waddamana power station museum

Waddamana Power Station Museum is set old and rustic. Bring a jumper!The station sits below gigantic penstocks / pipes - very impressive sight.There is also an old village with lovely old houses and gardens - you can easily imagine what life may have been like nearly 100 years ago.Wildlife is everywhere - we saw kookaburra's, kangaroo's, wallaby's and wombats.The waddamana road weaves through farms with cows and sheep.Bring your own food - BBQs are being built for public use. The closest shop is at Bothwell, approx 40km away.

Fabulous museum of the old Waddamana power station. Dirt road into Waddamana is not a problem just take it easy, we had a great day with the weather sunny & no snow but it might be a bit slippery if it's wet. The museum is the old power station so it's very big & you do a self guided tour, very impressive being down on the floor with the giant turbines. Well worth the drive and entry to this is free.

The Waddamana Power Station Museum is an disused power station that used to harness the waters of Tasmania's Great Lake from about 1910 until decommissioned in 1965. The power station has a large number of historical exhibits of machinery, dioramas, and three rooms with mannequins and historical equipment that engineers and support staff would have used at the time. The main floor is full of full size restored machinery, much of it with cut-away views to explain how power generation works. Well worth the detour to get there.

I'm not really into this kind of thing but we went because my man works in the power industry and well, we just had to. some things were mildly interesting to me, but for my man, he was like a kid in a candy store. I had to pretty much drag him out otherwise it would have been an all day stop. So if this is your thing, stop in and check it out.

This place deserves to be more widely advertised and visited. Don't let the unsealed road put you off any car can do it just don't go too fast especially on bends. The old hydro station has been preserved in excellent condition. Each major piece of machinery has been sectioned to show how it works. Lots of hands on stuff for kids. On the day we went only three cars had visited. Good historical perspective of the station's construction in photos. All in all feels like it is a working hydro rather than a museum. Go see it.

i have taken many overseas guests to visit this place and they wonder where we are going until the view takes their breathe away. then when they see what is inside it is hard to get them moving again to next site of the fossils at the river crossing. one guest after reading the dates said that while the yanks were fighting at OK CORAL tasmanians had electric light. i never checked the dates but it shows how facinated people are in our HYDRO engineering . ROB

The sign on the Lake Highway pointed 17km down a fairly smooth dirt road. We thought the kids (aged 7 and 9) would like to see how Tasmania makes its clean, green power, and they did! The road was good, with only a few potholes, and took us through high alpine meadows before plunging down into a steep valley to the power station. Waddamana power station was closed in the 90s, with water diverted to another hydro scheme nearby. They turned the station into a museum, although it could all be started up again if more power was needed in the future. This gives the museum a really authentic feel as you walk around the 9 huge turbines, touching the massive magnets and pipes that are essential to a hydro-electric scheme. There are things with buttons for the kids to press, showing how water makes turbines spin, how the water comes down from big lakes through enormous pipes into the power station. You can try winding a differential, turn two handles to make little signs light up, and play with a plasma ball. There are old photos of horse-drawn trams pulling parts for the power station along wooden rail-tracks in the early 1920s. The visit was self-guided, although the woman on-site on the day of our visit was very friendly and full of information about the power station. We might have been the only people to visit on this winter's day, but she turned on all the exhibits for the kids and would have shown us around if we'd wanted her too.

The history here is fantastic. A real wow factor! Comfortable and friendly place to stay, in the centre of Tasmania.. even better when it snows!! Wildlife is awesome!!

I stumbled across the Waddamana Power Station Museum by accident on a drive through the snowy Highland Lakes region. I had no idea the museum existed until I spotted a sign saying a museum was open every day of the year bar Christmas and Good Friday. Being the ever-curious sort, I happily made a detour and I certainly did not regret my decision.The museum is literally the now-decommissioned Waddamana Hydro-electric power plant - the first hydro-electric power generation facility in Tasmania. I won't say too much except that it was utterly fascinating from start to finish. It is also free! The drive alone is worth the visit.

My husband was in heaven when we found out about the museum. We enjoyed seeing how they generated the electricity in days of old and Keith made it come to life with telling us about the history and explaining about the history of the machines. It was a beautiful drive and well worth a look.

If you drive to Hobart from the North via the highland lakes do yourself a favour and make the 30km detour via Waddamana. It is a beautiful drive and the old power station is so well maintained. It is full of history. One of the great places to visit and certainly not overcrowded.

Well worth spending an hour or two in the Waddamana Power Museum, previously the power station, to learn about the history of power generation in Tasmania. One area was used for thirty years and another for seventy years before they became obsolete. The tour guide was so knowledgeable and friendly, there were very informative videos to watch, displays of household electrical goods, and interactive power generating devises. To wander around the building inspecting the huge turbines was very interesting. There was also well recorded documentation about life in the village over the past one hundred years. It is incredible to reflect on the logistics involved in the erection of the power station as the turbines and generators were manufactured in England and would travel by sea (possibly to Hobart) to train to Apsley and then via track by bullock drays and finally by horse drawn tramway from Redgate to Waddamana. We stayed in one of the ex hydro houses at Waddamana which were so clean, comfortable and warm (thanks to their efficient wood heaters). Plenty of wildlife around the area to see, and fishing opportunities closeby. Well worth a visit.

Whilst a bit out of the way, the 2-hour drive from Hobart is a pleasant run once you leave Bothwell and the last section of 25 kms on dirt roads goes through some lovely country. The Power Station itself is no longer a working powerhouse though the transmission lines still traverse the area from other generating hubs. The building was built in 1916 and converted into a museum in 1988. If you are interested in how hydro electricity generation began here in Tasmania and how it works this is a great place to visit. The turbine hall remains largely intact with modification to the pelton wheels and turbines done so you can see their inner workings. There are recreated offices and a collection of old photos plus a video showing the early life of those who worked and lived on site in the early years of building and generating hydro power here. The site is self-guiding, using a free brochure and there are helpful guides on site. Some of the descriptions and explanations seem to have been written by an engineer and only those of the engineering persuasion would understand them - and they know it already! There is a mezzanine level containing among other items, stoves, light bulbs and other household electrical goods but it is poorly labelled and the layout is not up to standard for modern museums. Overall we enjoyed our visit but the place does require an overhaul in terms of museum quality presentation.