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Just a snippet from Geoff Donahue's Poatina days...
Along with so many other families, the Donahues moved from Bronte Park
on to Poatina as part of the workforce constructing the power station. Having
already begun working for the Hydro in Bronte Park from the age of 15 as an
electrical trades assistant, Geoff arrived in Poatina as a 17 year old with his
parents and brothers Lawrence, Kevin, Brian and Malcolm just before
Christmas 1959.
Geoff's dad Bernard, who everyone knew as Barney, handled the town's garbage
run and maintained the huge incinerator located near the workshops. Taking
several trips to collect the town's rubbish in 44 gallon drums hauled up on to the
back of his truck, Geoff can still visualise his Dad backing the truck up to the
incinerator time and again to feed the monolithic burner which seemed to have a
never ending appetite for what it was fed.
The tragic and untimely death of Geoff's mother at aged 42 was a bitter blow for
the family, but in true Hydro fashion the community rallied round to support
them in whatever ways they could. Grandma Donahue, Barney's mother, moved
in to help care for the children, as the youngest Malcolm was only around 10 years
old at the time.
In his job as electrical trades assistant, one of Geoff's most memorable tasks was
stringing out the lights right up to the face of the tunnel where the drilling was
happening. Depending on whether the tunnel workers were blasting, drilling,
or cleaning out the debris with the Conway machine, Geoff and his team went
backwards and forwards setting up the long cable of lights so the workers could
see what they were doing, then rolling them up again during blasting and
mucking out so they weren't damaged. This process would be repeated over and
over each day with the rotation of each task as progress was slowly made into the
mountain.
As most workers found, his work was not confined to just a single task in one
location. Besides working in the tunnel, both his manual and more technical skills
were needed in the power station itself, at the switchyard and at other sites.
The construction of the tunnel and power station went on 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week. Three 8 hour shifts a day saw a constant stream of workers coming and
going. Geoff recalls when on shift work you did very little else; you didn't go
anywhere much, and just stayed in town on your days off. “As a young bloke,
night shift in the winter was terrible, though it wasn't so bad in the tunnel. It was
cold enough in there, but you didn't really know what the weather was like until
you went back outside.”
Frequenting the pool room and cafe with mates were enjoyable diversions after a
full day's work, as were football and cricket on the weekends. Despite not having
a car between them as they weren't yet old enough to drive, they'd nonetheless
attempt to venture a little further than the confines of the town, walking to Cressy
on occasion to check out the local girls. For many of the young guys, their
involvement with the football club gave them their first opportunity to travel
outside Tasmania, and Geoff has good memories of their end of year trips to
Melbourne.
Geoff recalls like everyone else the destruction caused by the violent windstorm
in June 1962. All those at the football match at Bracknell that afternoon returned
to a scene of such devastation, they found it hard to believe so much damage could
be caused in such a short amount of time. Though the Donahues were fortunate
enough not to sustain any damage to their house, they found the chook house
which used to be in their backyard, was now residing in the neighbour's backyard.
The whole thing had simply taken off, completely cleared the fence, and landed
in a heap next door. Geoff has no recollection if the chooks were ever sighted again.
Geoff's association with the Hydro would see him move on to Gowrie Park, Tullah,
Strathgordon, back to Tullah, and on to Crotty near Queenstown. The shared
experiences in all these places have brought lifelong friendships, and fond memories
which even more than 40 years cannot erase.
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Last Updated: Wednesday 5 May 2010
Webmaster: RJK - Poatina