When the petrol driven motor vehicle first appeared, enterprising business people opened roadside refilling stations to cater for the growing number of travellers.
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Many of those have disappeared or morphed into larger service stations, but almost right next door to each other in Millthorpe the past and future are in sight of each other.
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When Blayney Shire Council first received funds from Cadia Valley Operations in 2019 to build a charging station they added some funds of their own and came up with a plan to build two council owned stations in the main tourism centres of Carcoar and Millthorpe.
Covid-19 has changed that plan and council has now determined that a more beneficial approach would be to move from the chargers being Council owned public chargers to individual private chargers, which will be owned and operated by local tourism businesses.
The last fuel was pumped from the roadside petrol bowser outside Millthorpe Motors over five years ago and as a sign of the times visitors driving electric vehicles will soon be able to recharge their electric vehicles 50 metres up the road at the Angullong Wines cellar door.
Angullong's Ben Crossing said that he's already seen a number of electric cars at the cellar door and having the charging station would be an added incentive for tourists to visit.
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"I've chatted to a lot of the owners about having an electric vehicle, and having an option to charge their cars as they explore the village is certainly a positive step in the right direction,' he said.
we believe that if they see that a station is available it may swing their decision our way.
- Tanya McDonald.
Mr Crossing said that the charging station would be open to all drivers whether or not they were visiting the cellar door.
"It's simple, they use an app to pay for their electricity usage," he said.
Along with the Royal Hotel in Carcoar and the Royal Hotel in Mandurama, Tanya McDonald at the Millthorpe Motel will be installing one of the charging stations as a service to customers.
"Council approached us because we can place the charger off the street," she said.
"We've never had anyone ask if we do have a recharging station, but we believe that if they see that a station is available it may swing their decision our way.
"It's also another service that we can offer to attract visitors to town."
Mark Logan
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
