I remember as a kid looking down at the Tarraleah power station from the top, and marvelling at how steep the pipes going down were. I remember the little railway tracks and once though it would be a good idea to go down to the station using the sleepers as steps - did not go far before turning back, haha. Against our parent's instructions we used to climb up onto the two big pipelines and mess around, and went under them and through the bush a bit to the spillway that came from the pipe head up the top. We once got caught in the spillway when water was released and literally had to scramble up the sides to safety. Luckily we scrambled up the village side or we would have had a bit of a journey to get the the bridge some way up the hill. We never told our parents about that close call..... I have indelibly fond memories of 4 years in Tarraleah top village from age 5 to 9, 1956 to 1960. My dad worked as an electrician on Butlers Gorge, Liapootah and Wayatinah power station construction.
Visiting all this infrastructure today, its difficult to imagine just how much true hard manual labour went into its construction. I thoroughly enjoy every visit to this area and Tarraleah 'power house' is definitely a stand out with all its art deco features. Hope Hydro have another open day there soon 🙂
Some of the concrete was just dumped and then placed one shovel load at a time. Hard Yakka. On one of the big formed walls they were placing the concrete and tamping it with long poles. No concrete vibrators back then. Marvelous to watch them ply their trades. Mostly done by hand and horse power.
A remarkable engineering achievement, and something to be immensely proud of.
I remember as a kid looking down at the Tarraleah power station from the top, and marvelling at how steep the pipes going down were. I remember the little railway tracks and once though it would be a good idea to go down to the station using the sleepers as steps - did not go far before turning back, haha. Against our parent's instructions we used to climb up onto the two big pipelines and mess around, and went under them and through the bush a bit to the spillway that came from the pipe head up the top. We once got caught in the spillway when water was released and literally had to scramble up the sides to safety. Luckily we scrambled up the village side or we would have had a bit of a journey to get the the bridge some way up the hill. We never told our parents about that close call..... I have indelibly fond memories of 4 years in Tarraleah top village from age 5 to 9, 1956 to 1960. My dad worked as an electrician on Butlers Gorge, Liapootah and Wayatinah power station construction.
Visiting all this infrastructure today, its difficult to imagine just how much true hard manual labour went into its construction. I thoroughly enjoy every visit to this area and Tarraleah 'power house' is definitely a stand out with all its art deco features. Hope Hydro have another open day there soon 🙂
Some of the concrete was just dumped and then placed one shovel load at a time. Hard Yakka.
On one of the big formed walls they were placing the concrete and tamping it with long poles. No concrete vibrators back then. Marvelous to watch them ply their trades. Mostly done by hand and horse power.
Any videos on Butlers Gorge
I hope this is played and spoken about to all generations in Tassie 🙏❤️🙌
They worked for their pay not many would do this today