Electric power industry The world's first public electricity supply was provided in late 1881, when the streets of the Surrey town of Godalming in the UK were lit with electric light. This system was powered from a water wheel on the River Wey, which drove a Siemens alternator that supplied a number of arc lamps within the town. This supply scheme also provided electricity to a number of shops and premises to light 34 incandescent Swan light bulbs. Additionally, Robert Hammond, in December 1881, demonstrated the new electric light in the Sussex town of Brighton in the UK for a trial period. The
History of electricity supply in Queensland Thargomindah has been described as Australia's first hydro-electricity scheme and operated until 1951. After Thargomindah, Charters Towers received electricity supply in 1897, Rockhampton in 1898, Toowoomba in 1905, Warwick in 1912 and Ayr was supplied in 1914. A number of coal mine in the Ipswich district were generating electricity by the early 1900s. Later, in Dalby, on the Darling Downs a much larger suction gas engine was installed in a power house by Myall Creek to supply the town. Other local authorities, one by one, set up generation stations using various types of diesel engines. The station in Tara used