Summary

The Foreword from the book:

The history of the Electricity Supply Industry in Queensland and particularly North Queensland as portrayed in this book is most interesting and is a work that should be read by all as too much of our history is lost by not being recorded.

However, the reader should not be too quick to judge past events seen through an historian's eyes. Just as the author accepted a challenge to look back for information to complete her task, so did successive Governments and the power industry have to look forward at a challenge. That was to build a better quality of life for city dwellers and country people facing the hardships imposed by the isolation of our vast state.

Within these pages Dr. Christine Doran has presented a detailed account of how the sometimes colourful characters and events combined in the NORQEB area Lo meet the challenge.

She chronicles the electricity supply industry's remarkable achievements in making electricity widely available and affordable relative to other commodities.

For example, in 1922 electricity cost 8.78 cents per KWh in Townsville while a loaf of bread was 3.75 cents. Today, a family loaf of bread costs $1.34 and electricity for domestic use is just 8.47 cents per KWh on average.

The ultimate measure of success for the Electricity Industry in Queensland must surely be the price of electricity which is now on average the lowest in mainland Australia.

NORQEB and its predecessor utilities all recognised that electricity is fundamental to economic development and the quality of life. They can rightly look back with satisfaction at their contributions to North Queensland.

Readers of this book will find ample evidence to explain why today NORQEB still takes pride in its slogan 'A Partner in Progress'.

D.T.J. Gleeson, OBE
Chairman