Nepean River Lights
This cache is dedicated to the men and women of Nepean River County Council 1954-1980, Electricity Authority in the Macarthur Area who gave “service” to customers no matter if paying bills, reading electricity meters or building houses.
Electricity in Macarthur
Picton was connected with electricity on 28th September 1922. This was exactly 100 years after the first land grant in Picton was made to Henry Colden Antill, one of Picton’s founding fathers.
Campbelltown City Council connected electricity in on 23 January 1924 at a cost of £10,000
Camden Municipal Council connected electricity on 26th April 1929.
When the Electricity Authority was established after World War 2, electricity was generated and supplied by Departments of Public Works, Railways, Water and as many as 138 local Councils and 47 franchise holders such as coal companies. Distribution was almost exclusively carried out by Local Government agencies.
In 1954 the Electricity Authority authorised both Camden and Wollondilly Shire Council’s electricity distribution be controlled by one organisation- Nepean River County Council.
Nepean River County Council commenced on 1st October 1954.
A Head office in Picton was opened on 22 November 1956- (date of the opening ceremony Melbourne Olympics) by Minister for Local Government JB Renshaw. That building is now the Wollondilly Library.
Campbelltown Council joined on 1st July 1958, and local offices were established in both Camden and Campbelltown and in 1975 a further office was opened in Glenquarrie Shopping Ccentre. All four had offices had cash receipting facilities back in the day when customers paid their electricity accounts directly to the retailer at a counter.
Depots for line maintenanace and distribution were established at Picton, Camden and Minto
Nepean River County Council closed its door on 31 December 1979, when amalgamation was made with Hartley County Council , Blue Mountains County Council and Prospect County Council to form one organisation- Prospect County Council
As another cache is located near the Wollondilly Library, Picton, this cache is located near the Maldon Zone Substation which was rebuilt in 1970 for a cost at that time of over $205,000.
A small magnetic cache, pencil required, whose name is highlighted more during the dark from the lights of the nearby Maldon Cement Works