The story of the first electric supply in Gloucester, NSW, Australia is the story of one man, Fred Lowe. His first association with the district was when he was appointed in charge of the Taree Railway Locomotive Depot with the opening of the railway to Taree (and Gloucester) on 4 February 1913. His qualifications were well above the position but it suited him at the time. He remained in this position till the railway strike of 1917 when he left the railways to go into partnership with Robert McCormick in a general engineering business and motor vehicle repair shop.
Contents
- New company
- Depression years
- Connecting to the grid
- Rural electrification
- Water emergency
- Upgrading the grid
- Council takes over
- References
This business, in Manning Street, Taree, first named simply Lowe & McCormick, was converted to a company in about 1920 styled the Manning Motor Company Ltd. They moved into a new premises, opposite to their previous location. The new premises were commented on very favourably by the Manning River Times which described in detail the complete layout. This was a most profitable enterprise and undertook all manner of general engineering apart from a Buick dealership and repairs to motor vehicles. They also sold farm machinery and cream separators and serviced the machinery.
During this period Fred Lowe was a consultant electrical engineer to a number of organisations developing electric supply companies. He advised the proprietors of the Taree electric supply when they changed their generating system from dc to ac. He designed and supervised the installation of the electric supply in Wauchope and similarly the Wallamba Dairy Company when they installed generating plant to supply Forster and Tuncurry. He was called to Gloucester by a syndicate (mainly of local graziers) to assist in the development of a Gloucester electric supply. He presented plans for a ‘turn key’ installation of the complete plant which was accepted by the syndicate. The syndicate was not incorporated and, rather foolishly, he took them at their word and ordered all the plant and equipment in the name of the Manning Motor Company.
After all the orders were placed in both England and the United States, for the generating plant, the syndicate folded. The Manning Motor Company were left ‘holding the baby’. They attempted to cancel all orders but by this time the equipment was in shipment to Australia. The two main companies concerned – Crossley Brothers of Manchester, England and the General Electric Company of Schenectady, USA through their Australian agents – both agreed to assist in the continuation of the enterprise by allowing long extended credit at a very low interest rate. This was a most worrying time to all concerned.
Fred Lowe was then, virtually, forced into acquiring the property, installing all the plant and equipment and operating the power station. This necessitated moving from Taree to Gloucester and about that time his wife, who had been ill with TB died, leaving him with a five-year-old daughter (Peggy) to look after. He managed to find board both for himself and Peggy in Cowper Street just along the road from the power house being constructed. The installation of all the equipment was made by 1923 when operations commenced. There was a comment that Gloucester was brought from the Dark Ages when the lights were ‘turned on’. The enterprise was never very profitable and was saddled with debt and undercapitalised.
Apart from the debt to the engine and generator suppliers a local doctor, Dr Charles Maisy, contributed a sum of £2500 and Fred Lowe £400. (At 2003 values these sums would have been about $250,000 and $40,000).
New company
The Manning Motor Company was virtually split into two identities with its business in Taree and the electrical supply undertaking in Gloucester. This continued for four years till in 1927 a division was made when a separate company was formed in Gloucester, The Gloucester Electric Supply Company Ltd. The assets of the Gloucester business were purchased from the Manning Motor Company and Fred Lowe relinquished his connection with Taree. The Manning Motor Company was eventually purchased by Permewans who still operate the business. The shareholders in the new company were Fred Lowe and his brother Ernest Lowe, who jointly held the great majority of the shares, and a number of local people. Ernest Lowe was a cinema proprietor and ran the Strand Pictures in West Wallsend. He eventually acquired both cinemas operating in Gloucester at the time the Majestic and the Star. The company had a franchise from the Gloucester Shire Council to run the business for a period of 25 years when the council could exercise their right to acquire and operate the undertaking themselves. At the time of the changeover of the companies Fred Lowe met and married Mabel Newbery, who had been visiting a friend in Gloucester who was the daughter of the local Police Sergeant, Sgt. Morras. Mabel then became a mother to little Peggy who at this time was eight years old. They built a new house in Church Street diagonally across from the power house. This was to be the home of their three children, Jim, Jean and Ethel.
Depression years
After a reasonable trading period in the remainder of the 1920s the debt to the equipment suppliers was paid off with some assistance from the Australian Bank of Commerce. After 1929 things were rather grim and in the depression years the company was only just able to remain solvent. Fred Lowe was forced to reduce his salary as engineer manager and labour at the power house was reduced to three employees. Fred Lowe worked two shifts a day, did all the meter reading, sent out accounts and kept the company books. As well he supervised all the labour and trained unskilled labour in power house operation and overhead line and electrical installation work.
On 15 February 1928 the company connected electricity to the pumps of the first Gloucester water supply, on the Gloucester River. The pumping equipment was installed and financed by the Department of Public Works with some financial input from the Gloucester Shire Council. After installation the Company was responsible to the council for operating the water supply system. This entailed the complete operation of the pumping system and water distribution.
Any utility company is scrutinised by the State Government and the profits are set at a maximum figure. If profits rise then the price of electricity must be reduced. The company was never in this ideal position as profits were very poor.
Fred Lowe was a keen bowler and with others formed the Gloucester Bowling Club. The greens were opened on 15 December 1931 with a gala day. This extended into the evening when Fred Lowe’s wife Mabel officially switched on the floodlights for evening play.
Connecting to the grid
During the late 1930s the position improved a little and as profits climbed the price of electricity was reduced, not at the government’s behest, but to encourage more usage. Eventually it became apparent that the plant was not large enough to supply the town. In addition people in the outlying areas were clamouring for electricity to be connected to their farms and houses. This was a serious situation and Fred Lowe looked at a way in which more plant could be purchased.
He briefly considered a steam operated plant but eventually, in conjunction with the Taree people, persuaded the Railway Commissioners to build a transmission line from their Zara Street Power Station in Newcastle. This solved the power supply problem and in 1938 the old engines were run for the last time. To those living nearby it was an eerie silence after all the years of listening to the engines.
Two of the engines and generating equipment were sold and one engine was retained, for ‘emergency purposes’. The smaller of the two engines sold went to a Japanese company and, although war was threatening, this was long before Pearl Harbour. The company then became a retailer of electricity paying a wholesale price to the Railway Commissioners.
This was a period of economic stability as the company knew exactly their operating costs and could price electricity accordingly. The cost of energy in the early days of the company’s existence was comparatively expensive. In the early 1930s it was 10 pence per kilowatt hour for lighting and 4 pence per kilowatt hour for power.
To encourage more electricity usage in the middle 1930s the price of power was reduced to 1½ pence per kilowatt hour if the customer installed an electric stove.
After the ‘bulk supply’ arrived the company was able to take advantage of the ‘off peak’ rate and people with ‘off peak’ hot water systems paid as little as 0.25 pence per kilowatt hour. The lighting rate was reduced to 8 pence per kilowatt hour.
Rural electrification
At this time the State Government was offering subsidies for the construction of rural lines. The first rural line was along the Buckets Road and this was opened on 9 September 1938. Fred Lowe designed and surveyed the line exercising his expertise in surveying which he acquired whilst working in New Zealand as a young man. From a report in the Gloucester Advocate the switching on ceremony was conducted by the local State Parliament Member, Mr C.E. Bennet, MLA. He stated, "In switching on this extension into the rural area I hope it will switch on further prosperity and happiness to the people of Gloucester and district." This was followed by a dinner in the power house attended by farmers who benefited from the supply, shire councillors and representatives of the Department of Railways and Public Works Department.
A meeting in the Barrington Hall was addressed by Fred Lowe and Mr. McCallian of the Public Works Department on a proposal to extend the electricity supply to the village of Barrington and along the Barrington River. This was covered by The Gloucester Advocate which reported, on 26 May 1939, that "the residents were enthusiastic" and endorsed the company’s proposal. Mr. McCallian then told the meeting that the company’s offer was the most generous he had encountered.
The line to Barrington was switched on by the wife of the Minister for Works and Local Government, Mrs L.E. Martin. The Minister was unable to attend but his wife did a splendid job on his behalf. This was after a dinner in the School of Arts. The party moved up Church Street to the Power House and as Mrs Martin performed the switching she stated, "I declare this line well and truly switched on and hope the dwellers along the Barrington River served by it will long live to enjoy the comforts which electricity makes available".
Some time later Fred Lowe received a commendation from the Department of Works and Local Government for his outstanding work in Rural Electrification. In later years he assisted other authorities, notably Manning Valley County Council, in rural electrification.
Water emergency
The year 1941 was a critical year for the whole country. The war in Europe was worrying, France had been occupied, Singapore had fallen and the country was in the grip of its most severe drought. The Gloucester River had stopped flowing (and this was before the days of river irrigation) and the town was without water. Fred Lowe had two wells dug in the Gloucester Park and installed small pumps so that water could be collected by whoever required it. The council arranged for water delivery about the town from a road tanker supplied by the well pumps. The sewerage was kept operating by hand bucket flushing of toilets. A pipe line had been constructed from the town to a site on the Barrington River, pending the installation of pumping equipment, but no pumping equipment had been installed. Fred Lowe devised a method of connecting the pipeline to a temporary pump he acquired.
This was driven by a motor hired from a local sawmill. At a bewildering pace an electric line was constructed to supply the pump. The makeshift plant was a success and water from the Barrington River was supplied to Gloucester. Water restrictions were still severe, as the pump had a limited capacity, but water for sewerage was available.
At the same time the water supply at Stroud Road had failed and the railways had no water supply for locomotives between Dungog and Taree except for Gloucester.
An average of over 40 steam trains a day passed though Gloucester, many on military service, and the temporary pump at the Barrington River kept the railway locomotive water tank supplied. Some years later a Shire Councillor, Cr Moore said of the episode, "I just don’t know how Mr Lowe did it, it was an amazing feat".
Upgrading the grid
The transmission line from Newcastle, which operated at 33,000 volts, was becoming overloaded and in about 1946 the Railways decided to raise the voltage to 66,000 volts. This would enable four times the power to be transmitted. This was firstly done by adding two more insulator discs to the suspended insulators of the line, a pole at a time. Naturally the line had to be deadened for this to be done. To keep disruption to a minimum this work was carried out on a Sunday.
Most businesses were closed on a Sunday but the dairy farmers, with their milking machines, operated on a seven-day basis. Fred Lowe, to keep faith with his rural customers, then used the old remaining engine to supply only the rural lines during the Sunday afternoon. The engine was not powerful enough to supply the town, even on a Sunday. Once more the "chuff, chuff, chuff" of the power house engines could be heard again.
After the work of raising the transmission voltage and the supply of new transformers, to the take off points on the line, the work was completed the old engine became silent again. However, it assisted in overcoming the shortage of power in Sydney in the post-war period by being sold to the sporting goods manufacturers, Slazengers.
Any type of generating plant was welcome in Sydney in those days as the post-war boom outstripped the capacity of the existing generating plant. There was frequent load shedding, usually referred to as ‘blackouts’, and to keep factories operating the owners installed their own plant.
Council takes over
In 1943 the company’s 20 year franchise ended. However it was wartime and the Gloucester Shire Council did not exercise its right to acquire the company’s assets and take over the electricity undertaking till 1 July 1946.
Fred Lowe was employed by the council as its electrical engineer. He still persisted with rural line extensions and completed the Avon Valley line taking electricity to Stratford. His only worry working for the council was the report he had to submit each month for the council meeting. After running the business as his own, answering to nobody except the shareholders, it was hard to have to ‘toe the line’ to the council.
However, no person could have been more dedicated to his job. Rather than call out emergency crew after hours he would often attend to problems himself and worked countless hours of overtime and never requested any extra payment. In fact he was ‘too good’ and many people took advantage of his generosity and altruistic nature.
He remained as council electrical engineer until he retired in 1951. At a farewell function the Shire President, Cr. J.N. Channon, said, "We cannot let the opportunity pass without expressing our deep appreciation and gratitude to Mr Lowe for what he has done for Gloucester."
Fred and Mabel Lowe moved from Gloucester to a retirement home they built in Forster. Here he lived a happy life, working in his workshop and travelling about Australia and New Zealand and playing bowls when at home. He suffered a stroke in 1966 and went downhill from that time. He died at home in 1971, aged 82.