28 February 1967   Pipelines Authority

On 28 February 1967 the South Australian Premier, Frank Walsh, introduced legislation to establish the Natural Gas Pipelines Authority for the conveyance of gas from the gas field at Moomba in the far north of the state to Adelaide. This had come about because not only the Gas Company converted to the use of natural gas, but the Electricity Trust also wished to use this fuel for its production of electricity at the Torrens Island power station.

The construction of the pipeline over a distance of 780 kilometres was a major engineering feat and it was completed in ten months, two months ahead of schedule, at a cost of $40 million. Under the terms of the legislation the Pipelines Authority was responsible for buying the gas from the producers and delivering it at three 'city gates': at Waterloo Corner, Taperoo, and Gepps Cross, to service the entire metropolitan area. Later, spur lines were taken to Port Pirie, Burra and Angaston.

Peter Donovan, Noreen Kirkman,  The Unquenchable Flame, Wakefield Press, 1986. pp. 268-270.