History
The Chicago-based architect, Walter Burley Griffin, won a worldwide competition
to design the nation's capital in 1912. It was named Canberra a year later, from
the Aboriginal name for the area, Kamberra, meeting place. Griffin planned for a
city of 25,000 residents.
The first permanent building constructed was the power station, which was begun
in 1912 and commissioned in 1915.
Construction of the Cotter dam began in 1912 and was completed in 1915. A pumping
station to provide the water to the city was begun in 1914 and was eventually powered
by electricity in 1918.
Waste was handled by privies and septic tanks until a sewerage plant at Weston and
associated sewerage lines were finally completed in time for the opening of the
Parliament House in 1927.
As the population grew, so did the demand for water. Surveyor Charles Scrivener's
masterful plan of building the territory on water catchments meant that water was
available but needed to be harnessed.
Bendora dam was completed in 1961, Corin in Dam in 1968, and Googong Dam near Queanbeyan
in NSW was finished in 1978.
Water was treated at the Mt Stromlo plant on the Cotter system, which was purpose-built
in 1967, and another plant was established at Googong when that dam was built.
The powerhouse operated as the sole power source until 1929 when supplies from the
hydro station at Burrinjuck were fed to Canberra. The power station remained in
use as a supplementary source until it closed in 1957. All machinery at the powerhouse
was sold for scrap eight years later. Power supplies are now sourced from the national
grid.
The Weston sewerage treatment plant operated until 1978. In the late 1960s it was
agreed that a more efficient plant was needed and a worldwide search began. The
system eventually chosen demanded physical, chemical and biological treatment of
the waste.
This plant, the
Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre, was sited on the Murrumbidgee
River in the lowest point in the ACT, and over 20 years later is still ranked among
the best in the world.
Federal Government departments were responsible for providing territory services.
In 1963 a new federal statutory authority, the ACT Electricity Authority (ACTEA),
was formed to better handle electricity distribution.
The '80s saw the beginnings of self-government in the ACT and in 1988 it was decided
to incorporate all services under the one body, ACT Electricity and Water (ACTEW).
The organisation responded to the pressures of change and deregulation and was corporatised
in 1995 to become ACTEW Corporation Limited.
Subsequent years were characterised by mergers and amalgamations, and mounting pressure
on ACTEW to compete. The ACT Government attempted complete privatisation and then
a merger but, finally, in 2000 a joint-venture was formed between ACTEW and the
energy major AGL to form ActewAGL.