The city of Gisborne promotes itself as the 'first to the light' which is accurate in terms of the relationship between the sunrise and the international dateline. But little old Reefton was the birthplace of electric light in the Southern Hemisphere.
The powerhouse where the generation of this new power took place is presently a ruin upon a rocky riverside, a situation which will need to be righted to reinstate respect for New Zealand's leadership in innovation and technology in the new world.
Reefton was the first town south of the equator to be lit up by electricity. It happened in 1888, before most of the world had even heard of the wonders of electrical transmission under development in Europe. A series of odd accidents of history led to this Victorian 'miracle' taking place in this misty West Coast Valley, on the banks of the mighty green Inangahua River.
As with all innovation there is a character behind the sty and in this case his name was Walter Prince, he had been employed and transported from Britain to put electric lights upon Lyttelton Wharf. That never happened, but he had a success in 1886 with the Bullendale Hydroelectric plant for the Phoenix Goldmine in Skippers Canyon. Next stop, Reefton. Prince lit up all four hotels upon Broadway in Reefton at once, on the 24th of November 1886, and the town was hooked. A local company employed him to make a more permanent power station which came into service in 1888, pre-dating the schemes in New York, Vienna and London.
Newspaper comment at the time was glowing like newfangled electrical lights: "Reefton is making a proud name for herself. She above all cities in the Southern Hemisphere has started in the lead of utilising the electric light for the benefit of her inhabitants. Magnificent Melbourne, stately Sydney, august Adelaide, with ambitious Auckland, windy Wellington, critical Christchurch and discursive Dunedin, are all left behind in the march of progress, for Reefton has the electric light."
After later (apparently badly needed) modifications by a new engineer, the plant survived and supplied the town with power until the 1946, when the West Coast Electric Power Board put it out of service.
Scrap metal dealers were said to have been the recipients of the remnants of international history, as the plant was gradually dismantled, with the timber building was pulled down in 1961. It wasn't until 1990 that Heritage New Zealand made mention of what was lost, and what remained, with a Heritage 2 listing.
Three books have been published about the story, they are aptly named; 'Let There be Light', 'Power to the People' and 'Bottled Lightning'.
What we see here now is a pile of crumbling concrete, not far from Reefton via a swingbridge over the Inangahua. Thankfully, a small and passionate group of heritage conservationists have formed into the Reefton Powerhouse Charitable Trust and begun to clear the land, with a firm plan to reinstate what was formerly here. They are gathering funds, and have found some items of lost hardware. Support for this group may be finally evident, with the inclusion of the site in Tohu Whenua, a Ministry of Culture and Heritage project recognising national landmarks.
Broadway, Reefton, is now flanked by Victorian style streetlamps, the first nod of respect to this groundbreaking electric power station. Blacks Point Museum maintains an wealth of history about the project and the district.
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