Overview
Electric lighting appeared in the Box
Hill/Surrey Hills/Mont Albert districts in the late 1880s.
The first street lights in
Box Hill appeared in 1889.
In that year, the Box Hill
to Doncaster electric tramway commenced, operated by the newly formed Box Hill and DocasterTramway Company.
In Surrey Hills in the 1890s street lighting was by kerosene and gas lamps,
and a lamplighter rode along on horseback, standing up in the saddle to light the lamps
In 1904, electric street lighting was introduced to Surrey Hills, with the majority of the lamps being installed
along Canterbury Rd, some fitted with automatic lighting and extinguishing.
Street lighting and connections to private houses was progressively extended in the years up to the late 1920s.
In
the 1890s, commercial electricity was delivered by local Councils and was 110 V DC ( the American system).
This was eventually changed to three-phase 240 V AC
