| Historical notes: | STATEMENT OF COUNTRY:
The Gayamaygal clan of the Cameraygal (also Cammeraygal, Gamaragal, Cam-mer-ray-gal, Cameraigal) people (Aboriginal Heritage Officer 2024) are the traditional owners of Country around Manly Cove (Ka-ye-my, Kai'ymay) and hinterland over thousands of years, caring for the land, hunting and gathering, passing down their stories, songs and dances and conserving resources for future generations.
As custodians of the northern shores of today's Sydney Harbour, the Cameraygal have a deep and enduring connection to these lands and waters. Areas where freshwater and saltwater meet are often of particular significance. Pre-contact, the landscape was a naturally vegetated coastal environment, with a variety of ecological communities influenced by factors such as soil type, aspect and altitude but also managed by the Aboriginal use of fire. (Curby 2001: 11, 19). Many petroglyphs depict sea and land creatures, canoes and other equipment in cultural sites around the area.
In less than a year of European arrival in 1788, over half the indigenous population living in the Sydney Basin had died from smallpox. Those not affected by disease were displaced when land was cleared for settlements and farms. (Macleod 2008: 3). Despite this, the Cameraygal people have survived and continue to practice culture in Sydney and maintain an enduring connection to Manly.
EARLY ELECTRICITY NETWORKS IN NSW
Prior to introducing electricity in NSW, streets were lit with gas and houses used gas, kerosene and fat oil lamps, or candles. Mid to late 19th century transport and industry used steam power. Technological advances in the 1870s and 1880s made electricity a feasible lighting and power alternative. Early supply was from small generators and early providers of networks were principally municipal Councils.
The first instance of NSW municipal electric power supply was streetlighting in regional centres experiencing major growth in Tamworth (1888), then Young (1889), Lambton (1890) and Newcastle (1891).
ELECTRIFICATION OF SYDNEY
Sydney's first public demonstration of electric light was in 1863 (Australian Energy Regulator 2007: 2). Early supply was from small generators throughout the city for specific buildings or events.
Large scale production was still in its infancy in NSW in the 1890s, and the number of facilities constructed to generate or distribute electricity was relatively insignificant compared to municipal gas works. Local municipalities pushed for legislation allowing them to generate electricity, build infrastructure, light streets, supply public and private places. The first Sydney council to supply private homes, businesses and street lights was Penrith (1890), from their electric light station (demolished) (Nepean Times 1957: 1). Another was at Redfern (1891) which remains (adaptively reused).
By far the biggest was the Municipal Council of Sydney (MCS) which got the power to establish networks and supply private clients from the NSW government under the Municipal Council of Sydney Electric Lighting Act 1896. It started in 1898 building the network to the MCS's area, from Millers Point to Chippendale, Surry Hills and Moore Park (City of Sydney n.d.). While originally supplying MCS's area only, it soon became NSW's biggest supplier of electricity.
Sydney's first major central power station was Ultimo Powerhouse, built in 1899 by the NSW Department of Public Works to power the electric tram network. Construction of White Bay Powerhouse followed in 1913, which supplied suburban rail and bulk supplied other municipalities and county councils. MCS's first alternating current (AC) power station for street lighting and private use was at Pyrmont, 1904.
Electricity distribution relies upon several levels of voltage. While earlier 'electric light stations' were small power stations supplying a small area, large power stations required the technological development of several types of substations to convert electricity to lower voltages for private use. Substations housed transformers and bulky equipment, like alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) convertors, switchgear and batteries. Their function was relatively simple: convert high voltage network current to low, for customers' use. They were located strategically. In the city and major thoroughfares underground mains cabling was laid. As the network extended, wooden and steel poles carrying overhead wires became common.
Two types emerged, the zone and distribution substation. Zone substations were large complex facilities receiving power from bulk supply power stations such as Pyrmont and reducing voltage for local distribution. Distribution substations reduced the voltage further and supplied customers.
By 1935, MCS supplied 16 Local Government Areas across over 747 square miles (193,472 Ha). Network control was removed from MCS via the Gas and Electricity Act 1935, reconstituting its Electricity Department as independent entity, Sydney County Council (SCC).
MANLY
Despite early exploration by colonists in the 1790s, Manly was initially considered unsuitable for settlement due to its isolation from Sydney Cove (Manly Heritage Study, 1986). Early grants were not necessarily developed and in 1841 the population was sixty one, with only ten houses - much of early 1860s Manly was still bushland (Pollen and Healy 1988: 162).
Water transport was Manly's lifeline and the primary driver of its development. From 1853, Henry Gilbert Smith promoted Manly as a seaside resort like his native Brighton (in England), with improvements like the Pier Hotel (1855). and planting Norfolk Island pines, now landmarks. To improve access, Smith chartered a paddle steamer, then built a wharf at Manly Cove. By 1859 he launched the first daily ferry service, which greatly boosted visitor numbers.
Manly Municipal Council was incorporated in 1877. Council asserted their rights over the two wharves and leased them back to the ferry company. This allowed it to leverage the company profits for municipal works (NBRS & Partners, 2002). Sydney's urban economic and construction boom in the 1870s-90s had a marked effect, increasing Manly's population from c.500 in 1871 to c.3000 in 1891. More extensive development occurred after the 1890s depression, with population growth to 5035 in 1901 and 10,465 in 1911 (Ashton, 1986: 82, 106).
In late 1902, Council approved daytime surfing and sunbathing, a cultural shift that broke from Victorian norms and revolutionised its leisure industry. In 1904, 2.5 million Sydneysiders travelled by ferry to surf at Ocean Beach and swim in Manly Cove (Prescott, 1984).
34 WHISTLER STREET:
The district first got electricity in 1906 from the private Manly Electric Light Company (MELC), of Francis Bell. Its small generator supplied businesses on the Corso (Sproule 1997: 3).
MELC built premises at 34 Whistler Street in 1909 (SMH 12 May 1909) but struggled. Manly Electric Supply Company Ltd (MESCL) took it over in 1911 and came to an arrangement with Council to light the municipality (The Sun 30 Mar 1911). Some streets were still gas lit in 1913.
In 1915 RC Cliff, MESCL engineer, approached Council offering to hand over the undertaking for (Pounds)15,000. (The Sun 14 July 1915). Council could inherit and run the powerhouse, generate and distribute DC, or purchase AC in bulk from MCS, to distribute. It bought out MESCL in 1920 and officially took over the powerhouse that November.
Council decided to rely on MCS bulk supply. It would keep the building, sell the generating machinery and install a new transformer. This forced consumers to convert to AC. Forty ratepayers initiated a court case over the matter, but were ultimately unsuccessful in stopping it. Council sold the plant, converted the building to a distribution substation and began to receive bulk supply from 1922. That November, it supplied 1,419 consumers.
SUBSTATION, MANLY: 34 & 36 WHISTLER STREET
From 1935 Sydney County Council (SCC) continued (MCS's) bulk electricity supply to Manly, with Manly Municipal Council (Council) doing distribution and retail. Council established an electricity department led by engineer AJ Bradshaw and took loans to expand lighting and power throughout Manly. By 1935 it had 7,131 consumers.
Council had resolved to replace the (1909) powerhouse / substation building at 34 Whistler Street in 1934. The adjacent land to its south (36 Whistler Street) was purchased for this purpose in March 1935, and that building was demolished by August. The plans for the new substation were drawn by architects Trenchard Smith and Maisey (led by S.R. Maisey) and the contract was awarded to FT Eastman and Sons. Construction began in 1936 and the new substation was officially opened on 6 May 1937 (Pennington (2012: 55, Labor Daily 7 May 1937).
It functioned as Council's substation, main receiving and controlling station for the 5.5kV supply from SCC's Balgowlah substation. Three dedicated parallel underground cables were provided between the 5.5kV switchboard at Balgowlah and Substation, Manly (Pennington 2012: 671, 679).
Trenchard Smith designed several substations for Manly Council from 1936 - 40 and had designed MESC's original generator (plant and power) station in Whistler Street (1909).
A substantial addition was made to the 1936-37 substation from 1937 - 40, on the land to its direct south (34 Whistler Street). In September 1937, architect Mr Maisey was consulted on the old substation building and site. Tenders were invited in 1938, and works were underway in 1939 (Manly Library Local Studies factsheet). The new section included a first floor residence. Its Whistler Street facade was almost a duplication of the first section (the 1936-37 building), except for flat lintels for the central personnel doorway and windows on the ground floor, in lieu of the arches in the 1936 section (Pennington 1992: 679). The first floor residence was accessed via a door at 34A Whistler Street.
Manly and Warringah municipalities formed Mackellar County Council (MCC) to distribute electricity. Both received bulk power supply from the SCC, at first via Substation, Cammeray and later from Substation, Balgowlah. Supply in the Manly portion of the Mackellar region began to be converted from 5.5kV to 11kV in the mid-1960s. Between c.1966 - 68 MCC converted Substation, Manly into a 33/11kV zone substation. VSLP9 33kV equipment, switchboards and VLP9/10 circuit breakers were installed in 1966 -1968 to step down high voltage power for wider Manly area distribution. New equipment was commissioned in 1968, servicing inner Manly, parts of Queenscliff and Fairlight: c10,000 consumers. (Pennington 2011: 82, 235, 260).
In 1979 MCC was absorbed into SCC and the substation passed to their control in 1980.
The site is now known as Manly Zone Substation No. 15009 and is part of Ausgrid's network. |