The need for water on the goldfields - Perth to Kalgoorlie Pipeline Project - Western Australia

Welcome back. 
Last week we continued our tour north from Cave Hill along the Woodlines to Coolgardie and I told you a little about the goldrushes and the Perth to Kalgoorlie Pipeline. 
Click here if you missed it - Coolgardie - Gold Fever

Most Australians have probably heard of the Perth to Kalgoorlie pipeline in Western Australia. It is a feature of the Great Eastern Highway as you travel between Perth and Kalgoorlie. You can follow the Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail and stop at interpretive sites along the way where you can learn more about this huge engineering project.

When gold was discovered at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie, thousands of prospectors flocked to the goldfields. In the arid and hot dry conditions of the goldfields, water was scarce and was sold by the can and became more expensive than whiskey. Water supplies from artesian bores, wells (such as Hunt's well at Gnarlbine - see previous post) and condensing plants, provided some water, but not enough for the thousands of people and livestock at the goldfields The lack of fresh water led to poor sanitation and diseases such as typhoid. 

John Aspinall in 1895 described condensed water as "inspid, resembling boiled water with a dash of galvanized iron and several other unrecognizable substances including smoke".

In 1895 the first plans were prepared by Engineer-in-Chief CY O'Connor, for an engineering feat that would stagger the world — an attempt to pump fresh water uphill 560 kilometres from Mundaring Weir in the Darling Ranges near Perth to the goldfields of Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie.

The story of the CY O'Connor and the pipeline is revered in WA history. Built between 1898 and 1903, the pipeline has delivered water to Kagloorlie for over 100 years.

What I didn't know was that sections of the pipe were replaced with wooden pipes wrapped in wire in the 1930s.  As we travelled along the Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail, just east of Yellowdine we found coils of wire laying by the old pipeline and wondered what they had been used for. 

The original pipes were constructed from steel but over the years corrosion and leakage occurred. During the 1930s the pipes were lifted, repaired or replaced, lined with concrete, re-laid above ground on concrete blocks and the lead-packed joints were replaced with welded joints. 

 

 Unemployment was very high during the Depression. The Goldfields Water Supply Department was put under political pressure to replace damaged sections with wooden pipes, providing jobs, boosting the timber industry and saving costs. 

 

The wooden pipes were made of karri planks bound together with galvanised wire, and then coated with tar and bitumen. 64 kilometres of wooden pipes were used in low pressure sections. However they were plagued with leakage problems, termite damage and dry rot, and were all replaced in 1971.

Where possible the pipeline was built alongside the route of the existing railway line to enable the pipes to be easily transported. Interestingly, the length of the train carriages determined the length of the pipes (28 feet or 8.5 metres). Eight pump stations were built along the length of the pipeline to push the water along the pipe. Below you can see the old Merredin Pumping station. 

 CY O'Connor was a great visionary and is much revered in Western Australian history.  He was responsible for planning and building major public works during the 1890s that stimulated the development of Western Australia including the Fremantle Harbour.  

The pipeline project was one of Australia's greatest engineering feats of the nineteenth century. Sadly he never lived to see the pipeline operating. Funding delays, political resistance and extreme criticism took a toll on O’Connor and he tragically took his life in the ocean near Fremantle on 10 March 1902, ten months before the pipeline’s completion. 

CY O'Connor

Lord and Lady Forrest officially opened the scheme ten months after O'Connor's death, in three separate ceremonies at Mundaring, Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie on 22 and 24 January 1903. The scheme cost £2 655 220, only slightly more than O'Connor's estimate made seven years earlier (which did not include the extension to Kalgoorlie). 

Today the Goldfields and Agricultural Areas Water Supply Scheme supplies water for domestic, stock and mining purposes to 33,000 rural and town services, to over 100 000 people throughout the goldfields and surrounding agricultural areas, through 8,000 km of pipe over an area covering 44 000 square kilometres. An average of 90 million litres of water is pumped daily taking 5-11 days to reach Kalgoorlie. The pipe network holds 300 million litres of water.

Below you can see the end of the pipe at the Mt Charlotte Reservoir in Kalgoorlie and a view of Kalgoorlie from Mt Charlotte. Today, Mount Charlotte Reservoir is used as a reserve tank. A new main holding tank is located on Mt Percy to the north.

 To learn more, please go to: Golden Pipeline
Valuing Heritage - the Pipeline 

The boys enjoyed exploring the pipeline too!
Thank you for stopping by - I hope you have enjoyed the continuation of our tour. 

 I look forward to hearing from you.

My story about the Perth to Kalgoorlie pipeline was published in "Curious Australis" - January 2014 edition of On The Road magazine. 

I am linking up to Mosaic Monday, Our World Tuesday and Travel Photo Thursday.  Please click on the links to see other contributions from around the world - Mosaic Monday -  Our World Tuesday   Travel Photo Thursday

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