Prior to the connection of electrical power to rural communities, farms and rural homesteads relied on low voltage generating sets to run power machinery during the working day, charge batteries, and keep the lights burning in the evening. An effective and reliable generating set was an essential piece of rural equipment.

This example is a fully restored and operating Southern Cross Battery Charging and Direct Lighting Generating Set model DLG 1.5 kW, 32 or 50 Volts dc.  They were produced by the Toowoomba Foundry from 1934 to 1982. The 1950 Southern Cross catalogue describes this set as:  the most widely used plant of all and have come to be accepted as the standard Generating Set for farm and small station homesteads, and for any other uses within their capacity. They were used in both commercial and private capacities, and the Australian and British armed forces used them successfully during WWII.

The Toowoomba Foundry was established by George Griffiths of Bristol England soon after his arrival in Australia in 1870. It is best known as the maker of hundreds of thousands of Southern Cross windmills over almost a century, from 1876 to 1973. The company also made thousands of small engines, electric motors, air compressors, winches, steam engines, boilers, irrigation equipment, milking machines and railway rolling stock including at least 35 steam locomotives for the Queensland Railways. The Toowoomba Foundry and the Southern Cross brand was an iconic Australian industrial success, known for quality and reliability.

This generating set was donated to our collection by Bob Skinner in 2018.