Ed Vormister was 101 when he gave this interview. He came to Wollongong as a boy in the 1920s and has early memories of the town. Ed has an extensive knowledge of the electrification of Wollongong and the work of his father, Charles Vormister, the first electrical engineer at Wollongong Council. Ed was involved in setting up substations around the city which are still used today. He sees his greatest achievement as the complex replacement of a transformer in Swan Street which prevented a major blackout. In the 1940s, Ed built a film projector at home and showed films in the garage to family and friends.
His projector is now at the National Film and Sound Archive. You can view a short video here:
https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/eddie-vormisters-homemade-film-projector-2017
Listen to Ed’s Interview
[Part 1 – Ed and his father’s work with electricity]:
[Part 2 – Films and Wiseman Park]:
[Part 3 – Early memories, fundraising, and replacing the transformer]:
Ed’s Photo Album
Keywords
Fairy Creek – Stewart Park – Wiseman Park – Cancer Appeal – Savoy Theatre – Morris Jones – Charles Vormister – Swimming Pool – Transformer – Substation – Electrification – Linear Accelerator – Wollongong Hospital – Film Projector
Ed’s interview can be downloaded here: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Be a digital volunteer and help edit the computer generated transcript of Ed’s interviews using Amplify:
