Unique Tasmanian wooden pipeline under threat

[tasconvict]

Slice of Tasmanian woodworking history about to be demolished.

Dear listers

I write hoping you could help save an important part of Australia's woodworking heritage. Tasmania at the bottom of the Australian mainland is home to one of the world's special power stations, and a significant wooden pipeline made of king billy pine.

Would you please consider writing to the West Coast Council as Hydro Tasmania have applied to demolish the wood stave pipeline at the historic Lake Margaret power station. The pipeline, constructed in the

1930s and brought into the village by horse and cart is believed to be the largest king billy pine structure of its kind in the world.

Objections can be forwarded by this WEDNESDAY 26th July by 5pm AEST to David Metcalf, the General Manager of West Coast Council:

email address is:

[e-mail]

PLEASE DO NOT SEND EMAILS AFTER THIS TIME AND DATE.

Lake Margaret is the second oldest power station in the southern hemisphere and was built in WW1 to supply power to the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company, a mine and railway based in Queenstown. The village is a unique snapshot of Tasmania's industrial, social and environmental heritage.

Objections can be a simple sentence of objection. You may want to cite the basis of the objection, such as the perceived value of the INTACT pipeline, and that the station, which closed on 30 June should remain open as the second oldest power station in the southern hemisphere.

If you are writing from overseas, feel free to google Lake Margaret power station and view some of the images of this amazing piece of craftsmenship. Also, if you choose to email, please write your snail mail address to emphasise the international significance of this pipeline.

Please help save this important Australian woodworking icon. Thankyou.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I commend your wanting to preserve history, but I cannot find credible information about it. Many of the Google links are dead ends. I could find no photographs of the pipeline itself. You offered no alternatives to keeping it.

Before dragging us into a hot political situation, you need to give a bit more information.

[dpb]

...

Didn't seem _too_ hard, Ed... :)

Vol 2 of an assessment/plan which contains all (and more I'm sure :) ) that you'd ever want to know of the station and penstock/pipeline including a section of pictures...it's big, so if you don't have highspeed access it'll take quite a while, but it is pretty interesting...

Didn't dig into the report itself or try to find out just what is/isn't the real plan, but does there's been a significant amount of evaluation of the overall site with the thought of historical preservation. Given the size of the site and the condition, it would take a _bunch_ of money to preserve any significant portion of it.

There's no way a 8 MWe ca 1910 hydro station w/ latest upgrades to the turbine/generators apparently in the 70s is going to ever be economically viable so the hope to convince somebody to continue to operate the station is a pipe dream (so to speak :) ). The best I'd guess they would be able to do would be to find some grant monies and hopefully get the site donated to either a conservation organization or convince a government body to take it over as a recreation/park area and try to preserve a very short portion of the pipeline and some of the equipment. In order for much of it to be made accessible by the general public, however, it's pretty clear looking at the pictures that it would take a bunch of money just to make it reasonably safe enough that it would be something other than a continual string of accidents needing rescue. I'd suspect that is one of the most difficult problem folks making the decisions are facing.