96 lines
5.5 KiB
Plaintext
96 lines
5.5 KiB
Plaintext
File: Tennyson.txt
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Cont: The report on the infiltration of the disused Tennyson power station
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in Brisbane, by Sydney Clan member <predator> 14 May 1999
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See: Il Draino 50th Edition
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Tennyson Power Station - Another Northern Cave Clan Triumph
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During a meeting at an elegant Sydney yacht club with retired Brisbane Cave
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Clan member Sheep Feet, <predator> was given a clue to the whereabouts of yet
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another chunk of the national grid. Sheep Feet mentioned that, during his
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employment in a REAL JOB, he became aware that there was a disused power
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station not ten minutes by train from the Brisbane CBD. Since <pred> was
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en-route to the abandoned Hydro Power Station at Kuranda (via the disused
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gas-turnine at Rockhampton), he decided he'd have a go at the local offering.
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Entry is via a short walk from Yeerongpilly station to the northeast side of
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Softstone St (UBD map 179 F-5) where one climbs over the fence and walks
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east along the grassy riverbank towards the riverside edge of the old
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brick building, until one hears the loud 50Hz hum of lots of big
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transformers. These throbbing juggernauts are behind prison-bar gates,
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some of which are warped to permit entry to slimmer Clan members...
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larger persons will need to get down and dirty by getting in through the
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old coolant pipes which exit into a canal near the river, but this route
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is not recommended since this requires mud immersion, and some of these
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pipes are meshed to prevent access. These bars could be jacked or pried
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by the usual means but be quick, there is not a lot of cover. There is
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security on site but it is fairly inactive. There was notification of an
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intruder alarm but it doesnt seem to be active in the bulk of the station.
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Once inside, ascend the stairs to what used to be the generator floor.
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The six 150 Megawatt generators were similar to, but larger than, the
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green giants in the Melbourne station, but they have been removed. Old
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tanks, oxy-cut beams, concrete mountains which once cradled massive pumps
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and motors adorn the floor. The walls have rails for a 120-ton crane
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parked at the west end of the generator hall. All is quiet except for the
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occasional pigeon. The understory is dark and and also denuded of
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machinery. It's as if the Borg have come and scooped all the machine
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elements out of the guts of the building. Eerie that the place should
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seem so dead. The offices where the control systems were housed have also
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been cleaned out, only the lino remains. The most amazing visage exists
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where all the boilers and heat-exchangers have been removed, eight
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stories of girders and beams jut and grasp into empty space as if trying
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to avoid the rigor mortis which has already overtaken them; industrial
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death-throes frozen in time... and it's so VAST.
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Tennyson has not been entirely gutted. Some small areas, clothed in
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additional layers of locks, fence mesh, ominous warning signs and coils
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of razor wire. remain connected to the grid, and highly energised with
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the squillions of kilovolts which run Brisbane. Tennyson is now merely a
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switchyard for the juice which comes from the rest of SEQEB's network. I
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assumed that any intruder detection system would be focussed on these
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spots, so I avoided them and headded up ladders towards the roof.
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Three floors up, what appears to have been the administration area is
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locked off with shiny, newly installed steel-bar doors but there didn't
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appear to be much of interest beyond them. I lacked lock-picks or a
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hacksaw so I used more staircases and reached the lower roof. This level
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has amusing doors which, if you walk through them, permit you a six story
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plunge to your impact-related death below, but otherwise the entertainment
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value is a bit thin. More stairs and ladders take you to the middle roof,
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which has the footings to long-removed smokestacks, and holes which look
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ten stories down to the sub-basement. From this level one can also access
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the elevator shaft motors and also the conveyor belts and hoppers for the
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coal loader system, which is now mainly a gigantic pigeon-shit collector.
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Cages ladders lead to the topmost roofs, from where one can see the
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Brisbane CBD skyline. You can also see huge alien crop rectangles where
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the main smokestacks used to be and, if you're lucky, you can see the
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bloody enormous Rottweiler inside the fenced-off compound where the
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security guard lives in his caravan. If it isn't inside, be quick and
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careful when you leave.
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I tagged-up discretely and left the plant by the same tight squeeze
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through which I had come in. Walking east takes you to the electric fence
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operated by the DPIE, and walking south along this fence takes you to a
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convenient hole where it meets the fence for the railway line. The rottie
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has about 500 metres to run from the security compound to this hole and
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it will leave you more than enough time to get off the substation campus
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before it arrives. There is probably plenty more to explore at this place
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before it gets converted to yuppie hi-rise. In all, it's a nice bit of
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real estate, well worth the effort of fighting with the Queensland Rail
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system to get to it.
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Next issue I'll write about the disused power station at Kuranda.
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<predator> would like to thank Brisbane Cave Clan man Sheep Feet for his
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tip-off. In a business where everyone knows some secret hole in the
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ground, but can't tell you where it is, accurate intelligence is always
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welcome.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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<predator> Cave Clan Sydney : December 23 1999
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