#industrialdesign – shy fox photography

In last week’s blog post I gave you a glimpse of the Waddamana Power Station Museum. This week we take a closer look at some of the fabulous meters in their collection.

Let’s start with the Weston Ammeter manufactured by the Weston Electrical Instrument Company in Newark, New Jersey in the United States. Ammeters are used to measure electric current in a circuit, and this one is proof that you can have pretty scientific instruments. If you look very closely you’ll see that this is number 79051.

The Meters of Waddamana Power Station | Shy Fox Photography | shyfoxphotography.com.au

Next we have a water pressure meter on one of the London-based Boving & Co turbines. Interestingly it shows the pressure in both pounds per square inch (which anyone who has pumped up a tyre knows as PSI) and feet head of water, presumably to save the engineers having to do conversions between the two.

The Meters of Waddamana Power Station | Shy Fox Photography | shyfoxphotography.com.au

This meter is also from Boving & Co, but from the days when Mr Jens Orton Boving was still living in Sweden. This one is showing the rate at which the turbines are spinning (in revolutions per minute or rpm). They had a top speed of 1300 rpm, which I thought seemed incredibly fast until I remembered my tiny domestic washing machine spins at 1000 rpm. Which led to a conversation about how they stabilised something so big spinning at this speed. Now the giant bolts make a bit more sense.

The Meters of Waddamana Power Station | Shy Fox Photography | shyfoxphotography.com.au

Next we have a lovely brass power factor meter from Westinghouse in Manchester, England. I love seeing familiar brand names on old products. I also love that all these meters remind us there was a time when your location was the byline to your brand name.

The Meters of Waddamana Power Station | Shy Fox Photography | shyfoxphotography.com.au

And finally we have another meter measuring power, with separate meters for amperes (amps) and volts. Despite a valiant search I can’t discover which company this lovely little logo belongs to. Another mini business lesson perhaps – including your brand name will mean you’re remembered long after people stop recognising your logo.

The Meters of Waddamana Power Station | Shy Fox Photography | shyfoxphotography.com.au

As I mentioned last week, if you want to see more, Waddamana Power Station Museum is open daily between 10am and 4pm, every day except Christmas Day and Good Friday. Admission is free.

In the geographical centre of Tasmania, up in the highlands, there’s a turn off from the Highland Lakes Road that takes you 30km down a winding dirt road to an unexpected piece of industrial design history – the Waddamana Hydro-Electric Power Station. Or more precisely these days, the Waddamana Power Station Museum.

Construction on Tasmania’s first hydropower station began in 1910 as an ambitious and ultimately unsuccessful private venture, which was taken over by the Tasmanian Government in 1914. Waddamana began generating power in 1916, and if the lovely signage is accurate, this fine building was opened in 1922. It was functional for over 40 years before being decommissioned in 1964, and converted to a museum in 1988. Its twin (Waddamana B), which sits behind it, was functional until 1994.

It’s hard to grasp the volume of water that rushed through these pipes, and it’s even harder to reconcile the knowledge that the first pipelines were made of wooden staves (like a barrel).

These signs are still common on the active lines that criss-cross Tasmania today. They’ve updated the wording a little, but the message is still the same.

We spent a long time in the turbine hall, wandering amongst these giant machines. They’re beautifully crafted, with a lovely attention to detail. The thing we struggled with most when coming to terms with the size and number of them is the knowledge that these giants were shipped to Tasmania from England and the United States, and then transported up into the highland wilderness, presumably by horse and cart. Waddamana isn’t that easy to get to now, and I can’t imagine what it was like between 1910 and 1916.

Tragically the control panel is behind glass, which I suppose is a good thing, because the temptation to play with all the controls would be irresistible if it wasn’t.

The museum also contains exhibits of other electricity related items including household items, and scientific items like this lovely cathode ray oscillograph.

The old office areas are set up as they would have been at the height of the station’s activity, complete with glorious advertisements for electricity for factory, farm and home!

Waddamana Power Station Museum is open daily between 10am and 4pm, every day except Christmas Day and Good Friday. Admission is free.