MORWELL POWER STATION AND BRIQUETTE FACTORY

The Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories was constructed between 1949 and 1959 by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV). It was the centrepiece of the Victorian Government's postwar strategy to revitalise Victoria's industrial and economic growth through the development of the Latrobe Valley into the state's principal power and energy producing region. The Yallourn Power Station had been established in 1921 and electricity started flowing to Melbourne in 1924. Morwell was the next project to capitalise on the region's brown coal resources. Its purpose was to provide electricity to a rapidly growing population, alleviate power shortages, produce briquettes for industrial and domestic use, and to reduce the reliance of Victoria on black coal from New South Wales. Building on knowledge from Yallourn, the SECV sourced briquetting equipment from Germany and boilers and turbines from Britain. Electricity production at Morwell Power Station commenced in December 1958. The first commercial briquette production commenced in December 1959. It was soon discovered that the brown coal from the Morwell open cut mine was unsuitable for briquetting, and Yallourn coal had to be transported to the Morwell factories. From the commencement of its operations the Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories workforce consisted largely of post-war immigrants from Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and other European countries. Many of these migrants settled permanently in the Latrobe Valley and as the power industry grew, a multi-generational workforce developed within the region. By the early 1960s, Morwell, not Yallourn, had become the nerve centre of the new industrial valley. After Hazelwood Power Station went into operation the proportion of Victoria's electricity supply sourced from brown coal in the Latrobe Valley reached almost 90%. The briquette plant at Morwell was one of the first components of the SECV to be privatised in late 1993 with the creation of Energy Brix Australia. Following declining profits and the impact of fires in 2003 the plant closed in 2014.

The Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories is a large industrial complex located approximately two kilometres south east from the Morwell Railway Station and includes a power station, two briquette factories, coal transportation systems, storage areas and ancillary buildings. Buildings are constructed using a variety of different methods and materials. The layout of the place is informed by the processes of power generation and the manufacture of briquettes, with coal conveyed into the place from the west, and distributed to either the Power Station or the Briquette Factories. Output in the form of electricity or briquettes occurs at the eastern side of the site.

Registered Aboriginal Party (RAP)

The Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories is located on the traditional land of the Braiakaulung people of the Gunnaikurnai clan. The Registered Aboriginal Party (RAP) this place is the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation. A Recognition and Settlement Agreement under the Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 also covers this area.

The Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories is of historical significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register:

Criterion A Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria's cultural history.

Criterion B Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Victoria's cultural history.

Criterion D Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects.

Criterion H Special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Victoria's history

The Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories is significant at the State level for the following reasons:

The Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories is historically significant as the centrepiece of the Victorian Government's post-WWII strategy to revitalise Victoria's economic growth through the development of the Latrobe Valley by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV) into the state's principal power and energy producing region. Built between 1949 and 1959, it was the second of Victoria's large-scale power stations (the first being the Yallourn Power Station which started powering Melbourne in 1924). With the demolition of Old Yallourn between 1995 and 1999, Morwell is now the earliest surviving large-scale power station designed to provide electricity to the state electricity network. The Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories site has remained largely intact since the 1950s and demonstrates the processes of brown coal electricity generation and briquette production which underpinned Victoria's postwar industrialisation. [Criterion A]

The Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories is rare for containing the only remaining, intact assemblage of briquetting machinery from the mid-twentieth century in Victoria. The boilers used in the production of electricity at the Morwell Power Station are rare examples of water tube boilers which have been specifically adapted for the burning of brown coal. [Criterion B]

The Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories is a highly intact example of a mid-twentieth century power station and briquetting factory. It contains buildings and machinery which demonstrate the 'start to finish' production phases related to brown coal electricity generation and transmission, and briquette manufacture. Few substantial alterations have been made since the 1950s and the place demonstrates a high level of integrity, allowing a strong understanding of the industrial processes for which the place was built. [Criterion D]

The Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories is historically significant for its association with the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV). Built between 1949 and 1959, the Power Station and Briquette Factories was the centrepiece of the Victorian Government's post-WWII strategy to revitalise Victoria's economic growth through the development of the Latrobe Valley into the state's principal power and energy producing region. The SECV lead this development process which underpinned the industrialisation of Victoria during the second half of the twentieth century. [Criterion H]

Group

Utilities - Electricity

Category

Generator/Power Station - coal/gas/oil