History of electricity supply in Brisbane
In 1882, a demonstration of what electricity could do was conducted with eight arc lights along Queen Street in Brisbane, the capital and largest city in Queensland.
Power was supplied by a 10 hp generator driven by a small engine in a foundry in Adelaide Street.
White and in 1888 built a power house in Edison Lane behind the General Post Office with a generating capacity of 30 kW.
The William St power station was closed in 1931, and the plant sold to the Evans & Deakin engineering company.
No longer able to expand its customer base in Brisbane, CEL commenced a program of rural electrification.
These substations were constructed in accordance with the designs of long term City Architect Alfred Herbert Foster (A.H.Foster, born 1873 - 23 March 1932).
South African born Jameson was previously employed as a draftsman by CEL from 1918-1920 and the City of Brisbane from 1921–1922.
[9] Erwood designed Kedron, Hamilton, Toowong and Holland Park Substations, which no longer exist.
Similarly, there is another photo of the beautiful original Holland Park Substation taken in 1953 (Brisbane City Council), The old Coorparoo Street Lighting Substation, located at Main Avenue, Coorparoo was constructed in May 1930 for the new 'Series' system street lighting.
The demolition of the Bowls Club for the Eastern Busway also resulted in the building becoming far more prominent with much more clear space around the site.
The interwar BCC 11 kV substation buildings have "a landmark quality due to its picturesque design, which was the result of a decision by the City Architect of the period, A.H. Foster, to limit the visual impact of Electrical Supply Department substations in residential areas by drawing on contemporary domestic architecture.
The small industrial building reflects the prestige that the BCC associated with its electrification drive of the late 1920s and 1930s"[4] This style of substation was discontinued from 1940 with the dismissal of Erwood, when a new Council was elected, although the differing priorities brought by World War Two had already effectively meant that the Newmarket Substation built in 1938 was the last of its kind.
The next City Architect, Frank Costello would bring a very different style of substation building design, seen to be far more in keeping with the wishes of the newly elected Brisbane City Council, headed by John Beals Chandler as Mayor and with his Citizens' Municipal Organisation aligned Councillors.
On 16 July 1940, it was reported that 5 Executive Officers of the Council had been sacked, with Erwood one of them, after 26 years of service.
With the end of the Chandler administration in 1952, Costello himself was fired along with seven other executive officers (including his deputy), C.A.
