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WELCOME to the website of the Redwater Creek Steam and Heritage Society – the people who give you SteamFest every March and steam train rides at the original Sheffield Railway Station all throughout the year!
In March we held our major annual fund-raising event, SteamFest. This year it was opened by His Excellency the Honourable Peter Underwood, Governor of Tasmania. Following are some excerpts from his speech:
Thank you very much Mr Martin, and thank you also for inviting me and my wife to this wonderful Steamfest and for asking me to formally open it. We both sincerely congratulate you, the members of the Steamfest committee and all the volunteers who have worked so hard to mount this major annual event of the Redwater Creek Steam and Heritage Society. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Kentish Council for its support of Steamfest and all the other sponsors who are too many to name but who are listed on the Society’s web site. I can also tell you that on the web site there is a form you can fill in to apply to become a sponsor – so don’t hesitate!!
Knowing that I would be here today I pondered why people find steam engines of one kind or another so attractive……..It is very difficult to analyse the fascination of steam engines but it became clear to me that they symbolize different things to different people……….I came to the conclusion that the attraction of the steam engine stems from very primitive emotions. The steam engine exudes an aura of strength and power that humans find attractive. It is akin to a living beast – one that smells and emits sounds far removed from the monotonous hum and whine of electricity and diesel. To control a steam engine presents a challenge; a challenge that requires the driver to be constantly attuned to, and responsive to the different sounds and moods of the machine. To drive a steam engine you have to get up close and personal with the machinery…….
But as well as satisfying our emotional needs, and providing us with a good deal of fun, this Steamfest is also helping to preserve our heritage. And in this respect we all owe the Redwater Creek Steam and Heritage Society a debt for bringing back a unique slice of history for us all to enjoy. Our history is important to us for it helps us see why things are the way they are today and helps us plan the future. We need an understanding of our history in order to properly see the place we occupy in the continuum of our society. Now the Society is well aware of all of that for its 2009 Business Overview states in part: “Realising the loss of our heritage, members have rallied together to ensure that their labours of love and the skills and money required to maintain and continue restoring machinery is (sic) not lost. The proposed Redwater Creek Rail, Steam and Heritage Museum is the focus of a unison approach to maintain our heritage in a working environment….”.
Excerpts taken from the Transcript provided by the Office of the Governor. His Excellency’s opening speech may be read in full in our April Newsletter which is available to members. Not a member yet? check out here to become a member
