mining

The locality takes its name from the Walter Hall railway station, which was named on 26 November 1898 after businessman Walter Russell Hall, who was a major shareholder in the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Company Limited. Source; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walterhall

Mineside looking South West. December 1929. Lower right corner is the temporary power house. An additional boiler and generator was installed with the construction starting late August 1929. The tool sharpening shop was completed on 30th December 1929. The housing was being constructed for MIM employees and the Dormitory and single men's quarters for MIM Employees as well.

Mount Isa is a small city located in northwest Queensland, Australia. Payable silver-lead ore was discovered in late 1923, which led to the formation of mining companies, with Mount Isa Mines becoming the sole company two years later. To support the company, the Queensland government surveyed a town site on the opposite bank of the Leichhardt River. However once the British company Russo-Asiatic acquired a controlling interest, Mount Isa Mines built its own town on a scale and form unprecedented in Australian mining. Isa Mines was a company town with its own stores, bank and recreational facilities. It was initially named Isa Mines to distinguish it from the incorporated town of Mount Isa, though over time the two settlements became known as Mineside and Townside. During the late 1940s and early 1950s with the price of lead at a record high, the Isa Mines settlement was extended with further housing and facilities. Source: researchonline.jcu.edu.au/39437/1/39437-kirkman-2011-thes...

The date is closer to June/July 1930. The electrical switchgear "Switch Room" is near completion. Construction started around September 1929. It was commissioned on 6th December 1930 with one unit. This was the first power station in Australia to use a pulverised coal fuel system and it is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.

Mount Isa Mine Power Station (1931) From mid-1927 the technical management of Mount Isa Mine was in the hands of the Urquhart group (formerly known as the Russo-Asiatic Consolidated). With their increased capital they set about developing the "most modern mine of the age." The initial powerhouse of Corbould's company was replaced by the steel-framed power station consisting of a coal-fired boiler house and a generator house, designed by JM Callow in 1928 and located at the base of the Mount Isa Mine ridge overlooking the new tent settlement on the bank of the West Leichhardt River. The power station was operational by 1931 and a photograph of it appeared in the Queensland Government Mining Journal on 15 July 1931, which described the Ministerial opening of the new mining plant. It was described as having "twin chimneys rising like black cigars above a roof of dazzling iron".[1] The powerhouse supplied electricity to the town and its houses as well as to the mine until the opening of the Mica Creek power station. In 1951 the powerhouse was extended to supply the new copper smelter. When the Mica Creek power station came into operation supplying electricity, the mine's power station was adapted to supply compressed air for the entire mine operation. It continues to fulfill this function. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Isa_Mine_Early_Infrastructure