Reconfiguring The Tamar: A 1940s Imagining

LINK #1 ... http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/60995041

LINK #2 ... http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/61003064

LINK # 3 ... http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/96476749

Reconfiguring the Tamar Estuary is not a new idea and it wasn't even new in the 1940s. Its an idea that has never really won the approvals need yet its an idea that seems to keep on popping up as grand solution to all manner of problems.

Like so many HEROICideas the rationalisation follows the concept that is not always required to be purposeful. Under the headline "LOCKING THE TAMAR" in The Examiner October 1910, one Hedly Button said .... "If we could have a river of 25ft deep without a- lock it would , of course be best, provided the upkeep of that condition of efficiency was not out of proportion to revenue, but we are led to believe that with a deeper' ohannel 'the cost of dredging is going to increase for annual, up-keep. So that if a scheme of 'improvement entails an   outlay... then £10,000 will be fairiy good business to investigate .... LINK

Interestingly Hedly was also advocating the planting of willows for profit. An idea that seems to have caught on but it doesn't seem to have delivered the promised(?), well speculated, dividends.

Nonetheless the reimaginers cannot be accused of a lack of imagination. Undaunted by whatever evidence/information there may have been to down play an idea, advantages were always able to be found. One presumes that if you've just won(?) a war that might give you permission to be optermistic– even against the odds.

Interestingly in the Examiner Dec 28 1946 an article by one R Norman Smith (Graphic 3) appeared on the subject saying that:

“The project is large enough to warrant sending a couple of your expert engineers abroad. to investigate its possibilities. Many Advantages As I see it. some of the advantages would be:

1. Prevention of water flooding, Launceston and surroundings.
2. Navigation for larger and deeper drafted boats than at present at all times of the day or night.
3. Water available to either side of the river through community: pumping for either household water or for irrigation.
4. Residential sites with water electricity and boating facilities.
5. A large fresh-water lake about the size of the Great Lake.
6. A very much needed bridge giving access from one side of the river to the other, which would also be a great tourist drive.
7. A boatman's paradise an ability to hold regattas or aquatic carnivals whenever desired.
8. A great resort for fishermen.
9. Suitability of Home Reach as, a flying boat terminus.
10. A splendid submarine base.
11. A much-needed water, supply for ships visiting the port.
12. Removal of the cause of frequent floodings of the railway line between Launceston and St. Leonards.
13. Growing of early flowers and vegetables, both for home use and export.
14. Saving the banks of the river from erosion.
15. And, far the most important, the salvation of Launceston.

I should add, too, the very great value that would accrue from harnessing the waters of the spillways for industries and probably also for power.”
Mr Norman Smith may well have overlooked something that we might envisage today. However it is hard to imagine how the authorities could not see the value of a "submarine base" – Advantage 10 – in Launceston and the flow ons that might have presented the city with.

With all the advantages imagined in the 1940s it is easy to see why an inquisitive mind might want to wonder about what's inside the square and contemplate being open to stepping out. The 15 advantages imagined in the 1940 will have surely grown and clearly it is time for some outside-the-square thinking. This time round the corporate world will surely be more ready and willing to throw their shareholder's investments into this kind of project with all the dividends it promises. Government is cash strapped but Australian's superannuation funds might well prove to be a source of  funding open to this kind of project. Its an idea that may well have found its time.