Location: Tarraleah, Central Highlands
Distance from: Hobart - 129 km, Launceston - 164 km, Devonport - 171 km
The Tarraleah Power Station is an engineering marvel. Sitting on the west bank of the Nive River in the Highlands of Tasmania, the power station draws its water from a variety of different sources, including the Butlers Gorge Power Station. Flowing through a series of channels and pipes, the water eventually drops through 290-metre penstocks into massive turbines to power the island. And you get a bird's eye view of this process from the Tarraleah Power Station Lookout.
Tarraleah town is a picturesque scene with art deco houses built in the 1930's to accommodate the power station's workers. That's right, this feat of engineering took place in the early 1900's. Tarraleah also makes for a great stop on your drive from Hobart to Lake St. Clair on the Lyell Highway. Stop for a coffee, have a chat with some locals and then head up to the lookout to get fantastic views of the valley, the penstocks and the power station's massive turbines.
The Tarraleah Power Station was developed as a part of the Upper River Derwent Hydroelectric Power Scheme back in 1934. The first three turbines came online in 1938 while the next three became operational between 1943 and 1951. The station was the third built on the island and the first to come online as a part of the Upper River Derwent Hydroelectric Power Scheme.
Tarraleah sits near the Lyell Highway, making for a great pitstop on your drive to the Highlands and Lake St. Clair. It's 129 kilometres from Hobart and the drive takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Launceston isn't much further away at 164 kilometres but the roads are a bit slower. The drive takes 2 hours and 19 minutes. Devonport is 2.5 hours away sitting 171 kilometres to the north.
