The Tennyson Power Station was a

coal-fired power station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate ...

Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia, which operated between 1953 and 1986. The power station was the second major plant constructed for Brisbane, the first being the New Farm Powerhouse. It had an installed capacity of 250 MW. Planning for a new power station started in 1946 as plants at

New Farm New Farm is an inner northern riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , New Farm had a population of 12,197 people. Geography The suburb is located 2 kilometres east of the Brisbane CBD on a large bend of the ...

and

Bulimba Bulimba is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Bulimba had a population of 7,623 people. Geography Bulimba is located north-east of the CBD on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, but it is by road. Top ...

had reached capacity. Before the Tennyson Power Station was completed demand for power was exceeding capacity. This led to the successful staggering of work hours and some restrictions on electricity use. The land on which the power station was built was acquired by

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC, also known as Council) is the local government of the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. The largest local government in Australia by population, BCC's jurisdiction includes 2 ...

in 1947 as an ideal site to generate power for the city, due to its proximity to the

Brisbane central business district Brisbane City is the central suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is also colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD", "the city", or simply "town". The CBD is located on a point ...

and both rail and river access from

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

. Construction of the power station began in 1949. The power plant was fueled by subbituminous coal, transported via the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River (Turrbal language, Turrbal: ) is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia. It flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the ...

on barges from Ipswich. After the power station was shut down, demolition was avoided for many years, partially due to the hazardous nature of the

asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...

used in construction. The opening scene of the 2002 film ''

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Entertainment and created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears through their animated series, ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'', for Hanna-Barbera (which wa ...

'' was filmed here. In 2005, a contract was awarded to the developer

Mirvac Mirvac is an Australian property group with operations across property investment, development, and retail services. History Mirvac was founded in 1972 by Bob Hamilton and Henry Pollack. It first project was a block of 12 apartments in Rose Ba ...

by the

Government of Queensland The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the state Legislative Assembly, with the governo ...

to develop the site. The power station was demolished and both the

Queensland Tennis Centre Queensland Tennis Centre, known during its development as the Tennyson Tennis Centre, is a tennis venue in Tennyson, Brisbane, Australia. It is an A$82 million tennis facility opened on 2 January 2009 at the site of the demolished Tennyson Po ...

and Tennyson Reach apartment complex were built in its place.

References

External links

{{EnergyQueensland Coal-fired power stations in Queensland 1953 establishments in Australia 1986 disestablishments in Australia Buildings and structures in Brisbane Energy infrastructure completed in 1953

See also

References

External links