North West Electricity - Sydney's 1955 electricity heist revisited

On 23 August 2017 under the headline Inverell’s light bulb moment, the Inverell Times carried a piece remembering the North West County Council, the organisation that used to provide electricity to the North West.

 In 1995, after 50 years of electricity generation and distribution, the NWCC, trading as North West Electricity, and its $9m reserves were taken over by the state government. It became a larger organisation called Northpower, administered from Port Macquarie.

On 1 January 2001, Northpower was merged with the two other country electricity retailers (Great Southern Energy, Advance Energy)  formed after the forced acquisition and closure of all the electricity county councils. On 15 December 2010, the then Treasurer in the NSW Labor Government, Eric Roozendaal, announced that the retail division of Country Energy (including the Country Energy  brand) was to be sold to Origin Energy as part of a A$3.25 billion deal. As part of the sale of the retail business the electricity distribution division was separated from Country Energy and re-branded as Essential Energy on 1 March 2011

The original asset heist was justified on the grounds that these were state owned assets; that the Country Councils were not yielding a proper return from those assets; that while profitable, the Country Councils were too small to be viable in the new emerging national electricity market; and that the takeover would benefit consumers by lowering prices.  

The takeover came with costs to the North West. It lost the reserves built up from trading profits, as well as the contributions the NWCC had been making to local activities. The Ashford power station that had been locally funded was decommissioned, while both head office and support jobs were lost. Sadly, the expected benefits never eventuated. Sydney took the reserves, borrowed against the assets and then finally collected the money from the partial privatization. Little if any of that money came back into the North West, while there is no evidence that I know of to suggest that consumers benefited. If anything, the reverse seems to have been the case.

Back in 2010 in Sydney's 1995 electricity heist, I provided details of the policy and political background to the changes. Seven years' later with current problems in the energy marketplace, the changes seem even more suspect.  

Inverell's problem with air services

I suppose that I have written a fair bit on this blog over time about both the history of civil aviation in New England and the problems involved in maintaining regional air services.

Part of the problem lies in the way economics works: every new requirement placed upon airlines and airports, every increase in charges at major airports, affects the economics of regional operations because the passenger base over which the costs and charges have to be spread is relatively small. I do wonder how much the latest safety requirements will add to the problem.

In recent years, Inverell has had a special problem.

Inverell is a moderate size town by New England standards. At the 2006 census the LGA population was 15,510 , the town population 9,749. For many years and when the town was a lot smaller, New England carrier East West Airlines maintained a daily Sydney service by linking Inverell and nearby Glen Innes (LGA population 8,780 at the 2006 census). Problems for Inverell really began when East West was taken over by the bigger and now defunct Ansett.

Inverell Council finally responded to the decline in air services by combining with Gunnedah Council further south to help create Big Sky Express as a community airline. Sadly, in 2006 Big Sky collapsed as a consequence of mismanagement in Transair, Big Sky's managing airline.

Early in 2007, Council persuaded another New England carrier, Newcastle based Aeropelican, to fly to Inverell. Aeropelican, itself an airline that had been almost destroyed via Ansett acquisition, was looking to expand its northern routes. The traffic wasn't there, and Aeropelican retreated, leaving Inverell without an air service.

Inverell's problem lies in part in its size, in part in its location. Inverell is an eight hour drive from Sydney. The nearest airports are at Tamworth (3 hours away), Armidale (1 hour 50 minutes) and Moree (1 hour 50 minutes). There are no services now to nearby Glen Innes. Brisbane at 5 hours 40 minutes driving time is far closer than Sydney, but state structures mean that Inverell people generally have to deal with Sydney.

The absence of air connections creates a real problem in attracting business to Inverell. This had led the Mayor to propose that Inverell should actually buy its own aeroplane to operate services. This has come under attack from some rate payers for reasons I understand. Yet without an air service, Inverell will continue to suffer disadvantage.

Inverell's size and particular location could well justify a Sydney Government subsidy on regional development grounds. This is not going to happen. In its absence, Inverell Council is going to have to continue to search for solutions.

Inverell District Family History Group reorganises after fire disaster

On 25 January in Fire guts Inverell's historic Byron Arcade I provided a report on this huge fire. I have updated this post a little to include later Inverell Times stories on the aftermath.

One of the things that I focused on in my original story given my interest in history was the loss inflicted by the fire on the Inverell District Family History Group. Fortunately, the Group has taken quick recovery steps. In a comment on the original story, Ann Hodgens wrote:

Jim,
On behalf of the Inverell District Family History Group I'm pleased to report that we have new premises and plan to re-open on Monday 8th February upstairs at 129Otho Street, opposite the Centrelink offices. Whilst we've lost our library,we've managed to salvage most of the material the wonderful fire brigade men were able to obtain from the building after the fire. Our insurance will cover furniture, computers etc. and we've had offers of replacement books. Information regarding several of our current projects was offsite,and the Pioneer Register will continue but may be delayed. Forms are available on our website www.inverellfamilyhistory.org.au.
Our members are determined to continue and we are working hard to rebuild as soon as possible. The support we've received from the family history and history world has been wonderful.
Ann Hodgens
President

The work that societies like the Group do in preserving the history of families and districts makes a huge contribution to the retention of knowledge about our own past.

In my original post, I mentioned that in 1912 my grandfather, David Drummond, came to Inverell to manage Maxwelton, a wheat block created out of the newly subdivided Bannockburn Station. Mum was born while they were living there, so I could claim a personal Inverell connection.

While living at Inverell, my grandfather became an active member of the Oakwood Branch of the Farmers and Settlers Association. This meeting notice is from cousin Jamie's collection. Eight year's later, this active involvement would lead to his entry to the NSW State Parliament.

The back of this photo also from cousin Jamie's collection is inscribed in my grandfather's handwriting "a squatter goes to town"!

While my grandfather was proud of the fact that at twenty two he was in charge of Maxwelton, managing a wheat block on a share farm basis was hardly a sure course to wealth. Still it did provide sufficient certainty for his marriage in 1913.

The photo itself is not a very good one. Still it's interesting. The young Drummond is quite dressed up, especially for the sometimes hot Inverell climate. You did get dressed up to go to town!

I know far less than I should about various horse drawn vehicles. It remains a gap in my knowledge. However, I think that this is a spider sulky,a light weight vehicle that allowed easy carriage. This was also probably the vehicle in which my grandfather drove his bride to her new home at Maxwelton. 

The last photo from cousin Jamie's collection shows Pearl and David Drummond with daughters Edna (mum, left) and Phyllis. The photo would have been taken about 1915 or early 1916 not long before Phyllis's sudden death in July 1916 from flue.  

Phyllis was an attractive and much loved child, you can actually see this from the photo, and her death was a tragic blow.  We forget today just what a constant presence death was.

This short family story may seem to have wandered a little from the Inverell District Family History Group. However, all families have stories that reveal something about life. Their preservation plays a role in the preservation of history.

I would argue that this is especially important today many Australians - and I suspect others in other countries too - are more cut off from their past simply because fashions in history have changed towards the current and general thematic.

Certainly in my work in trying to write a history of New England, as well my writings on my own family, I depend upon the work of local and family history groups.

Congratulations to the Inverell District Family History Group on their courage and strength in responding to disaster.               

Fire guts Inverell's historic Byron Arcade

Back in July 2008  in a New history of Inverell's Byron Arcade I wrote of the work of the Inverell Family History Group in documenting the history of Inverell's historic Byron Arcade. Sadly, the building has now been gutted by fire.

The attached photo from The Northern Leader shows the scale of the fire.   Thirteen weatherboard units and six businesses in the CBD were destroyed.
 
While my thoughts are with the twelve people made homeless by the fire and the business owners who have to rebuild, I also thought of the loss of Inverell's history.

The Family History Group itself lost its office in the blaze. I imagine that this included a lot of carefully collected records.

Inverell has been very lucky in the work of its local historians, including Elizabeth Wiedamann's two books. Elizabeth and I did postgraduate studied together at UNE and I have recently been re-reading the first volume (here and here). As Elizabeth records, Inverell has had a history of fires in the main street.
John Caling kindly sent me some photos of the aftermath of the fire, supplied to him by a relative in the Family History Group.

This first photo shows the front of the building after the fire from roughly the same position as the first photo.

At the time of the fire, the Inverell District Family History Group was working on a Pioneer Register and was seeking contributions from the community. The Register was to include include the names of people who lived in Inverell and surrounding areas prior to 1910.

My family will miss out on inclusion since we came a little later. In 1912 my grandfather, David Drummond, came to Inverell to manage Maxwelton, a wheat block created out of the newly subdivided Bannockburn Station. Mum was born while they were living there, so I can claim a personal Inverell connection.

We have some family photos of this period. I must do a post or posts some time on the Inverell connection. Its actually quite important in our family history.

The last photo is another shot of the damage from a different perspective.

I hope that the Family History Group has a copy of the material already collected on the Pioneer Register.

It must be very hard from their viewpoint to face the challenge of re-building.  

Postscript:

I have been getting a lot of hits on this post, so that I thought that I should do a progressive update just pointing to key press articles. I will continue the update over the next few days:

• Back at work after fire Inverell Times
• Smoke alarms save lives Inverell Times
• Fundraiser for fire victims Inverell Times
• Text message alerts owner of fire Inverell Times
• All hell broke lose says fire victim Inverell Times
• Torbay lends support after fire Inverell Times
• Alarm alerted Katrina to fire Inverell Times
• Our homes could have been saved from fire Inverell Times
• Climbing out of the ashes Inverell Times