Evandale History Society says underground power would preserve village's heritage

In August, the society wrote to Northern Midlands Council requesting the installation of underground power and removal of electricity poles in the village's historic precinct and the issue was discussed in the September council meeting.

It's a project that the society feels would enhance the heritage aspects of the village which is deeply proud of the Victorian and Georgian character homes.

Evandale History Society secretary Bob Strachan said underground power had been an issue for a very long time even before the area was amalgamated into the Northern Midlands municipality.

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As nothing had been done about this longstanding call, the society then took a vote to write to the council to re-raise the issue, Mr Strachan said.

The society is not just aimed at collecting and preserving local history, Mr Strachan said. It's also interested in "keeping an eye on what things are happening in the village that might have an impact on the historic nature of the village".

"Basically the history society feels that Evandale is a fairly unique town in terms of the number of old buildings that have still been preserved, pretty much as they were," Mr Strachan said.

The town is not overly developed, it doesn't have supermarket chains, fast food outlets or service stations in the main street, Mr Strachan said.

"We really think it's important that we preserve that heritage because it is becoming more and more scarce, not just in Tasmania, but across the whole country," he said.

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"And one of the things we think we could do to enhance it is get rid of the ugly above ground power poles."

Some of the "big, ugly power poles" with large transformers on the top are quite close to some of the very historic buildings and aren't consistent with the village's image, Mr Strachan said.

But the entire project comes with a hefty price tag. A cost estimate from Tas Networks, reported in the September council agenda, came in at $1 million for a 600 metre area in the historical precinct.

If power poles from the entire historical precinct were removed, the total cost would range between $2-3 million according to Northern Midlands Council officers.

The huge undertaking of renovating the historic precinct would require removal of existing power poles, connecting each property to the underground system and replacing footpaths or other infrastructure that would be disturbed by the works.

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Mr Strachan said his personal view was that the cost would be worth it given the amount of money tourism brings into the state. The council shouldn't shoulder the entire financial burden and it would be appropriate for them to approach the state government for a grant, he said.

It doesn't have to be done in one financial year and can be phased over 5 or 10 years, Mr Strachan said.

And with the disruptions, he says that if works were phased properly, people would put up with the short term inconvenience for the long term benefit.

"What we would like to see is a start made on it, rather than it just keep slipping year by year and in another 20 years time, when it's even more expensive to do, it still hasn't been started."

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The newer areas of Evandale already have underground power and it's now only the older part of the village that's left with above ground power, Mr Strachan said.

At the September council meeting, one councillor noted that removing the power poles would enhance Evandale's suitability as a filming location.

Once the power poles are removed, all you've got to do is "dump a bit of sand on the road," take down the letterboxes and you have somewhere where you can do historic filming, Mr Strachan said.

Oatlands, a town which does have underground power, was the backdrop to the 2018 historic film The Nightingale.

"Towns like this do lend themselves to that kind of activity, that's for sure," Mr Strachan said.

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