Duck Reach Power Station, Tasmania
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Duck Reach Power Station was the first publicly owned hydro-electric plant in the Southern Hemisphere, and provided the Tasmanian city of Launceston with hydro-electric power from its construction in 1895 to its closure in 1955.
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[edit] Construction
The site was picked by a surveryor and engineer named C.St John David in 1892.
The plant was a 'run of the river' station, making use of very little storage, and instead using the daily flow of the South Esk River to provide sufficient water for generation. An 850-metre tunnel drilled through mostly solid dolerite rock supplied water from Deadmans Hollow to a penstock which is an iron pipeline. The water discharged at rate of 5,537 litres per second from the tunnel exit. The penstock plunged diagonally down the hill into the center of the rear of the power station where it channeled in to successively smaller pipes and entering the eight Siemens turbines inside the station. From there water was released into the river at the buildings foot. The plant was constructed at a significant height above the South Esk River so as to prevent it from being damaged in the frequent floods that rush down the Cataract Gorge due to heavy rainfall.
[edit] Drilling the Tunnel
The tunnel was drilled to a length of 850-metres at a 1 to 110 grade. The tunnel was cut through the hill side instead of being piped around and it took 16 months to complete using pneumatic drills. Dolerite is so hard it took one week of 18 - 8 hour shifts cutting from both ends of the tunnel to cut just 2.5 metres however the average speed of the drilling was about 5 metres a week. One man was killed in an accident.
[edit] Operational History
The Duck Reach plant worked smoothly from 1895 until around 1910. However, as the late 1900s progressed, demand for electricity rose, and the 1-megawatt Duck Reach plant could no longer supply Launceston with all the electricity it needed. The construction of an electric tramway system in 1911 intensified the problem. The plant was duly upgraded in stages, until, in 1911, it reached a maximum of 2 megawatts, a capacity it kept until the end of its working life.
Despite its height above the river, the plant was destroyed in the great floods in Cataract Gorge in December, 1929. However, it was promptly rebuilt and resumed service by 1930.
However, the plant was still unable to meet Launceston's electrical needs. By 1934 the City of Launceston was also buying electricity from the Tasmanian Hydro-Electric Commission, in addition to operating the overworked Duck Reach plant. In 1944 the Launceston City Council sold Duck Reach to the same organisation.
By then, its days were numbered. Construction of a new South Esk River hydro-electric power plant began in 1951 and the Trevallyn Dam Power Station were completed in 1955. The Duck Reach station was soon closed and its equipment removed. The buildings stood derelict and closed for over 40 years, until 1995 when, on the centenery of its first opening, it was re-opened as a museum. It has become a popular tourist attraction.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Hydro Tasmania; South Esk Power Development, [1], Accessed June 2006.
