John Whitehead, Treasures of Nhill & District Facebook page, 12 July 2024, Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times

These photos were taken by Henry James Mercer Hobday, manager of the Bank of Victoria, who was stationed in Nhill from 1913 until 1921. Photography was his hobby so he developed and printed his photos at home in the bank. We are grateful he took some of Nhill between these dates.

Though most of his photos are not labelled, it can be reckoned what they are about by cross referencing with local press reports. His granddaughter, Michele Jackman has allowed me access to his early records, and permission to post this shot. It appears fire spread from burning grass and set fire to the powerhouse, destroying a newly installed generator. This occurred in 1921, but it is also interesting to note that there was a second more spectacular fire at this power station 29 years later when 20 thousand gallons of fuel oil ignited, covering the town in thick black smoke which could be seen from Dimboola, and smelt in Horsham.

When I see this old water tower my mind goes back to the first television pictures publicly seen in Nhill. A young Lyle Schultz had climbed this tower and planted an antenna on top. I was just one in a room full of townspeople in the powerhouse, when a snowy picture from Melbourne appeared of a news reader. Lyle was buried behind a frame of valves and circuitry he’d constructed himself, adjusting a picture on a peculiar ‘radar tube like’ screen. It would have been in the late 1950s when I was on my way home from scouts. Little then did I know that some years later I would be working for him.

This article appeared in the Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times, 24 July 2024.