Goldfields Water Supply Scheme
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The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme is a pipeline and dam project that delivers
potable water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...
from Mundaring Weir in
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
to communities in
Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
's
Eastern Goldfields The Eastern Goldfields is part of the Western Australian Goldfields in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, covering the present and former gold-mining area east of Perth. Extent and name origin The region encompasses the to ...
, particularly Coolgardie and
Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...
. The project was commissioned in 1896 and completed in 1903. The pipeline continues to operate today, supplying water to over 100,000 people in over 33,000 households as well as mines, farms and other enterprises.


Water scarcity

During the early 1890s, thousands of settlers had travelled into the barren and dry
desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...
centre of Western Australia seeking gold, but the existing infrastructure for the supply of water was non-existent, and an urgent need arose. Prior to the scheme, water condensers, irregular rain, and water trains were part of the range of sources. Railway dams were essential for water to supply locomotives to travel to the goldfields.


Origins of the scheme

Throughout the 1890s, water availability issues in Coolgardie and in the Kalgoorlie-Boulder region were causing concern. On 16 July 1896, the
Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive br ...
, Sir
John Forrest Sir John Forrest (22 August 1847 – 2 SeptemberSome sources give the date as 3 September 1918 1918) was an Australian explorer and politician. He was the first premier of Western Australia (1890–1901) and a long-serving cabinet minister in ...
introduced to
Western Australian Parliament The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Western Australia, which constitutes the legislative branch of the state's political system. The parliament consists of the King (represented by the gov ...
a bill to authorise the raising of a loan of £2.5million, equivalent to in , to construct the scheme: the pipeline would convey of water per day to the Goldfields from a dam on the
Helena River The Helena River is a tributary of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in Western Australia. The river rises in country east of Mount Dale and flows north-west to Mundaring Weir, Western Australia, Mundaring Weir, where it is dammed. ...
near Mundaring in Perth. The scheme consisted of three key elements – the Mundaring Weir, which dammed the
Helena River The Helena River is a tributary of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in Western Australia. The river rises in country east of Mount Dale and flows north-west to Mundaring Weir, Western Australia, Mundaring Weir, where it is dammed. ...
in the Darling Scarp creating the Helena River Reservoir; a diameter steel pipe which ran from the dam to Kalgoorlie away; and a series of eight pumping stations and two small holding dams to control pressures and to lift the water over the Darling Scarp.


Construction and criticism

The scheme was devised by C. Y. O'Connor who oversaw its design and most of the construction project. Although supported by Premier Forrest, O'Connor had to deal with widespread criticism and derision from members of the Western Australian Parliament as well as the local press based on a belief that the scope of the engineering task was too great and that it would never work. There was also a concern that the gold deposits would soon be depleted, and the state would have a significant debt to repay but little or no commerce to support it. ''
Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'' editor Frederick Vosper – who was also a politician, ran a personal attack on O'Connor's integrity and ability through the paper. Timing was critical, Forrest as a supporter had moved into Federal politics, and the new Premier George Leake had long been an opponent of the scheme. O'Connor died by suicide in March 1902, less than 12 months before the final commissioning of the pipeline. Lady Forrest officially started the pumping machinery at ''Pumping Station Number One'' (Mundaring) on 22 January, and on 24 January 1903 water flowed into the Mount Charlotte Reservoir at Kalgoorlie. O'Connor's engineer-in-chief, C. S. R. Palmer took over the project after his death, seeing it through to its successful completion. The government conducted an inquiry into the scheme and found no basis for the press accusations of corruption or misdemeanours on the part of O'Connor.


Pipeline

The pipes were manufactured locally from flat steel sheets imported from Germany and the United States. Mephan Ferguson was awarded the first manufacturing contract and built a fabrication plant at Falkirk (now known as the Perth suburb of Maylands) to produce half of the 60,000 pipes required. C & G Hoskins established a factory near Midland Junction (now known simply as Midland) to produce the other half. When built, the pipeline was the longest fresh-water pipeline in the world. The pipeline ran alongside the earlier route of the Eastern Railway and the
Eastern Goldfields Railway The Eastern Goldfields Railway, was built in the 1890s by the Western Australian Government Railways to connect Perth with the Eastern Goldfields at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. It is a part of the interstate standard gauge railway between Per ...
s for parts of its route, so that the railway service and the pipeline had an interdependence through the sparsely populated region between Southern Cross and Kalgoorlie. The scheme required significant infrastructure in power generation to support the pumping stations. Communities oriented to the maintenance of the pipeline and pumping stations grew up along the route. With improved power supplies and modern machinery and automation, the scheme now has more unattended pumping stations operated by fewer people.


Dam

Construction of the dam started in 1898. When completed in 1902 it was claimed to be the highest overflow dam in the world. Shortly after World War II, raising the wall was proposed and by 1951 the height of the dam wall was increased by .


Mundaring Weir branch railway

The
Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...
originally constructed and ran the
railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
from the Mundaring railway station for the purpose of delivering materials to the construction site. The
Western Australian Government Railways Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the state owned operator of railways in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra respon ...
took over the railway operation. It ceased operation in 1952, and the connecting railway line at Mundaring closed in 1954.


Design challenges

* The sudden Darling Range height rise between Mundaring and Northam required the location of Pumping Station number two to be close to number one. * The Avon River in Northam required the construction of the Poole Street Bridge after failure of river bed pipes in 1917. The distance was compounded by the height the water had to be lifted. To rise the almost in altitude, issues with friction meant that a
head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...
of had to be achieved. O'Connor had eight pumping stations that each pumped the water to the next of the receiving tanks in his plans. Leakages were noted early; by the early 1930s, of water per yeara quarter of the total volume of water being pumped from Mundaring Weirwas leaking from the pipeline.


Pumping stations

With most of the original stations being steam-driven, a ready supply of timber was needed to fire the boilers. Hence the pipeline route was closely aligned with the Eastern Railway. To enhance the reliability of the system, each pumping station was designed and constructed with a spare pumping unit. Due to pressure requirements related to the slope of the pipeline, stations one to four required two pumping units to be in operation. Stations five to eight only required one operating pump, due to a lower rise in height between those stations. James Simpson and Co supplied of equipment in 5,000 separate boxes for the construction of the pumping sets.


Original pumping stations

All the original pumping stations were powered by steam. * Number One – below Mundaring Weir (now a
National Trust of Western Australia The National Trust of Western Australia, officially the National Trust of Australia (W.A.), is a statutory authority that delivers heritage services, including conservation and interpretation, on behalf of the Western Australian government and co ...
administered museum) * Number Two – above Mundaring Weir (demolished in 1960s) * Number Three – Cunderdin (now Cunderdin Museum) * Number Four – Merredin (location of three generations of pump station) * Number Five – Yerbillon * Number Six – Ghouli * Number Seven – Gilgai * Number Eight – Dedari


Current pumping stations

# Mundaring # Chidlow # Wundowie # Grass Valley # Meckering # Cunderdin # Kellerberrin # Baandee # Merredin # Walgoolan # Yerbillon # Nulla Nulla # Southern Cross # Ghooli # Karalee # Koorarawalyee # Boondi # Dedari # Bullabulling # Kalgoorlie Branch mains, or extensions, were started as early as 1907. Water from the pipeline was utilised for a number of country towns adjacent to its route, and also into the Great Southern region. The Public Works Department started this project in the 1950s following the raising of the weir wall in the early 1950s and it completed this work in 1961.


Centenary

The scheme was "interpreted" by the
National Trust of Western Australia The National Trust of Western Australia, officially the National Trust of Australia (W.A.), is a statutory authority that delivers heritage services, including conservation and interpretation, on behalf of the Western Australian government and co ...
in its Golden Pipeline Project, which created guide books, web sites, and tourist trails along the scheme pipeline and tracing the older power station locations and communities that serviced the scheme. The Trust achieved the responsibility in an agreement with the Water Corporation in 1998. Most of the material was developed between 2001 and 2003.


Recent histories

In 2007 two items were produced that were overviews of the scheme:


''Pipe Dreams''

The history of the construction of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme was detailed in the 2007 documentary ''Pipe Dreams'', which was part of the ABC series ''Constructing Australia''.


''River of Steel''

The book ''River of Steel'', by Dr Richard G. Hartley, won the Margaret Medcalf award of the
State Records Office of Western Australia The State Records Office of Western Australia (SRO) is the Western Australian government authority with responsibility for identifying, managing, preserving and providing access to the state's archives. The SRO also delivers best-practice record ...
in 2008.


Lower Helena Dam

Lower Helena Pipehead Dam is now also used to supply water to the Goldfields region. Water from the dam is currently pumped back into Mundaring Weir.


Engineering heritage

The scheme is listed as a National Engineering Landmark by
Engineers Australia Engineers Australia (EA), known formally as the Institution of Engineers, Australia, is an Australian professional body and Non-profit organization, not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to advance the science and practice of engineerin ...
as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program, and an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the
American Society of Civil Engineers The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering soci ...
.


See also

*
Pipeline transport 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 ...
* Railway dams and reservoirs of Western Australia


Notes


References


Sources

''Note – the material on the scheme is in its entirety a significant collection, and although the Water Authority might hold a comprehensive bibliography, it has not been published.'' ;Primary sources * Articles in ''The Golden Age'' relating to the water supply at Coolgardie 1894–1898. J S Battye Library * ''Coolgardie Goldfields Water Supply : a new method of dealing with granite rocks.1894.'' West Australian, 10 Feb 1894. * ''The Agricultural areas, Great Southern towns and Goldfields water supply scheme : constructed by the Public Works Department, Western Australia, completed November 1961 : form of proceedings at the function to commemorate the completion of the project, held at Mundaring Weir, on 24 November 1961'' erth, W.A.: Govt. Printer, 1961. ;Secondary sources * Hartley, Richard G. (2007) ''River of steel : a history of the Western Australian Goldfields and Agricultural Water Supply 1895–2003'' Bassendean, W.A. : Access Press. (pbk.) * ;Pamphlets * ''The Politics of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme'', ''The Golden Pipeline Information Sheet Number 1''. National Trust of Australia (Western Australia) No Date. ;Further reading * Le Page, J. S. H. (1986) ''Building a state : the story of the Public Works Department of Western Australia 1829–1985'' Leederville,W.A: Water Authority of Western Australia.


External links


The Golden Pipeline Project

The WA National Trust Website
* Serle, Percival (1949).

, Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. {{Authority control Freshwater pipelines History of Western Australia Goldfields–Esperance Interbasin transfer Australian gold rushes Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks Mining in Western Australia Australian National Heritage List Pipelines in Australia Infrastructure completed in 1903 1903 establishments in Australia Mundaring Weir Recipients of Engineers Australia engineering heritage markers State Register of Heritage Places in the Shire of Mundaring