Tramways' Powerhouse
(Redirected from Tramways' Powerhouse)
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| Built: | 1905 |
| Demolished: | 1961 |
| Wikidata: | Q112739166 |
[[../index.html|Freotopia]] > Arthur Head >
See also the box factory - which was in the building after it ceased to be a powerhouse.
The powerhouse - from the end of the South Mole, 1913. Fishing boats are moored inside its protection as there was no harbour available for them until later. The tiny beach, towards the back left of the photo, used to be called [[../places/dagobay.html|Dago Bay]], from the Italian fishermen who moored their boats there before the advent of the [[../places/fishingboatharbour.html|Fishingboat Harbour]]. Photograph G. Sands, A., c. 1913, courtesy Fremantle City Library ref. no. 1694D, with the following notes (which apply to the whole panorama 1694, of which this is only one quarter - the one on the right - so only the part of the note applies to the photo above - on which click/tap for larger size).
Taken from the end of South Mole, shows North Mole, fishing boat JENNY F111 with pilot vessel LADY FORREST making her way out to sea in the background, the empty North Wharf slipway with bucket dredge FREMANTLE or PARMELIA and steam hopper barges behind. In the distance is the North Wharf finger jetty with sail and steam ships alongside. Three coal hulks are secured at the River Buoys in midstream. A two funnelled, black hulled Orient Line steamer (either ORSOVA or OTWAY) is departing, while a P & O mail steamer (possibly MONGOLIA) is at B & C berths at Victoria Quay. A vessel at E Berth is possibly the suction dredge PREMIER. The Fremantle Harbour Trust building with prominent tower is visible at 1 Cliff Street. On the right of it is a group of cottages occupied by Harbour Trust employees. To the right is the view back along the South Mole to the Power House with the tall chimney. to the left of the Power House is the municipal stone crusher. A group of fishing boats are moored in the lee of South Mole where they sheltered before the first fishing boat harbour groyne was built in 1922. Identifiable fishing boats include JENNY, COLOMBIA and possibly KOORI. On the far right can be seen the "new" Fremantle baths. Image may possibly taken on 4 November 1913 as the OTWAY left at 14:40 pm, several hours after the photographer produced another panorama of Victoria Quay from South Mole
From the NE (land) side, date unknown.
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Library:
Workmen laying electric cable in October 1905 from the Power House to the Fremantle Municipal Tramways and Electric Lighting Board Car Barn in High Street. The Power House was designed by J.H. Eales, erected in 1905 and demolished in May 1961. Photo courtesy of Fremantle City Library no. 641.
Debby Cramer, 1990:
The Power House of the Fremantle Municipal Tramway and Electric Lighting Board was built in 1905 on a combination of reclaimed land and quarried area at Point Marquis. Built at the beginning of South Mole, it was the pioneer of Western Australian seafront power stations.
The Fremantle Municipal Tramways and Electric Lighting Board held its first meeting on 20 June 1904. The Board was charged to 'undertake, construct, maintain and work Tramways within the boundaries of Fremantle and East Fremantle and maintain works for the Generation and Supply of Electricity for motive and lighting purposes within the same districts'. It was operated as a co-operative venture by the Fremantle and East Fremantle municipalities.
The construction work of the system was entrusted to Noyes Brothers, mechanical engineers. There were two major buildings in the scheme, the Car Barn at the western end of High Street, and the Power House. Contractors Abbott and Rennie were awarded the contracts for both structures, the Car Barn to be erected for £3475 ($6950) and the Power House for £2648 ($5296). The architect for both buildings was J. Herbert Eales (1864-1957), an Englishman who moved to Fremantle from Victoria in 1897.
Construction of the scheme commenced on 6 February 1905 and the opening celebrations were held on 30 October 1905, when the Mayoresses of Fremantle and East Fremantle started the first tramcars. Completion of the entire system took place on 11 April 1906.
The Power House was constructed of brick and an attached timber lean-to section extended from most of the length of the eastern wall. The chimney stack was of brick and, until it was dismantled in the early years of World War II, was a landmark which visually delineated the beginning of South Mole.
The boilers constituted an important part of the equipment of the Power House. The order for four Babcock and Wilcox W.I.F. boilers was placed by Noyes Brothers on 1 December 1904. The total price of the boilers was £4650 ($9300).
The power cables ran from the Power House through the old whalers tunnel under the Round House, past the Car Barn, and along High Street. Pictures taken in 1905 show workmen laying cable near the tunnel.
The whole scheme was completed and operating by 11 April 1906. Both the tramways and the electric light and power services were a sound source of municipal revenue. The Board supplied domestic electricity and power to all government instrumentalities in the Fremantle district between 1906 and 1916. The demand for power was so great that by 1909 additional equipment was needed to increase the capacity of the Power House. Late in 1909 tenders were accepted for the purchase of an alternating Generator Set and other associated equipment, and in 1910 the Board resolved to purchase a Turbo Set from the Australian General Electric Company for £3,060 ($6,120).
The chief engineer and manager of the Power House continued to request new and better equipment to cope with increasing demand, yet by 1913 the Board had entered into discussions with the State Government to purchase bulk electricity from the East Perth Power House. While some were eager to expand the capacity of the Fremantle Power House, others were working toward its eventual closure. Discussions with the State Government continued for two-and-a-half years, during which time the Power House attempted to 'make-do' or purchased secondhand equipment. On 28 January 1916 an agreement was reached whereby the Board would purchase bulk electricity from the State Government until 1952. This marked the gradual winding down of the Power House. Equipment and machinery were sold during 1917 and 1918 and the final closing down of the Power House was effected on 17 August 1919.
During the 1920s and 1930s the Power House was leased to numerous companies. By 1941, and probably earlier, the Power House was leased to the Safety Box Factory. The company was also known as Simpler's Box Factory and it manufactured timber boxes for butter and for the Castlemaine Brewery as well as vegetable boxes for the market. The Safety Box Factory occupied the old Power House until about 1960.
A fire severely damaged the roof in March 1961. The cause of the blaze was not known; the building had been unoccupied for about nine months. Subsequently the remains of the building were demolished to footings level and a bitumen road and car park at the landward end of South Mole built over it.
After the 1916 agreement with the State Government, the Board continued to operate the trams, which were gradually replaced by buses from the 1930s. In 1960 the Board's passenger transport was acquired by the Metropolitan (Perth) Passenger Transport Trust, as part of a plan to provide and manage a public transport system throughout the Perth Metropolitan area. Accordingly, in 1961 the Board was dissolved and its affairs wound up.
Ironically, the Power House functioned for the purpose it was intended for only a short time. It was opened in 1905, but as early as 1913 there was talk of purchasing current from the State Government. This decision was announced in January 1916 and by August 1919 the Power House was closed. Between 1919 and 1961, some 42 years, the Power House was leased to various companies, particularly the Safety Box Factory, saw millers and case manufacturers. However, the building and the equipment it housed recall an era of industrial technology prevalent in the early decades of the 20th century.
City of Fremantle February 1990
This information sheet and the reports on which it is based were prepared by Debby Cramer. The reports are available lor inspection at the Fremantle Library.
The Arthur Head Collection 1990 Report
The City Council in 1990 published a folder containing a summary of the research Pam Harris mentions below, consisting of a page about each of the buildings on or near Arthur Head. This is one of them.
The Arthur Head Collection
Pam Harris: The Arthur Head Collection was a project coordinated by the City of Fremantle with funding from a grant available from the Federal Government to celebrate the Bicentennial year in 1988 [resulting in] a huge collection of materials in various formats including documents, reports, photographs, maps, bibliographies etc. to help research the site. ... Pam Harris, Fremantle History Centre Librarian, May 2018.
The next two photos, from the Fremantle City Library Local History Collection, show stages in the building of the powerhouse in 1905.
George Keane's photo, courtesy of the Fremantle Library, looking southwest, shows the powerhouse in the context of Arthur Head with the Residency still extant on the left.
References and Links
Ths photograph at the top is the fourth (right) of four panels of a panorama of the Fremantle harbour taken by G. Sands, probably in November 1913. The collection is in the Fremantle City Library Local History Collection, images nos 1694 A-D.
The second photo is in the Battye Library collection at 006008PD.
The next two photos, from the Fremantle City Library Local History Collection, are numbers 824A and 813B.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 25 May, 2018 and hosted at freotopia.org/arthurhead/powerhouse.html (it was last updated on 19 January, 2024). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.