page_title: History of electricity supply in Queensland
section_title: BCC 11 kV Electricity Supply Department Substations
hierarchical_section_title: History of electricity supply in Queensland / Initial local generation and distribution / 1925-1938 / BCC 11 kV Electricity Supply Department Substations
caption_attribution_description: English: Powerhouse, Tennyson. (Original photo caption makes reference to the Office of the Chief Inspector, Machinery, Scaffolding and Weights and Measures)
context_page_description: The provision of electricity in Queensland required a considerable degree of pioneering, innovation, and commitment. Queensland proved to be a pioneer in the supply of electricity in Australia, with the first public demonstration in Australia, the first recorded use for public purposes in the country, the first Parliament House in Australia and the first commercial operations in Australia all occurring in Brisbane.
  Generation and limited distribution was initially the responsibility of local authorities, until a central state-based authority to coordinate the generation and distribution of electrical power was established in 1938. In the late 1990s, the electricity sector was restructured to enable integration with the National Electricity Market.
  The history of power generation and distribution in Queensland can be considered in three major phases: Initial local generation and distribution; creation of a statewide body and the consequent creation of an extensive network; and the restructure to enable integration with the NEM.
context_section_description: In addition to supplying the tramways network, the New Farm Powerhouse also allowed for the construction of an 11 kV network to supply power for electric light. Previously CEL had supplied these area under 10 year orders, but with Council having a new powerhouse, they slowly inherited the new areas of supply as each order expired. By 1935, only the old City of Brisbane and City of South Brisbane were still supplied by CEL, with the rest of Brisbane supplied by the BCC Electricity Supply Department.
  Four initial 11 kV Substations were constructed in 1928 by Council at: Victoria Park (No.4), Lang Park (No. 6), Victoria Street, Woolloongabba (No. 9) and Cairns St, Kangaroo Point (No.11). By 1930 they had constructed four more 11 kV Substations: Balmoral (No. 12), Stephens (now Moorooka) (No. 13), Hamilton (No. 5), and Coorparoo (No. 10). These substations were supplied with 11 kV, and had to transform down to 5 kV, which was the voltage that CEL had constructed in these areas. The primary purpose initially was to supply residential areas with electric light, as electricity was an expensive commodity, and most houses did not use it for any other purposes.
  These substations were constructed in accordance with the designs of long-term City Architect Alfred Herbert Foster (1873 – 23 March 1932). He joined the old City of Brisbane in 1913 as an Architectural Assistant to the City Engineer, and was made City Architect upon the formation of the greater Brisbane City Council. Harold Austen Erwood (c. 1884 – 1947) was Foster's long term assistant and successor, working as an Architect with Foster at the old City of Brisbane, from 1914, then at the greater Brisbane City Council after 1925, until Foster's death in 1932. Erwood had to wait to be appointed City Architect however, and was still waiting in August 1932. BCC finally changed his designation from Chief Architectural Assistant to Chief Architect on 30 April 1933. Reyburn Jameson (c. 1880 – 1950) was employed as an assistant architect from 1926 to 1929. South African born Jameson was previously employed as a draftsman by CEL from 1918 to 1920 and the City of Brisbane from 1921 to 1922. All three men appear to have been made Registered Architects from 14 June 1929, when the Architects Registration Act 1929 was enacted.
  The substation buildings near or in residential areas were designed by Foster to fit in with residential areas, with similar designs employed by his successor Erwood.
  Details of the brick building substations by Foster and Erwood are below.
  Half of the interwar period brick substation buildings in the table above no longer exist, some have been replaced by newer substations that have been heritage listed. These substations were constructed to take supply from the New Farm Powerhouse, and when BCC constructed the new Tennyson Powerhouse, the 11 kV substations lost their importance, with the new Tennyson 33 kV network and Zone Substations taking over their role. BCC had been having voltage drop problems, and while initially they installed 11 kV feeder regulators with tap changers on the edge of the network, including Toowong substation, the new 33 kV network was able to resolve this problem. 
  Erwood designed Kedron, Hamilton, Toowong and Holland Park Substations, which no longer exist. His remaining examples are the Nundah and Newmarket Substations, and while both the original brick buildings survive, both sites have been expanded and upgraded to 33 kV/11 kV zone substations. Kedron Substation site is still in use as a 33 kV zone substation, but Erwoods's original building, built c. 1933 was designed to take underground 11 kV supply from the New Farm Powerhouse. Kedron Substation was also where the BCC's 33 kV transmission line to Somerset dam originated, which was constructed on-site about the same time as the substation. A photo of the site taken in 1950 with the new enclosed 33 kV building and the old 11 kV building side by side is here (Brisbane City Council). Similarly, there is another photo of the beautiful original Holland Park Substation taken in 1953 (Bris
caption: Turbines at the Tennyson Powerhouse, 1959
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