AGY-6770 | Newcastle City Council Electric Supply Department

Full description

During 1890, the Council of the Borough of Newcastle embarked on a project to electrify the lighting of the city's streets (1) and, on the evening of 1 January 1891, the first lights were officially switched-on. (2) The Borough of Newcastle Electric Lighting Act 1892, which was assented to on 31 March 1892, formally empowered the Council to illuminate the streets and public places of the Borough with electric light and to supply electricity both within and outside the boundaries of the Borough. (3)

In 1912, Newcastle City Council designated its electricity undertaking as the Electric Supply Department. (4)

By the mid-1930s, the Department appears to have adopted, at least colloquially, the acronym 'NESCA', formed from ‘Newcastle Electricity Supply Council Administration’. There are references in the 1935 Annual Report to 'NESCA customer service' and publicity materials bearing that name (5) and, in the 1937 Report, to the 'NESCA fixed appliance service'. (6) The Electric Supply Department named its new premises, opened in September 1939, NESCA House. (7) By the mid-1950s, the term Nesca appears frequently in the organisation's Annual Reports but it continued to be known officially as the Electric Supply Department until its replacement by the Shortland County Council in September 1957.

The Electricity Development Act 1945 established the Electricity Authority of New South Wales with the role of promoting and regulating the co-ordination, development, expansion, extension and improvement of electricity generation and distribution throughout the State. (8) Pursuant to a recommendation of the Authority made under Section 12 of the Act, a proclamation of 12 July 1957 under the Local Government Act 1919 constituted the Shortland County District and delegated to the Council of the District the various powers and duties respecting the generation, supply and maintenance of electricity for the local government areas of Newcastle, Dungog, Gloucester, Lake Macquarie, Port Stevens and Stroud and parts of Lower Hunter and Wallarobba. (9)

Shortland County Council formally commenced operations on 1 September 1957, the date the delegation of powers under the proclamation took effect. (10)

Endnotes
1. Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate, 18 July 1890, p.4 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/138937260 (accessed 31 January 2017).
2. Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate, 2 January 1891, pp.4,5 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/15202267 (accessed 31 January 2017).
3. Borough of Newcastle Electric Lighting Act 1892 (55 Vic.), s.3.
4. G. Wilkenfeld and P. Spearritt, Electrifying Sydney - 100 Years of EnergyAustralia (Text-only version). EnergyAustralia, Sydney 2004, p.9.
5. Newcastle City Council Electric Supply Department Annual Report and Statement of Accounts 1935, pp.10,12.
6. Newcastle City Council Electric Supply Department Annual Report and Statement of Accounts 1937, p.14.
7. Newcastle Sun, 8 August 1939, p.5 http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/167324154 (accessed 31 January 2017).
8. Electricity Development Act 1945 (Act No.13, 1946), s.9(a).
9. NSW Government Gazette No.77, 12 July 1957, p.2152.
10. Loc. cit.