Apr 01 2008
Unlovely Heritage Icon
Heritage Icons are popular concepts of heritage, worthy for their role in the cultural lives of Australians.
I don’t mean places such as Uluru or Bondi Beach, but objects which have cultural worthiness too. The Sydney Harbour Bridge springs to mind, the Eureka Flag, stirring symbol of the only armed rebellion in our history, and heaven help us if we overlook the Hills Hoist, found in backyards across the continent. These icons are burned deep into the Australian psyche and it’s fitting that they should be recognised and placed on the Heritage Register.
But there’s one heritage icon, lovingly honoured in the Australian list of things, places, and ideas typically and uniquely Australian, that must win the award for the ugliest sight to ever litter the vista.
Visitors to Adelaide can’t help but notice that this comely little city has the ugliest telegraph poles in Australia, if not in the entire planet. Huge structures that safely carry powerlines above the ground aren’t usually associated with beauty, they are practical devices that we all have to live with as best we can. The more modern practice of carrying power underground is very popular in newer suburbs and those in more affluent areas, but when all is said and done, powerlines are a necessary part of a city.
However, the telegraph poles in Adelaide must take the prize for the most grotesque of urban structures. These monstrosities are Stobie Poles, constructed of two steel rails bolted together and filled with concrete. South Australians seem to think all telegraph poles look like this, and are surprised that no one else calls their poles Stobies.
South Australia also has the highest rate of deaths connected with automobile collisions and telegraph poles - curiously, you have a minimal chance of surviving if you crash your car into a steel-braced concrete block.
Engineer James Stobie patented his concrete and steel rail design in 1924. At the time, timber had to be transported a great distance but old railway materials lay all over the state.
Stobie poles, in their fire-proof, rot-proof, termite-proof glory, soon dotted the landscape of South Australia. Today these concrete monstrosities are still the standard pole although the railway steel has long since gone. An unlovely site in a lovely city.
Fortunately all Stobie Poles end at the South Australian border
Like to shout me a cold beer?
Heh. Ugly buggers, eh?
And as for armed rebellions… you’re forgetting the Rum Rebellion of 1808… long before Eureka and actually successful too. Except nobody died, so probably why it’s not well remembered or considered.
Gawd, that’s an ugly pole!
Ah yes, Mr V. The Rum Rebellion. I learned that in school but perhaps my teacher wasn’t too impassioned with the event.
Not like the fervour in which the Spirit of Eureka was summoned.
“You there, don’t drag your feet, what would have happened to you if you dragged your feet in the Eureka Stockade, eh?”
and many many more
That is one grotesque looking pole. Here in the UK they tend to be wooden circular poles and blend in quite unobtrusively with the scenery.
I wish I had a better (worse) photo to show you. Stobies are even uglier than they appear in that snap.