| Historical notes: | STATEMENT OF COUNTRY
Paddington is on land of the Gadigal (Cadigal) of the Eora nation (AIATSIS 2016), which stretch from the southern shore of Sydney Harbour to today's Petersham, and which practically and spiritually sustained the Gadigal for millennia. Woollahra including Paddington is on Gadigal and Birrabirragal land (Coast History & Heritage 2021). Early European accounts noted the area today called Paddington was the place of the Maroo, a path along the ridgeline long used by local Aboriginal people that had served as trading routes between farmed grasslands or bountiful fishing areas. (Heiss & Gibson 2015).
The rich archaeological and historical record of harbour allows us to recreate something of how Aboriginal people used Kogerah - as they called Rushcutters Bay - and its Paddington hinterland in the centuries before Europeans arrived. As a resilient and innovative community, they continued to adapt their lives, co-existing around the bay until the turn of the twentieth century. (Elmoos 2019). Much of the Aboriginal population of Sydney died due to the smallpox outbreak of 1789, one year after the First Fleet arrived in Sydney. Following this, Aboriginal people regrouped, living in camps east of Potts Point at Barcom Glen and downstream on public land at Rushcutters Bay, throughout the 19th century. (Irish n.d.). Despite the impact of colonisation, Gadigal culture has survived and Aboriginal people have continued to retain links to the area.
PADDINGTON:
This suburb took its name from the London borough. It was Sydney’s first early suburb that was not self-sufficient - its inhabitants … had to go away each day to their places of employment.
The area developed after a road was constructed to link up with a pilot station to be built at Watson's Bay. John Palmer, commissary, refused to allow people to cross his grant, so the road had to follow a roundabout way through Paddington to bypass (it).
It was not until 1838, when it was decided to build a new barracks in Paddington, that life came to the area. Once soldiers and families moved here, shopkeepers followed. Builders moved in and put up 3,800 houses from 1860 -90. (Pollen 1988: 195-7).
EARLY ELECTRICITY NETWORKS IN NSW
Prior to the introduction of electricity in NSW, streets were lit with gas lamps and houses used gas lamps, kerosene lamps, candles and fat-oil lamps. Mid to late 19th century transport and industry in NSW utilised steam power. Technological advances in the 1870s and 1880s made electricity production a feasible lighting and power alternative to gas and steam. Early supply was from small generators and early providers of electricity networks were principally municipal Councils.
The first instance of NSW's municipal electric power supply was streetlighting pioneered in regional centres experiencing major growth in the 1880s. Tamworth was the first town to receive this in 1888, after the 1878 rail connection to Sydney accelerated the grain and wool trade. Young, a town which grew after a gold rush into a larger stable agricultural centre, received electric streetlighting soon after in 1889. A suburb of Sydney, Penrith was the next to receive municipal streetlighting in 1890 (Penrith City Council 2021).
ELECTRIFICATION OF SYDNEY
The first public demonstration of electric light in Sydney was in 1863 when the city was illuminated in honour of the marriage of the Prince of Wales (Australian Energy Regulator 2007: 2). Early supply of electricity in Sydney was from small generators scattered throughout the city for specific buildings or events. Large-scale electric production was still in its infancy in NSW in the 1890s, and the number of electrical works was relatively insignificant compared to the number of municipal gas works established in that decade. Local municipalities pushed for legislation which allowed them to generate electricity, build infrastructure, light the streets and supply power for public and private places. The first Sydney council to generate and supply electricity to private homes, businesses and street lights was Penrith in 1890, from their electric light station (now demolished) (Nepean Times 1957: 1). Another electric light station was built closer to the city at Redfern in 1891 which remains (now adaptively reused).
By far the biggest municipality was the Municipal Council of Sydney (MCS) which was given the power to establish its own networks and supply private clients by the NSW Government under the Municipal Council of Sydney Electric Lighting Act 1896. The Electric Lighting Committee was established in 1898 to bring the electrical network to the MCS area reaching from Millers Point and Circular Quay to Chippendale, Surry Hills and Moore Park (City of Sydney n.d.). While it originally supplied electricity to the MCS area only, it soon became the biggest municipal supplier of electricity in NSW . British electrical engineers Preece and Cardew were engaged and in 1902 Thomas Rooke was appointed Resident Electrical Engineer, marking the beginnings of its behemoth Electricity Department (originally known as the Electric Lighting Department and City Electrical Engineer's) Department.
The first major central power station in Sydney was Ultimo Powerhouse which was built in 1899 by the NSW Department of Public Works to supply power for the electric tram network. Construction of the White Bay Powerhouse followed in 1913 by the NSW Railway Commissioners to cope with the extension of the electric tramway system and anticipated electrification of the city railway (Dunn, 2008). Trams were central to Sydney’s growing population and economy, and the electrification of steam tram lines occupied much of the period from 1900 to 1910. Electric tramways expanded rapidly and became the predominant means of daily transport from suburbs to the city workplaces with new lines built to previously unsettled areas, supporting development.
MCS's first power station to provide electricity for street lighting and private use was at Pyrmont and opened in 1904. While the earlier ‘electric light stations’ were small power stations to provide electricity for a small area, these large power stations required the technological development of several types of substations to convert electricity to lower voltages for private use .
Substations were designed to house voltage transformers and other bulky equipment, such as AC to DC convertors, switchgear and batteries. Two types of substations emerged, the zone substation and the distribution substation. Zone substations were large complex facilities which received power from bulk supply power stations such as Pyrmont and reduced the voltage and supplied it to distribution substations. Distribution substations then reduced the voltage further and supplied it for customers' use. Zone substations could be turned into distribution substations and vice versa via the replacement of equipment, this could happen if new substations were being built in the area and the requirement for one or the other changed .
City Building Surveyor and City Architect Robert Hargreave Brodrick designed Pyrmont Power Station, and his branch designed substations. These were to be substantial, ornamental pieces of civic infrastructure (Vade Mecum 1906, p. 200). The quality of early substation design and construction was high, moving beyond functionality to produce fine civic architecture that sat comfortably in its surrounds. Land for the substations was either purchased in negotiation with the owner where possible, but the SMC was empowered to acquire land by resumption if considered necessary.
In 1904, the same year that power supply was first switched on, MCS built its first six distribution substations: Town Hall (Sydney), Lang Park (Sydney), Athlone Place (Ultimo), Pyrmont St (Pyrmont), Oxford St (Darlinghurst) and Wilson St (Woolloomooloo). No 1904 substations remain in use, and four (Town Hall, Lang Park, Athlone Place and Pyrmont St) have been demolished. Oxford St is listed as Taylor Square Substation No.6 & Underground Public Conveniences, Darlinghurst on the State Heritage Register (SHR 01700) and Wilson St is used as a private residence.
MCS first began to supply power to other areas of Sydney in 1905. A small substation was built to supply electricity to the Royal Hospital for Women in Paddington and another for Camperdown Children's Hospital (Lisa Murray, 2025). In 1910, four municipalities entered into agreements with MCS for the extension of mains into their areas, marking a rapid escalation to the extent of the electricity network in Sydney.
Smaller private companies supplying city businesses were bought by MCS from 1907-13. MCS quickly established itself as one of two primary suppliers of electricity in Sydney, the other being the Electric Light and Power Supply Corporation (ELPSC) which supplied electricity from Balmain Power Station to the inner western suburbs of Sydney from 1909 to 1956.
By 1914 MCS supply was being given to 23 municipalities outside the city and additional infrastructure was required to keep up with demand. On 25 May 1914 the decision was made to erect a 33,000 volt transmission system to supply the outer areas of Sydney including the western suburbs and north side of the harbour. Step-up transformers were installed at Pyrmont Power Station, and it was connected to Five Dock's substation via high voltage underground cables. Five Dock substation was then used as a switching station (Mackenzie 1998: 10, 12), a type of substation that connects multiple power lines and manages the flow of electricity without changing its voltage level, to supply the expansion area.
This continual expansion of the network required the construction of additional infrastructure throughout greater Sydney and a significant portion of MCS’s substations were built from 1921 onwards. All stand-alone substation buildings until 1936 were designed by the MCS’s City Architect & Building Surveyor but built by various parties.
By 1935, 16 Local Government Areas were being supplied with electricity from the MCS over a total of 747 square miles (193,472 Ha). Control of the electricity network was subsequently removed from the MCS via the Gas and Electricity Act 1935 which reconstituted the MCS’s Electricity Department as an independent entity, the Sydney County Council (SCC). On 1 January 1936, 2,394 staff and assets worth £21.9m were transferred from MCS to SCC.
The NSW Electricity Commission became the overall State authority for the provision of electricity in NSW from 1952, and SCC's generating assets were transferred to its control in the same year. The commission remained in control of NSW’s electricity until dissolved with the Sydney Electricity Act 1990. A series of private and public entities now provide electricity and its infrastructure in the Sydney area, overseen by the NSW Government. Ausgrid now owns most distribution substations and zone substations (excluding the high-voltage transmission network).
PADDINGTON ELECTRIFICATION:
The original 1905 AC Substation No.9 Paddington was built in Young Street beside the Royal Hospital for Women, to power it. An agreement was reached after two years' negotiations between Paddington and Sydney councils, the outcome being that supply was extended to Paddington Town Hall. Paddington aldermen were not particularly interested in lighting streets, but keen on potential tax revenue from the city council for permission to lay mains cables and overhead wires. The early provision of Paddington electricity was ad hoc, driven by the market rather than aldermen.
Substation (Paddington) site, on the corner Young Street and Weedon Avenue, incorporates several buildings that demonstrate expansion of the network. The earliest is the purpose designed and built structure, originally known as Substation No.9, dating from 1926.
Notification for land resumption for the new substation in Young Street was gazetted in February 1926. The land was just up the road from the original substation. Designs were supplied to the Electricity Department by April and construction by MCS had commenced by August. Bunnerong Power Station was under construction at this time, and it is likely MCS was anticipating future network needs by acquiring land and building a new substation.
The original, coloured plan for the substation, dated 8 April 1926 shows a Free Classical style building with main entrance on Young Street, secondary entrance on Weedon Street. Interestingly, the elevation facing the corner of Young and Weedon was originally designed as a flat masonry wall. At some point during design or construction, this was changed to be curved, presumably to make the most of unusual triangular site. A curved wall is not generally a feature of Free Classical architectural style, and is a functionalist response to site constraints. It may be Sydney’s only stylistic example within the substation typology.
It is unclear who designed the 1926 substation. The original plan is unsigned, but annotated ‘Approved by A.G.M.’ Nevertheless, it was executed within the architectural branch of the City Building Surveyor’s Department, who designed all MCS substations. Robert Hargreave Brodrick was City Building Surveyor and City Architect from 1898 to 1928. He was the most prolific City Architect, supported by chief assistant James Henry Merriman. Working as principal and deputy, they designed a diverse range of civic structures including Pyrmont Powerhouse (1904), new Municipal Markets (1909–12), Strickland Building (1914), Hippodrome (1916), shops and hotels, council buildings and depots, public conveniences, and streetlamps. Brodrick oversaw the design of over 300 substations.
Plans for a Zone substation to accommodate increased demand and wider distribution from Bunnerong Power Station were underway by 1929. It was proposed that 30,000-volt feeder cables be laid from Bunnerong to the proposed Paddington Zone sub-station and thence to Mosman and Chatswood.
MCS acquired land behind the substation by purchase and resumption. The Great Depression curtailed capital works and in 1935 the whole electricity undertaking was transferred from MCS to Sydney County Council (SCC). Planning for the new substation commenced in 1936. A development application was lodged with Paddington Council in 1937, but its objections led to suspending the tender process and rethinking the design. Following re-specification, the tender was finally awarded to Beat Bros Pty Ltd in April 1938.
The Interwar Functionalist style substation was working by late 1939, having cost £9,490. The entrance to ‘Substation No. 342’ was on Weedon Avenue, while the Young Street elevation was built to the boundary, flush to the street. Like its neighbouring substation, the design responded to the site’s constraints, particularly topography.
It was originally fitted with three Reyrolle reactors from Randwick Zone substation, demonstrating how SCC reused equipment as required. Equipment recorded here at the end of 1939 included 12 x 33kV and 22 x 11kV switchgear panels, and 2 x 13.5MVA transformers. The 33kV switchgear was housed in the building along Young Street, while the 5kV and 11kV switchgear was in the building along Weedon Avenue. The transformers were in an open courtyard in the centre.
The substation has continued in service since 1939 and, equipment upgrades notwithstanding, remains largely intact. |