Lights, guitars, action!

 
Better known today as Australia’s country music capital, the NSW city of Tamworth once played a crucial role in Australia’s electrical heritage.

Today, we take it for granted that the streets of our towns and cities can be illuminated at night – but it wasn’t that long ago (in the grand scheme of things at any rate) that streets being artificially lit come nightfall was a distant prospect.

At the turn of the 19th century, Humphry Davy first produced electric light, and towards the end of the century, electric street lighting became viable. In 1878 the world’s first electric streetlights were installed in Paris, on Avenue de l’Opéra by Russian electrical engineer Pavel Yablochkov as the city hosted the ‘Exposition Universelle’ – and within two years, more than 2500 of Yablochkov’s ‘electric candles’ were installed across the continent.

Here in Australia, developments in our towns and cities were happening too. However, it wasn’t Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne that first experienced streets lit by municipal electricity, but Tamworth, in northern NSW.

In 1888, electric street lights were installed in the town, replacing gas and kerosene lights, which were performing poorly.

Festivities were held on 9 November to mark the occasion and officially switch on the lighting, which came after Tamworth Mayor William Frederick Tribe signed a contract with electrical engineering company Crompton & Co. in Chelmsford, England.

A representative of Crompton & Co. – Alfred Whiffen – sparked up the two steam engines that would power the lights, and a key, presented to Mayoress Elizabeth Piper, was used to unlock the switch to turn on the lights.

Electric lights for Tamworth, NSW

Cheering from the gathering crowds followed, and the town band gave a rendition of the national anthem.

Tamworth’s keenness to be Australia’s first town fully illuminated by electricity (Waratah in Tasmania did have some electric streetlighting in 1886) wasn’t any great surprise – the municipality had gained a ‘progressive’ reputation. It prioritised the beautification of its streets, and had established a strong infrastructure with a Post and Telegraph Office, Court House, Police Station, two railway stations, a school and a jail.

In fact, Tamworth could have been the first in Australia to use electricity to power street lighting even earlier. In 1881, the town’s then-Mayor Hunt advocated for electric street lighting, but the proposal was rejected after the majority of the city council felt more comfortable with the better-known gas system.

While Tamworth shone brightly, Sydney’s street lighting caught up in 1904, and homes and businesses in Tamworth were able to access electricity as the Power Station on Marius Street was extended. In 1958, it was connected to the state grid, by which time it was supplying power to the whole region of North West NSW.

Today, the Tamworth Power Station still stands – converted into a museum celebrating Tamworth’s position as power pioneer of Australia. 

Plug it in!

Today, Tamworth needs a hell of a lot of power – because it’s the nation’s home of country music! Beginning in 1973 as the Australiasian Country Music Awards, the 10-day Tamworth Country Music Festival today attracts up to 50,000 people to hear a wide variety of music styles from 2500 artists. It’s not strictly country, either – you’ll find strong representation from blues, rock and folk artists, too. The pinnacle of the event each year is the Golden Guitar Awards, while Tamworth is – of course – home to the Big Golden Guitar. Makes a difference from big bits of fruit, anyway.

Streetlight timeline

1878
Paris lights up

1881
First electric street lights in the UK

1882
New York adopts electric street lighting

1888
Tamworth lights Australia’s first municipal electric street lights

1888
Melbourne installs its first electric street lights

1904
Sydney introduces electric street lighting