Page 8 - 2015-06

A TASMANIAN ODDITY
By Alan Vogt

On a recent trip to Tasmania my wife and I were looking for somewhere to stay overnight
to break the journey between Hobart & Strahan, we found an odd little place called
Tarraleah.

"Tarra” is an old hydro power town that is now in private hands and is the quirkiest place I
have ever come across. There are houses, church, school, restaurant, coffee shop all in
immaculate condition, but no one lives there apart from some staff members who cater to
visitors’ needs. This is like being in “The Truman Show” - an empty town, the coffee shop
opens from noon to 3 PM, the restaurant opens evenings but you can't get a cup of coffee.
When we arrived it was drizzling rain and was night time. There was very little in the way
of street lighting, it was like driving into the year of 1950. As I said quirky!

In 1960, the population was 1600, in 2005 it was four. We slept in a school classroom which
had been comfortably made over and totally modernised.

Back in the 1930s the hydro workers were supplied with 100 palings at a cost of 10 pounds
to build their own crude houses. When electric heating was introduced to these huts the
amount of “hut fires” decreased, although 10 huts still managed to burn down in one camp.

However it does have a little movie history.

There was a scarcity of entertain-
ment and so weekly film shows
were very popular. A representa-
tive of the Hydro Commission
chose what films were to be
shown. The policy was that war
films should be avoided and that
50% of the films screened were to
be British. The “pictures” some-
times were difficult to see through
the smoke haze created by a large
The Tarraleah Hall today. Image courtesy CATHS Archive
log fire in the hall.

During one particular show the caretaker rushed into the hall and shouted "Ladies &
gentlemen there is no need to panic but a whole row of huts are on fire behind the hall".
The hall quickly emptied, the patrons extinguished the fire and then returned to watch the
end of the film.

Like Brigadoon, maybe it all disappears into the nightly fog.

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