Josh McMahon

The Clarence was set in the early 1920s to lead the nation in power production, with plans for a massive program of hydro-electric generation.
Nymboida was the first of several power stations planned to be constructed. It would facilitate massive economic development and a program of practical decentralisation away from capital cities. There was one factor that was not anticipated, however: coal. Cheap, dirty, reliable, coal.
Discussions of the Nymboida hydro-electric scheme date back to February 1914, ‘Mr WJ Mulligan’s scheme’ put out to the public in the local newspaper, the Clarence and Richmond Examiner.
Mr Mulligan’s proposal at the time was competing with a steam power plant being touted by Alderman Johnson. Steam, it was reported, was less expensive to set up, but water power would have lower ongoing costs.
By March, the Grafton council’s lighting committee recommended it should be Mr Mulligan’s hydro scheme to be put before the Minister for Works, for a cost estimate to be prepared. Plans were also being finalised for supply of water to the township.
The government report came back highly supportive of the hydro scheme, estimated by chief electrical engineer Mr Corin to cost around £23,000.
By April the following year, a total of seven hydro-electric schemes were under investigation by the state government. Snowy hydro was the largest at £5million; Nymboida the least expensive, now estimated at £35,000.
Meanwhile, the Great War was underway in Europe, many Australians among the Allied Forces drawn into the conflict. Not only was the war costing millions of lives, it was having a dramatic impact upon the finances of nations such as Australia, with resources being poured into the war effort.
The Nymboida hydro-electric scheme fell victim to the nation’s financial hardship in October 1917, local councils deciding the cost was too great “under present circumstances and restricted conditions of the money market”.
Just one month after an Armistice was signed to end the war on 11 November 1918, the Nymboida scheme was resurrected in public discussion by South Grafton mayor, Dr Earle Page.
He had a grand vision for the Clarence’s future, driven by hydro power not only from a 2000 horsepower Nymboida plant, but also a much larger 8000 horsepower scheme to be established at The Gorge. Dr Page envisioned completion of the Nymboida scheme within 12 months; The Gorge to be in operation within three years; and power production to be expanded to a massive 100,000 horsepower within 10 years. He received unanimous support from fellow members of council.
Despite petitions circulating in support of The Gorge scheme, newspapers cited “reports from authoritative sources pronounce this scheme impractical from a financial standpoint”. Reports lack a specific cost estimate, only referring to ‘millions of pounds’.

Dr Page refuted the claims saying that the Nymboida scheme was the first part of the Clarence scheme, which would make construction of The Gorge project more affordable through profits from electricity sales, while providing power for the region.
On 16 June, 1919, the government was reported to decide to proceed with the Nymboida project.
To great applause, NSW Premier William Holman in August said the government would proceed as quickly as possible with hydro schemes at Nymboida, The Gorge, Burrunjuck, Tumut River, Shoalhaven, Cataract and Snowy River.
“If the experiments succeed the whole of the eastern half of our state should be supplied with a natural motive power within the life of another parliament,” Mr Holman pronounced.
The Hydro-Electric Development Bill was introduced to parliament, to pave the way for the industry around Australia. It passed in December 1919, despite some concerns about the cost burden on top of Commonwealth, State, and war debts totalling £700million, which were accruing interest of £35million annually. By now, the Nymboida scheme was estimated to cost around £80,000.
In 1919, Earle Page was elected to the federal seat of Cowper.
Tenders for the required turbines and generators at Nymboida were put out in 1920. Political voices in favour of decentralisation spoke out in favour of hydro-electric power production as a means of achieving a move away from overpopulation of cities.
Dr Page was among them, using his new position as MP to pressure the government to fund both the Nymboida and Gorge schemes.
NSW Premier James Dooley cautiously welcomed Dr Page’s representations, adding that he was doubtful about decentralisation due to inadequate rural water supplies. He added that funding was a great difficulty.
Mr Dooley announced in September 1921 that the government would borrow £80,000 to fund the Nymboida scheme, but terms were to be finalised. By October, the government announced the loan had been approved.
William Armstrong, Whitworth and Co, was chosen to create the Nymboida power station.
The company’s hydro-electric expert Mr Refsnes predicted “when the people of Australia realise the value of hydro-electricity they will want more of it”, citing the flourishing industries growing in Norway and New Zealand.
Then on 27 September, Earle Page cheated death in a serious car crash south of Grafton, when returning from an inspection of the proposed Nymboida power station site. A back tyre blew, sending the car off the road into a culvert. The car flipped, trapping Dr Page. Luckily, however, he escaped with little more than a cut on his leg.
A new loan of £100,000 was reported to have been approved in December 1922, but several months later the loan approval became entangled in a red tape Catch 22. The Commonwealth Bank had agreed to provide the money as soon as the local government department issued a certificate; the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission could not give a license until the council was in possession of the land; and the council could not get the land until approval of the loan that couldn’t be finalised without the license from the Commission.
The departmental silliness was resolved, however, and now-federal treasurer Earle Page announced approval of the £100,000 loan in May 1923.
On Wednesday 19 September 1923, acting Prime Minister Earle Page laid the foundation stone for the Nymboida power station – the first attempt in the state to generate electricity by water power on a large scale.
Only four or five years prior, the scheme had been considered by many as “a madman’s fancy” according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Laying of the foundation stone marked the beginning of realisation of Dr Page’s dream to harness “Old Father Clarence” to ‘bring light, prosperity, progress, and lessen the drudgery of the homes of every one of his sons and daughters’.
Meanwhile, not far from the power station at Nymboida, a coal seam had been opened and interest in further exploration expressed. The impact coal would have upon the future of hydro power was not realised at the time.
Dr Page continued to tout the wonders of power from water, urging those in the New England area to embrace the technology to develop and expand industries, such as wool production. Plans for the massive Snowy scheme continued. Plans were also made in the Clarence to supply bulk power from the Nymboida plant to residents of Maclean.
As excitement built for the grand opening of the history-making facility, the Sydney Evening News proclaimed it as the “first attempt in Australia to generate electricity by water power on a large scale”.
Massive celebrations were planned in Grafton to see in the beginning of the new water-powered age: a race meet, church services, a civic reception, and a ceremonial turning on of water and of the first hydro-powered lights in Grafton at the town hall.
The push began for the next step of the Clarence’s hydro future – a power station at Jackadgery.
The 2000 horsepower station was officially opened on 25 November, 1924, with Dr Page showered with a large ovation. That night, Grafton was flooded with electric-powered light for the first time ever, from what was hailed the Australian mainland’s largest plant of its kind.
Not content with progress so far, Dr Page used the official opening to lobby Premier George Fuller on the Jackadgery scheme, a £1.5million, 25,000 horsepower proposal. Premier Fuller agreed to put it before Cabinet, and the government would do whatever it could to forward the plans. The Premier also mentioned at the Nymboida opening, however, that the American example was showing the most reliable power was from a combination of hydro and fuel sources.
In August 1925, the Nymboida power station was hailed a huge success with more than 900 consumers receiving power within the first year of trading.
Despite this, in October 1925, newspapers announced that the government had abandoned the Jackadgery hydro scheme in favour of the cheaper option of furthering coal-fired power generation.
“The development of water power available in the Clarence River is expensive, and seeing that these northern districts – the Maitland fields, Gunnedah, Ashford, and the Triassic coal basin on the Richmond River – are comparatively richly endowed with coal, it is evident … power development will mainly be dependent on coal,” one report read.
Coal-fired power continues to dominate electricity production through to today, with the Clarence now powered by coal-fired stations in the Hunter region. Coal is attracting increasing criticism from an environmental standpoint, but there has been limited movement in Australia towards renewables such as solar power – once again coming down to economic reasoning from the state and federal governments.