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Former Yallourn Power Station 'A-E' Boiler Plants

Location

YALLOURN NORTH VIC 3825 - Property No B5758

File Number

B5758

Level

Demolished/Removed

Statement of Significance

The Yallourn Power Station is of technical significance at a State level for the following reasons:

As the first permanent brown-coal fired power station in Australia.
As a remarkable example of the changing technology of electricity generation over a period of four decades . Demonstrating, in particular, the dramatic increase in size, operating pressure and power output of boilers and turbo-alternators over this period, and the transition from a typical "range type" power station of the 1920s, to the more modern "unit type" power station design introduced during the 1950s.
As the site of an extensive series of experimental trials, plant modifications and adaptations conducted, resulting in the successful development of new techniques for efficiently burning the extremely wet Latrobe Valley brown coal. Of particular importance in this regard were the A and B Station boiler plant (now demolished) and the C Station boiler plant which survives today.
As the site of four 25 megawatt turbo-generators manufactured jointly by Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Co of England and Thompsons Engineering & Pipe Company, of Castlemeaine, Victoria, during the late 1920s and 1930s and installed in the Yallourn B Station Turbine House where they remain today. These units are the oldest steam turbines in Victoriaand remain in situ, at the site of their original installation, and the only known surviving examples of steam turbines that incorporate significant components of Australian manufacture.
As the most intact surviving pre-Second World War thermal power station in Victoria, and possibly the longest operating thermal power station in Australia, with 64 1/2 years of continuous operation.

The Yallourn Power Station is of historical and social significance at a State Level for the following reasons:

For its important contribution to Victoria's industrial development during the 1920, 1930s and crucial post Seond World War through its role as the major source of industrial power in Victoria.
As the first major industrial plant in the Latrobe Valley, and the region's largest single employer until the 1950s.
For the direct and indirect impact that it had on the development of several Latrobe Valley towns over a period of five decades by stimulating new secondary industries, housing, transport facilities and even municipal facilities, in particular for the now defunct township of Yallourn. Extent of Designation: Power Stations A to E and existing equipment.

Classified: 14/09/1994

Group