The Boothtown Aqueduct is a heritage-listed 19th-century, Victorian Romanesque style water bridge in Greystanes,

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, Australia. Established in 1888, the aqueduct was built to cross a valley to carry water from Prospect Reservoir to residents of

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. Part of the Lower Prospect Canal Reserve, the aqueduct was the longest continuous concrete work of its kind in Australia in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It was listed in November 1991 in the New South Wales Heritage Database. The aqueduct was constructed as a part of the Upper Nepean Scheme to convey water from the new Prospect reservoir to the new Potts Hill reservoir.

History

In 1892, after the

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

walls of the aqueduct fell into the creek below it, the walls were reconstructed and restrengthened with a concrete lining and tie rods. Due to its failings to have its capacity inflated, in 1907 the aqueduct was bypassed with a 3 metre wide,

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

syphon. Built on the southern side, it allowed the

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...

to cross the valley using

gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

to push the water up into the

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

on the other side. The Lower Canal and syphon were superseded after a

pipeline A pipeline is a system of Pipe (fluid conveyance), pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries ...

was established in the 1990s. The aqueduct was subsequently subject to demolition in the 1990s, but due to objections by the local community, the aqueduct and surrounding reserve area were saved and finally included as part of the ''Western Sydney Cycle Network''. The NSW State Government catered $100,000 in funding and a cycleway was constructed from 2001 to 2003.

Design

The bridge is made up of 22 arches made of

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

, each of span with a clear span of brick with sandstone springers and was named after John Booth. The aqueduct has a look of an architectural puzzle, expanding and decreasing in size, with the arches aligning differently with each change of aspect. Today, the concrete legs have weathered look, stained by rain and weather. Some

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is present on the bridge's arches. The towers are made of rendered brick, embellished with cement-furnished castellation and doorways that are lancet-arched. The aqueduct was blocked with

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

plugs to divert water into the tube and into a large new concrete pipe. The tube inlets were built as ornate fortified towers with steel trash racks and sluice gates to control the water flow. Fairly decorative features are integrated into the

brickwork Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by ...

, such as dentilation,

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s to each arch and string courses of round cast bricks. The side walls are secured by tie rods. Described as having "

Roman architecture Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical ancient Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are often con ...

", the aqueduct was one of the first of its kind to use green technology, as it featured the power of

to transport water, before failing rather early after its construction and was finally bypassed altogether, becoming a

white elephant A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of without extreme difficulty, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, ...

(despite being a striking landmark in the landscape when the encompassing area consisted of small farmlands and bush).

Access

Boothtown Aqueduct is located on Macquarie Road within a stretch of bushy parks in the suburb of Greystanes. It is surrounded and obscured by residential houses which were built in the 1960s. The aqueduct can also be accessed from Gipps Road to the west, with a number of

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s close to the bridge on both roads. A pedestrian cycleway passes along the top of the aqueduct as it crosses Boothtown Gully, and west to Prospect Reservoir. Cycleways and walking tracks meander through the western suburbs, with connections across much of the Sydney metropolitan area.

Gallery

File:Greystaneswaterbridge.jpg, Panoramic view File:Greystanesboothownaqueduct.jpg, The aquedeuct with suburban view in background File:Aqueductbush.jpg, View from bushy shrubs File:Boothtowngreystanes.jpg, Exterior view of cycle/track way on the bridge File:Boothtownsyphon.jpg, The syphon File:Boothtownwalk.jpg, The walking track within the bridge

References

External links