Book ID: CBB062276398

Power for the People (2015)

unapi

Darroch, Sandra (Author)


ETT Imprint


Publication Date: 2015
Physical Details: 390 pages
Language: English

"I have only one agenda ... privatisation." - NSW Premier Mike Baird 'Power for the People' tells the story of electricity in Sydney and Australia, and how it has influenced the development of our cities, and shaped our lives. The book begins in 1770 with the arrival of electricity aboard Captain Cook's Endeavour. It traces the trials and tribulations of a new and pervasive technology which transformed our nation. The author describes the selling of "the all-electric home" to the thousands of housewives who attended cookery demonstrations compered by "Radio Uncles" in the 1920s. It also shows how electricity liberated women from the back-breaking drudgery of housework, freeing them to have a life outside the home. And it paved the way for the sprawling suburbs of our modern cities. The book also introduces the reader to the shady underworld of the "boodler" and the "joke", revealing the seemingly endemic stain of corruption that has haunted the power industry to this day, confirming Lord Acton's famous dictum that "Power tends to Corrupt." During the course of her 20 years of research, Sandra Darroch has also monitored the sweeping developments that have revolutionised Australia's multi-billion-dollar electricity industry in revent times. 'Power for the People' brings the story of electricity up to the present-day controversies over privatisation of the "poles-and-wires" - and then takes a glimpse at what the future may hold at the cutting-edge of the energy sector in Australia.

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Reviewed By

Review Trevor Blackburn (2016) Review of "Power for the People". Historical Records of Australian Science (pp. 225-232). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB062276398/

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Authors & Contributors
Orchiston, Wayne
Churchill, Jennie
Arthur Firstenberg
Jones, Jennifer
James Uden
Stevenson, Toner
Concepts
Electricity; magnetism
Indigenous peoples; indigeneity
Physics
Environmental history
Science and art
Education
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
20th century
21st century
20th century, late
20th century, early
Places
Australia
Sydney (Australia)
Falkland Islands
Ethiopia
Tahiti
Antarctica
Institutions
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) (Australia)
Sydney Observatory
International Astronomical Union (IAU)
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