Is 'our' Smurf a tour guide on this trip ?
Nah, no tour guides since it's a self-drive trip.
It has all been in place since last year by the way. Just waited and made sure everything was sorted before the "official" launch. That plus it would have got lost among everything else people are doing if it was announced over Christmas.
Waddamana Power Station museum is open daily however and anyone can simply turn up for a look with or without following the rest of the route. It's all in top condition inside and looks as though it's ready to go apart from a machine covers etc being removed so that visitors can see what's inside.
There's also an assortment of other equipment which has been relocated to the site, most notably from the former Shannon power station (long ago demolished) and an assortment of old appliances etc.
Waddamana "A" station operated 1916 - 1965 whilst the adjacent "B" station operated 1944 - 1994 (though largely obsolete after 1964 and retained primarily as backup plant). Both stations along with the associated Shannon Power Station (1934 - 1964) were superseded by the far more efficient and larger Poatina Power Station (1964 - present) which uses the same water to produce more energy.
Waddamana "A" station has particular historical significance to the power industry because:
1. It was the first power station operated by any state government electricity utility in Australia, being directly associated with the establishment of "the Hydro" as such.
2. It was the first power station in Australia located remote from any significant use of electricity and supplying an actual transmission grid. That system was itself among the largest in the world when built.
3. Right from the start was associated with efforts to develop energy-intensive heavy industry, Tasmania being the first Australian state to do so.
So Waddamana was the birthplace of the Hydro as an organisation, the use of an electricity grid in Australia, and of energy-intensive heavy industry in Australia.
A few bits of historical trivia:
The plant itself was still in top condition when shut down. It became obsolete but certainly hadn't worn out.
The Hydro was rather worried about security during WW1 and later WW2, going as far as forming it's own "Army" of sorts to patrol the transmission line, power station, pipelines etc.
The Australian Government at the time was negative toward the project, seeing no point in setting up an electricity grid in view of the limited potential uses of electricity. The Tasmanian Government was warned in no uncertain terms that no bailout would be forthcoming should the venture fail.
Ice was an ongoing problem at Penstock Lagoon during the colder months. If the water level dropped then apparently sheets of ice would break loose, fall down vertically below the water and position themselves to block the water intake thus shutting down the power station. Men were employed with sledge hammers to manually smash the ice into pieces, 24 hours per day in freezing conditions, to prevent this.