50 years ago in Expo history: Australian Pavilion solar power technology worked a little too well

Expo ’74’s Australian Pavilion included a practical demonstration of a newfangled technology: solar power.

The roof of the pavilion contained 16 glass-topped solar panels. Water was piped through the panels and stored in an 80-gallon rooftop hot water tank.

Was it working?

Sometimes a little too well. During the blazing summer days, the pavilion’s maintenance engineer was worried that the water was getting too hot. Visitors were encouraged to touch the pipes to feel the solar heat for themselves, but the engineer was considering wrapping the pipes so that visitors would not get burned.

The pavilion was showing visitors that “Australian technology in solar power is years ahead of everybody else in the world.” An estimated 100,000 homes in Australia were already using solar power to heat water.

From 100 years ago: Mickey McBan, of Spokane, delivered what was deemed to be the “perfect address” to the Spokane Chamber of Commerce.

Here is his speech, in its entirety: “Hello, everybody (loud applause). I’m sorry I can’t make a speech. I’m only 4 and a half years old. (Cheers). Goodbye!”

Mickey was a young Hollywood star back home on a short vacation with his parents.

When he made that perfect speech, he had four or five movies under his belt and was featured that year in a popular version of “Peter Pan.”

He would go on to appear in many more movies, including “Beau Geste,” a hit Ronald Colman film in 1926.