Paronella Park makes power switch
QUEENSLAND'S first hydro-electric system - a 1933 turbine and generator - is being revamped so it can once again power Paronella Park near Innisfail.
Powerlink contractors on Friday used a 100-tonne crane with a reach of 75m to remove the historic system from its cranny in a cliff below Mena Creek’s award-winning tourist attraction Paronella Park.
Park owners Mark and Judy Evans hope to be using hydro power by Christmas, once the system has been refurbished in Germany.
Mr Evans said the park’s founder, Jose Paronella, had shipped in a turbine from England almost 20 years before Mena Creek was connected to the electricity supply and several years before Cairns’ Barron Falls hydro-electric system was up and running.
"The first thing he lit up was the (Mena Creek) waterfall," he said.
The system has not been used since the 1970s.
When Cyclone Larry cut grid power two years ago, the Evans family began working towards a $250,000 "green" project with the help of a $45,000 State Government grant.
"We hope to provide enough power for the park and to run excess power back into the power grid," Mr Evans said.
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Even greener: Powerlink contractors use a 100-tonne crane to remove Queensland's first hydro-electric system from the cliff-face below Mena Creek Falls and Paronella Park near Innisfail. Picture: PARONELLA PARK
Queensland's first hydro-electric system arrives at Mena Creek's Paronella Park, near Innisfail, in 1933. Pictuire: Paronella Park
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