History

This year we are undertaking the largest project taken on by Paronella Park since it was built.

The Hydro Restoration Project is going to get Queenslands 1st hydro electric scheme up and running again. This will allow Paronella Park to run fully off Eco power.

The hydro-electric system utilised in Paronella Park was the earliest application of hydro-electric technology in Queensland,
and as such is both rare and significant as an example of creative and technical achievement, and has the potential to reveal further information about the development and application of this technology.

In 1933 Paronella installed a hydro-electric system which harnessed the cascade. The system used an aqueduct from the top of the Falls across to an inlet pit. The water then fell 30 feet, and was within the capacity of the turbine, an English model with variable pitch inlet valves to control the flow, which was directly coupled to a DC generator which was ex-army stock and which Paronella acquired cheaply. Engineers from the South Johnstone Sugar Mill helped to design and install the system.