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mgilb
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Joined: 05/08/2020
Location: Australia
Posts: 1

Posted: 03:00am 14 Aug 2020

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Hi All (my first post here). A mention of my grandfather, FB Gilbert, in the group prompted me to join! In the 1920s/1930s his company was Gilco here in Adelaide. He was an early adopter of the propellor type wind turbine. Gilco was relatively successful in its day but given the interest in wind power nowadays, I guess he was 75 years too early to really make a fortune!!
Lloyd Dunn was one of his apprentices and went on to found his own company, Dunlite. I have accumulated some of the Gilco newspaper advertisements and one day, I would dearly love to see, or even have, something that Gilco built (so if you hear of anything from a farm etc, I would dearly love to know).
For anyone vaguely interested, attached is a picture of FB Gilbert in his heyday with his newly imported Graham Paige motor car. He died in 1956 (64yo)

Michael Gilbert.

Revlac

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Joined: 31/12/2016
Location: Australia
Posts: 961

Posted: 10:52am 21 Aug 2020

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Nice bit of history there,

I have not seen or heard of any thing about Gilco, so can't help you there, perhaps someone may come across something one day.

Well aware of Dunlite generators, there must be a wide verity of them still in use.

Cheers Aaron
Off The Grid

brucedownunder2
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Joined: 14/09/2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 1548

Posted: 03:11am 22 Aug 2020

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I remember ,Gilbarco, think they were a petrol station pump and fittings company servicing all sorts of pumping gear and petrol bowser related stuff.

I still remember dad going down in our ,Whiffet, car. Or Ute to fill up Saturday�s at the south Brisbane petrol station , it was a clear glass top and the guy pumped the petrol til it was registering how much you required and then it gravity fed down into the car tank...

And while this was happening the attendant checked your tyre pressure and your radiator was filled with water. And us kids got a colouring in book,if we were lucky..

Out of hospital,Bruce . Every day is so nice from now on ,,,.

Luv this forum

Bushboy

Jema
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Joined: 15/02/2021
Location: Australia
Posts: 1

Posted: 11:01pm 25 Feb 2021

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Looking back, I'm amazed at how different everyday home management was for my mother from the way it was for me when my children were little. For a start, it was standard for houses on cane farms in the Lower Burdekin district of Queensland (Australia) not to have electricity. We were lucky in that my Dad was very handy and inventive and had set up a wind-powered 32 volt system so that we could have (rather dim) electric lights.

A section of the "Gilco". Also, the district in flood.

In the front yard was the Gilco (brand) wind charger - like a windmill as tall as the house, which was on high blocks (a) for coolness and (b) to keep the house and contents safe from the annual floods. Most people, including us, ended up enclosing the area under their houses to make better use of the space, so the houses weren't necessarily any cooler.

Me, aged two, learning to climb the Gilco, 3.04.1949.

The wind blades were attached to a noisy engine under the house, which ran on and off during the day to generate the power for the lights we used at night. The baby's room was above the engine, so the baby used to go to sleep during the day to the sound of the engine, then wake up when the engine stopped. Other people in the district had to use hurricane lamps.

The Gilco had metal footholds up one side to allow for climbing up to maintain the wind blades, so as children we would often climb up for a great view of the surrounding area. (Looks pretty scary to me now).

In the picture above, Katy is 12 weeks old and I'm three and a half. Aunty Else would have knitted Katy's cardigan and my little outfit, including the beret with little animals around it. How cute!

brucedownunder2
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Joined: 14/09/2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 1548

Posted: 12:06am 26 Feb 2021

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Lovely story,Jema.

Talking to my mob at a gathering lately ,we all remember the 32 volt lighting and batteries charged by a old banger water jacket cooled engine on the farm at Bidderston ,out past Toowoomba.. Our uncle had a dairy and us kids used to venture up there on school holidays ..

Still remember learning about the birds and the bees watching the bull playing around in the milking yards ,lol.

my wind generator is down at the moment , anyone got an unfinished windmill that they want to sell , let me know . I think I'm a bit past starting from scratch again ,got plenty of spares, just need something that I can finish off and hoist ,all the other stuff is ready to go.

Bruce

Bushboy

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