the Hydro- Electric Department. The acceptance of this idea was largely due to the support of Sir John Earle, Premier at the time. Mr J. Butters became the Chief Engineer and General Manager.

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