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Roy and Frances Mounter... and a few of Roy's memories
The unforeseen event of being thrown into a Statewide power blackout late in
1976 produced a trip from Poatina to Waddamanna probably fast enough to rival
anything the current Targa Tasmania competitors could muster.
Occurring just before midnight, and even though Roy Mounter was not on call as
deputy superintendent, no one would be getting any sleep until the answer to the
crisis was found. “When the need arose the people responded. If there was a
problem in the power station the men would just keep working until the problem
was solved. That's what it was like all the way through." A quick trip to the
Palmerston switchyard to investigate revealed no apparent cause, and as Roy
came down the stairs of the control centre he met the local police sergeant, who
had been advised by police headquarters to head out and offer any assistance he
could.
Declining Roy's offer to accompany him to the Waddamanna power station, which
was put back into service during 1976 after being decommissioned back in 1963/64
when the Poatina power station came on line, Roy made his mad dash across the
mountain in record time. The power failure caused the loss of transmission lines,
meaning there was not only no power being generated, but the links between the
power stations themselves were also not connected. Quick thinking in heading
out to Waddamana resulted in the transmission lines being restored to reconnect
the power stations, completing the first stage in getting power up and running
again across the State.
“One of the main problems with a major power blackout is that when the lights
come back on, people start using their power again, therefore overtaxing the system,
so we had to be sure of the connection between the stations and their capability
before reestablishing power. Despite the suddenness of the emergency, the quick
action of all personnel meant power was restored Statewide within 4 hours, which
we felt was pretty acceptable, seeing as the major loss of power late in 2003 in the
U.S. took them 4 days to restore.”
It was the quickest Roy had ever made that journey, and thankfully it was without
incident, though on the return trip made at a much more respectable pace, he
collected four kangaroos coming across the mountain.
“I ran into the police sergeant a few days later and he reckoned by the time he
walked up the stairs at Palmerston I was on the phone telling him I was at
Waddamanna. I laughed and said I wasn't that quick, but he said 'I don't know,
I'm glad I never went with you'.”
Roy's 30 year career with the Hydro began in 1962 at Tarraleah, with moves to
Butler's Gorge, Devonport and then to Poatina in 1974 with his wife Frances and
their children Elizabeth, Judith, Jane, Frances, David and Robert. With their
children being born and growing up in isolation as part of the Hydro villages, the
Mounters were used to operating as a close family unit. Moving from maintenance
supervisor at the Poatina power station to deputy superintendent, and then to the
area manager's position in 1988, Roy continued in that role until he retired from
the Hydro in 1991.
As Roy was in an administrative position employed to virtually run the town,
earning him the affectionate title of 'Fidel' from some of the workers, the situations
he was called on to handle were many and varied. With some amount of distinction
placed between the workers and the bosses, Roy claims things always worked well
where there was mutual respect between the two groups.
“A lot of the things that stick in your memory are the problem times, because
that's what we were there for. As part of the administration you had to deal with
everything. The easiest part of our job was running the power station, and then
you had the domestic problems that came up within the village. Poatina was a family.
You anticipated that you would have the general squabbling between families like you
would have between siblings, that was part of the norm, but nobody would say a
word against a Poatina person outside Poatina, and if there was a problem
everybody was there. No question."
This close community spirit was no more evident than when there was a tragic
shooting accident while one of the workers was out hunting. When he failed to
return when expected, becoming long overdue, and since the police could not take
any action for 24 hours until after he was reported missing, Roy and the guy's
workmates who were by now greatly concerned for his welfare organised a search
party of 60 men within an hour, went out into the bush and found him. Both the
Hydro and the people of the village rallied round his young widow, supporting
her in every way possible, helping to organise her financial affairs and get her
back on her feet at what was a very distressing time.
There were happier times too, with Roy and Frances putting many hours into
fundraising events held within the village. Social events, charity fundraisers,
and special interest and sporting clubs, were all organised by the people, not by
the Hydro, and because of the shifting population these events, dependent on the
people who were interested in them, would change as people's interests and
enthusiasm changed.
Roy's position also brought opportunities to host overseas trainees during the
1980's, as the Hydro conducted training courses for overseas engineers in the
power generation field for the Papua New Guinea Govt. "On one occasion we
received a fire alarm from the Arthurs Lake pump station. One of the guys
wanted to come with me, so we headed up in my early model Subaru 4WD. At
that time there were three cattle grids along the Arthurs Lake road and I reckon
I was probably doing about 120kph when I hit one, came off it sideways and spun
round about four times. If it were possible for my black skinned trainee to have
gone white as a sheet, that's how I reckon he looked. There was no fire at the
pump station, only a communication error, and he made it quite clear he wanted
to return to Poatina a lot more slowly. On another occasion one of them chucked
a red T- shirt in the wash with his white overalls, which of course ended up pink,
which went down really well with the local guys who gave him a good stir. He
took it all in good fun though."
As well as providing practical experience for engineering graduates from the
Royal Engineers in England, Poatina also trained the original operators of
Fiji's power station. Groups of Fijian and Fijian Indian engineers would come
for 3 months at a time, enjoying fitting right in with the locals while receiving
vital training and experience.
Like others with long careers in the Hydro, Roy's 30 years spanned the era of
enormous growth within the power generation industry in Tasmania. Even
though he retired from the Hydro in 1991, his engineering expertise is still
highly regarded and sought after, and Roy believes he is the only one who can
lay claim to the dubious honour of having worked on Tasmania's oldest power
station at Waddamanna, as well as its newest at the Woolnorth Wind Farm.
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Last Updated: Wednesday 5 May 2010
Webmaster: RJK - Poatina