Chris Tassell reveals the Waddamana Power Station in this lecture. Waddamana was conceived in the 1910s as a visionary project to provide power for the planned Electrolytic Zinc Works at Risdon. The project was taken over and opened by the newly formed Government Hydro-Electric Department in 1916, with extensions in the ensuing decades. This development was the precursor to the policy of hydro-industrialisation which dominated the Tasmanian economy from the 1930s until the 1980s.
Chris Tassell has extensive experience in arts and cultural heritage management including as Director of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston and Managing Director of the National Trust Tasmania. He has served on a wide range of arts and heritage Boards at regional, state and national level including the Australia Council. During his time as Museum Director he oversaw the Museum’s redevelopment of the former Tasmanian Railways Workshops at Inveresk, which entailed the insertion of contemporary museum facilities into one of the state’s most significant industrial heritage sites. He continues his interest and involvement with Tasmanian arts and cultural heritage, particularly industrial heritage.