History of the Central Highlands of Tasmania

Tarraleah

The water from Brady’s Lake flows into Lake Binney through a canal that we could safely navigate in dads boat and we often caught a fish as we trawled through. Lake Binney also had great fishing so we’d often make our way through. Then there’s another canal in Tungatinah Lagoon, which is named after the aboriginal word for ‘shower of rain’. Tungatinah is quite shallow though, so we never fished there. After Tungatinah, the water flows into the Tarraleah Hydroelectric Power Station.

The Tarraleah Hydroelectric Power Station is located at the bottom of a spectacular ravine, with enormous Hydro pipes running down the ravine. It was so rewarding to wind down the road as my dad explained what the power station was, how it worked and what he did there. The power station was built in 1938 as part of the Derwent River scheme. It has received a Historic Engineering Marker from Engineers Australia, as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program.

Tarraleah is an amazing village perched above the power station, that was first established in the 1920s. My dad got great joy showing us the town of Tarraleah, including where he lived, the magnificent Lodge, and where the golf course used to be.

The Lodge was built in the 1930s for Engineers and Directors. In 1980 there was a population of 1600 people, 3 pubs, 2 churches, extensive workshops, sports ovals, a post office, a butcher, a police station, a supermarket, a doctor, swimming pool, golf course, cricket club, tennis courts, squash courts, a shooting club, and a school. The married quarters were nicknamed Tickleberry Flat.

Once construction of the Hydroelectric station was completed, the town’s population declined and the town was closed in 1996 with the houses sold and many of them were then removed on the back of a truck. By 2005 only 5 people lived there. Then in 2005 it was purchased and renovated by Julian Homer, who created an amazing accommodation village called Tarraleah Estate.

Poatina

Poatina is another Hydro village my dad lived in and I really enjoyed going for a tour of Poatina with him. It is on the road to Arthur’s Lake, so we’d often be driving past. Poatina was built in the 1960s with 54 brick veneer houses for the workers building the Poatina Power Station.

Poatina means cave in the language of the traditional owners of the land at Poatina, the Lairmairrener, which is quite apt given the Poatina power station is housed 150 metres underground in a massive man-made cavern. A 5.6km tunnel connects the power station with the Great Lake. How they constructed this masterpiece is amazing. My dad worked on the massive tunnel boring machine that helped build it.

Here’s a video that explains it all. Trust me, it’s well worth watching.

Close by, down on the farming plains is the Waddamana Canal, which is about four kilometres long, dead straight, lined with concrete, and has little weirs every ten metres. Such a fascinating little feature of the Hydroelectric Scheme and nothing like a river. We would sometimes stop and get out, just to admire the majesty. Plus there was occasionally a big Trout looking for a feed.

In 1995 the Poatina Village was acquired by Fusion Australia to provide intentional assistance to unemployed and homeless youth, through vocational rehabilitation. Which is such worthwhile reuse of this historic village.