Fire destroys Tungatinah Power Station in Tasmania's Central Highlands

Unless you have a connection to Hydro Tasmania, there is a good chance that this week was the first time you had ever heard of Tungatinah Power Station.

Nestled beside the Nive River in Tasmania's Central Highlands, the hydro-electric power station was destroyed by a fire on Wednesday night — with the cause of the blaze unknown.

Unlike the jaw-dropping site of the Gordon River Dam, which has become a major tourist drawcard, Tungatinah was a much humbler site.

The station's five turbines could generate 142.2 megawatts of power, providing close to 5 per cent of Tasmania's electricity supply.

Authorities were adamant the state's power supply remained secure, but the destruction was still devastating for some, including heritage consultant Chris Tassell.

Mr Tassell, who provided industrial history consulting services to Hydro Tasmania, described the station as a "stunning" building, particularly once the sun had gone down.

"If you've ever been fortunate enough to drive over to Queenstown at night and you drive down to the Nive River, and there was Tungatinah Power Station — like this extraordinary, illuminated temple," he said.

The power scheme that changed Tasmania

Tungatinah was one of 10 major power stations built for the Derwent Hydropower Scheme, a vast network of dams, lakes, canals, pipelines and power stations across the Central Highlands.

The plan was drawn up in the 1930s as part of a larger push to drive the state's economic growth and increase electricity generation, with the scheme's final power station commissioned in 1968.

Tungatinah was built towards the middle of that construction boom, with its five turbines commissioned progressively between 1953 and 1956.

Mr Tassell said the mid-century, modern design used for the building, which incorporated steel, glass and concrete, was distinct from other Tasmanian stations built in previous years.

The facility worked by drawing together water from a collection of nearby lakes and lagoons through the station's turbines, with the water then flowing to other stations downstream.

That cascading system was one of the defining features of the Derwent scheme, using the same water to generate power multiple times as it travelled through the network.

Building that system was anything but easy, with hundreds of workers being brought in to transform a rugged and remote part of Tasmania.

Mr Tassell said the cold, wet and unpredictable conditions added to the challenges for the manual labourers.

"The men who worked on the scheme really worked in arduous conditions," he said.

A workforce from across Europe

In the years after World War II, the Hydro Electric Commission actively recruited workers from Europe to help fill the labour shortages needed to expand the state's hydro-power system.

Many of those workers had been displaced by the conflict and had come to Tasmania in search of a fresh start.

The workforce included people from Poland, Britain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Yugoslavia, Russia and Ukraine, among other countries.

"It was almost like the United Nations in the Hydro Commission, the number of people from the number of countries working," Mr Tassell said.

"Looking back, it seems incredibly hard, but for people who have been through the devastation of the Second World War … in some ways it must have been quite liberating.

The heritage consultant said the legacy of these migrants could still be seen in the Polish and Ukrainian clubs, which continue to function in Hobart to this day.

A town in the wilderness

Those building the Tungatinah power station needed a place to live, which is where the Tarraleah Village came in.

Located less than a kilometre from the station, the settlement was built by the Hydro Electric Commission in the 1930s.

What began as a small village slowly grew into a fully functioning township as construction of the region's power stations continued.

According to the Tarraleah Estate website, the town had a population of about 1,600 people by 1980, boasting a supermarket, a butcher, a police station, sports ovals and a golf course.

Heather Felton's book Ticklebelly Tales and Other Stories from the People of the Hydro, released in 2008, features stories from those who worked on the scheme and their families.

Some of those who lived at Tarraleah recounted the striking mix of cultures packed into such an isolated corner of the world.

Glenys Rataj, whose British family moved to Tarraleah in 1947, said there was an immense level of civility among the different cultures, especially considering the circumstances.

"There was very little nastiness amongst the various groups, despite the Poles having fought against the Italians and Germans during the war," Mrs Rataj told Ms Felton.

Other residents described the "primitive" conditions during the early days of the camp and the challenges caused by the weather, with some being snowed in for days during harsh winters.

Many also remembered the rich social life which developed in the tight-knit town, with migrant workers forming choirs and orchestras, while also hosting dances and playing cards.

More than a power station

Construction of the region's power stations eventually wound down, reducing the need for such a large workforce in the area, and the town was officially closed in 1996.

Most of the buildings have since been sold, with some being cut up, loaded onto trucks and relocated around Tasmania.

A large building, which was built to house high-ranking employees during their visits to the region, was left behind and now functions as a luxury hotel.

With Tungatinah now destroyed, that lodge has become one of the few physical reminders left of the community that once surrounded Tasmania's hydro-electric construction boom.

Mr Tassell said the loss of the power station was therefore about more than just the destruction of a single facility.

"It had a really good history of production and it's a great loss to Tasmania," he said.

"It was a wonderful site in the middle of the wilderness, [and] it was a great industrial building."