The last running turbine at the Liddell Power Station has powered down, marking the end of a 52-year legacy of generating electricity in the NSW Hunter Valley.
The final unit was switched off earlier this morning but took several hours before it completely stopped spinning at 10:30am.
Graeme McNeill has worked at Liddell for years and said it was an emotional day.
"The age of this station is 20-odd years past its use by date ... that doesn't happen by chance, that's dedication," he said.
Lindsay Smith spent nearly four decades at Liddell and will be one of about 20 to stay on to decommission the site.
"The biggest emotion that I feel is pride.
"Now we get busy working on the decommissioning ... we have quite a few years of hard work ahead of us."
Steve Lanesbury has worked as an operator at the station for 44 years and helped power down the unit.
"The power station is our lady, she's the matriarch of our family, she's the one that brings us all together," he said.
"The old girl, she's had her career so now I'm going to go out with her... I am going to retire."
AGL chief executive Damien Nicks said it had been an emotional day.
"There's a lot of reflection here, there are a lot of people that have been here for many, many years," he said.
"For us it's about celebrating and recognising what our people have done over the past 52 years."
A greener future
Mr Nicks said Liddell had played a critical role during its lifetime and the company was excited to repurpose the site into an industrial renewable energy hub.
"Bringing on board batteries, bringing on other forms of industry, solar, wind and also looking at hydrogen as well," he said.
Brad Williams, AGL's program director of site transition, said it is a unique opportunity.
"There's fantastic infrastructure at the site from road, rail, water, and a fantastic skilled workforce that live locally," he said.
Despite fears the closure would trigger energy supply issues, experts have said the closure would have little impact on the grid.
Half the Liddell workforce will move to AGL's nearby Bayswater Power Station, a third have retired and about one in ten will try something new.
Memories from Liddell
Born and bred in Muswellbrook, Paul Benkovic started at "mighty Liddell" in 1979 as a mechanical fitter and his electrician sons followed suit.
"So many kids have gone through there and gained employment, learnt their skills and whether they're still there or moved on, it's benefited the community," he said.
Mr Benkovic said it was a nostalgic time for countless locals with connections to Liddell.
"I'll be sad because at some point in the future, you'll look over there and there'll be nothing there," he said.
"It was so good to be a part of that whole experience. I can't speak highly enough of what it gave me and what it gave everyone in our community at some point."
Retired nurse Geraldine Griffen spent a decade working at Liddell and described them as the best years of her working life.
"At night time it looks like a ship sitting on the lake. I love it," she said.
Ms Griffen said Liddell's health and safety was well ahead of its time, but she still tended to some nasty injuries – from conveyor belt accidents to magpie attacks.
"Unless they had their hard-hat on, the magpies would sort of swoop down — I had a few of them," she said.
"I'm sad... but it's old and it needs a rest," Ms Griffen said.
Jo Lynch from the Hunter Community Environment Centre welcomed the closure.
"It's a highly polluting facility and its closure is a good thing from an environmental perspective," she said.
"The quality of life for everyone is bound up in the health of our eco-systems, and the closure of power stations — as long as workers are looked after — represents a massive opportunity to clean up the place and improve our quality of life."
Editor's note 6/6: Titles have been amended to reflect Liddell was one of Australia's oldest operating coal-fired power station at the time of publication, not the oldest historically. It has since closed.
