AYR ELECTRIC LIGHTING SCHEME DAVE EDWARDS’ ENTERPRISE

Ayr’s first electric lighting scheme took place at Pioneer and Kalamia Sugar Mills in the sugar rooms in 1894 and 1895. David Edwards, who owned the Delta Hotel in 1910, built the Delta Theatre virtually next door. He installed a DC Generator at the rear of the Theatre to run an electrical lighting system. This was so successful that David Edwards applied to the Ayr Shire Council to supply electric power for commercial use and town lighting in 1914. It took from 1914 to October 1915 before DC power was able to supply electricity to businesses along Queen Street.
A galvanized iron building or Power House on the corner of Bey (Young Street) and Omar (Graham Street) to supply electricity was built by Mr George Lear of Townsville to the satisfaction of a well-known architect of Ayr, Mr Fred Smith. Mr Pepper, consulting engineer of the firm Kay, MacNicoll and Co. had passed all the work in connection with the electrical department and expressed himself well pleased. As to the staff in general they did very well under the supervision of Mr C Holloway of Melbourne. The relations between employer, employees and Mr Holloway were most harmonious. This building site is now occupied by The Burdekin Singers.
The Power House has an outside measurement of 111 feet in length by 30 feet wide. The front is a handsome brick façade, and the entrance is through impressive silky oak doors under a large and imposing circular door head with fanlight. The first two rooms are the manager’s office and the showroom. The office has silky oak fittings with furniture to match and is well appointed. The showroom is well stocked and replete with all accessories in connection with the electrical plant. The windows to these two rooms are very large and of heavy plate glass. The ceiling is of Wunderlich metal and the height is fourteen feet.
From here we pass into the storage battery room which is 34 feet by 30 feet. The battery is of the latest Tudor plant of 240 cells and the capacity of 290 ampere hours with a nominal discharge rate of 29 ampere for ten hours or a maximum rate of discharge of 72 amperes. The battery itself is erected on the very latest principles, on varnished silky oak bearers, and all of these stands on glass insulators. This room is magnificently lighted, and is beautifully cool. The ceiling is cone shaped and of light corrugated iron and has a maximum height of 17 ft. The walls and ceiling are painted and the whole appearance suggests good taste and skill in the designing.  After Mr Edwards had explained somewhat of the working of the batteries, we open the door and enter the engine room, which is 39 x 30 ft and is structurally almost the same as the battery room.
For some days past, the townspeople have heard the steady cough-cough of an engine which is working well. It is the latest type of Fielding and Platt suction gas engine and is of 70BHP. It is very solidly erected and runs perfectly. This main engine is coupled up to an ECC Generator (25Kilowatts) which gives a voltage of 440-450 on the outers. The booster is also an ECC construction and of BHP capacity, and this used in charging the batteries.
Turning round from the main engine we notice the switchboard, which is of fine workmanship, being a set of beautifully grained marble slabs. The whole has a length of 12 ft 6 ins by a height of 6 ft. On this are erected the mechanical devices for the simple operating of electric current. It is a very complete, and has all the latest style of circuit breakers, rheostats, ampere, hour and voltage meters.
In the corner at the back of the main engine is installed a motor air pump. This being to charge an iron reservoir with compressed air, up to 200lb to the square inch, and anyone who has had any experience of starting a refractory suction gas engine by hand power after compressed air was exhausted, would appreciate this motor pumping principle. There, beside this, is a motor fan for drawing the gas from the producer, direct to the engine, and which is switched off as soon as the engine is going. This again, is a cheap necessary and effective appliance, ensuring as it does a steady draught of gas which is often difficult to obtain by hand method.
That there shall be no mistake in business and results Mr Edwards has made arrangements to put down an auxiliary engine in the other end of the room. There will be his well-known Delta engine, and as he foundation bed is ready, it will be moved to its site as soon as other details are attended to in connection with the main plant. This auxiliary engine will be coupled up to an ECC generator, 12 kilowatts, and the erection of this plant will mean that Mr Edwards will have no fear and little risk of not being able to supply customers in the event of temporary disablement of his main plant.
I might here mention that the floors of the two front offices-the battery and engine rooms are a solid 6inch solid concrete foundation topped by 1/4 inch of cement, giving a perfectly smooth surface. All provision has been made for cables safety, engine piping etc. being in brickwork trenches and covered by heavy checkered boiler plates.
As I pass on to the producer rooms, I notice it is through a sliding iron fireproof door set into a heave brick wall which is the full width of the building (30ft). This acts as a guard against fire and should be quite effective. The Producer Room is 20ft by 30ft and herein is installed a 75hp Cambridge generator of the latest model, with dust catcher and scrubber etc. The motor power from this generator is gas derived from firewood burnt direct. The principle of the generator really being a retort which converts the wood into charcoal whilst making its own gas, and is worked on the down-draught principle. There is no necessity for closing the retort, as it works as well open as shut.
I was curious as to the results of Mr Edwards turned up his chart and the engine and fuel consumed and showed me that the engine running on full load for eight hours test used 820lb of wood averaging 3.7lb of wood for every kilowatt generated. For the BHP generated in the same time 2.46lb of wood: all this showed 0.04 below the firms guarantee. For 40 hours continuous run the average load was .37kilowatts with total consumption of 4450lb wood or 3352lb per unit or 2.38lb BHP.
The whole of the producing plant is on a solid concrete foundation and has all the necessary platforms to enable the staff to do their work. Mr Edwards has a very large amount of firewood handy, and it his intention to at once to install a circular saw bench and thus minimize the cost of wood cutting, as this requires to be of suitable length for the retort.
The distributing mains are of bare hand-drawn copper cable erected on poles varying from 30 to 40ft being well above the Government wires. These mains are conducted through Queen Street and various other streets, and at present the connection is made with many business houses and some private establishments. At the present time the council are arranging for some nine lights in the main street and intersections each 100 candle-power. There is no doubt many more will apply for the light.
In connection with the consumption of light this is checked by Kilowatt meter-Board of Control units-so that any leakage on lines can be located also the consumption of light ascertained. Each consumer will have a meter check on a switchboard showing the amount of energy used.
After going through the technical details, Mr Edwards explained that the plant would have been ready before, but naturally war conditions had a great deal hampered him, and he had felt some anxiety, as he had roughly £1000 at stake in the scheme. However, all was now right, and here would be 40 to 50 consumers of light at an early date and no doubt as soon as times improved, he would be taxed to the maximum. What number of lights can you carry under a full load? I asked – Well 3000 that is to do justice.
Just as I was leaving Mr Edwards showed me a very unique instrument - a Megger Evershed testing set. This is used to find out the slightest leakage in the cables or breakage in insulation, and is an instrument which has received the approval and sanction of the Underwriters’ Association. Briefly, a provision is made for connection by a wire from the cable to the “Megger” All up this enterprise cost around £22,000.
The writer of this article left the premises after thanking Mr Edwards for his courtesy. No doubt Dave Edwards deserves success. This is his own plant on his own premises, and businesses, not only for his own benefit but to the development of the town.
By 1922, a couple of consumers to David Edwards Electricity Enterprise, told a reporter that electricity costs were three pence a unit, and one householder had an electric iron which cost thirteen to fifteen shillings a month to run. At the beginning there were only 20 consumers which increased to 231 in the 1920’s. By 1934 three diesel engines had been added to the original suction gas engine, 470 consumers and there was a staff thirteen. In 1938 the consumers had increased to 697and power was extended to Brandon. By this time as the Ayr Power House had operated on DC Power and because of the greater area to cover with electricity, this DC-Direct Current power was converted to A/C Alternating Current. In January 1939, the Ayr Shire Council bought out the Edwards Electricity Supply at about £26,000. The Ayr Shire presented Mr David Ronald Edwards with a fishing Rod and Reel for his services to supplying Electricity to Ayr.
World War II came and there were shortages of power because The Ayr Power House could not tap into the grid of power supply between Home Hill and Townsville. It was not until 1946 that the Ayr Power House was incorporated into the Townsville Regional Electricity Board-TREB. It was not until 1956 that the Ayr Brandon District was fully converted from DC to AC Electricity. What a legacy of Electricity that David Edwards and his family gave to Ayr and district from 1910 to 1939. David Edwards first supplied electricity in 1910 to his newly built Delta Theatre and by October 1915 to the whole town until 1939 when The Ayr Shire Council took over 24 years.
This article was written with the aid “Partner in Progress” (A history of electricity supply in North Queensland from 1897 to 1987) by Christine Doran Studies in North Queensland History Department of History and Politics James Cook University Townsville 1990 pp46-49.
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Contributed by Glenis Cislowski

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