And to the forefront of inquiry is the old Lithgow power station that will be well remembered by older residents.

Prior to Wallerawang coming on line in 1957 Lithgow largely relied on its own power station which was ‘fed’ by the adjacent State Mine, both of which were operated by the NSW Railways.

Wallerawang was subsequently chosen as the site for a modern station because of its proximity to coal and water.

According to a Delta publication in 2007 this region formed part of the traditional country of the indigenous Gundungurra people who called the area Wallerowang, ‘a place for food and water’.

In the 1820s, the land was acquired by a Scottish squatter, James Walker, and it was from his descendants that the Joint Coal Board purchased land.

Two years earlier, the Electricity Authority of New South Wales was constituted ‘for the stated purpose of promoting and regulating the co-ordination, development, ex-pansion, extension and im-provement of electricity generation and distribution throughout the State’.

The Authority’s role was to help co-ordinate the development of electrical infrastructure and services in NSW.

At the time, many organisations were involved in the provision of electrical services, including the Department of Railways.

At the inaugural meeting of the Authority in 1946, the Minister for Public Works and Local Government, The Hon J J Cahill, spoke of his desire for the Authority to provide electricity to rural areas as quickly as possible.

From the 1950s, the Authority consolidated the number of councils responsible for generating electricity by amalgamating small inefficient schemes.

At the same time, small power stations —including Lithgow — which serviced limited areas were progressively closed as new transmission lines carrying electricity from larger power stations were erected across the state.

Services were rationalised further when The Electricity Commission was established in 1950.

The Electricity Commission proceeded with a proposal to conduct a power station at Wallerawang on the western coal fields.

Many Lithgow Power Station staff, which had been established in 1928 and operated until 1969, were later employed by the Wallerawang Power Station.

The condensers were manufactured by the State Dockyard at Newcastle.

Wallerawang was a far cry from the old Lithgow plant and was the first power station built in which the boilers, turbines and generators were controlled from a centralised Plant Control Room.

There were three control rooms for A and B Sections.

The first operators’ school was held in early 1957.

The 12 week, full-time study course was conducted in temporary administration buildings with 29 students competing for 21 positions, with all training conducted by professional engineers.

Graduates of the course were graded as Power Plant Operator (PPO) or Assistant Power Plant Operator (APPO) and were selected for staffing Units 1 and 2 in A Plant Control Room.

In mid-February, 1957 the first boilers were ready for testing.

The Lithgow Mercury reported that on March 27, 1957, Wallerawang was connected to feed power into the system.

generating at the rated capacity of 120 MW.

Earlier the Electricity Commission described Wallerawang Power Station ‘as the most advanced example of a power station sited on the coal fields for the most economic power production, and supplying its output direct to the major overhead network for the most efficient power distribution’.

But while the new workplace was a sleek replacement by 1957 standards there were many in the workforce who retained nostalgic memories of their working days at State Mine Gully.

Some of the foundations of the old power station remain today opposite what is now the State Mine Museum.