Living by Water Tells the Story of How These Vital Living by Water Services Were Provided
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For almost a hundred years Barwon Water and its predecessors have supplied Geelong and the Barwon region with their most important services; a safe water supply and a sewerage system. Without these services the modern city and region could not have developed as it did. Water is vital to life and our modern community, without it public health would be poor and industry Living could not flourish. By Living By Water tells the story of how these vital Living By Water services were provided. It tells of the conditions out of Water which Barwon Water emerged, of the people who played a major role in its work and the effect it had on the community. It is a story about what happened in the past and it gives us the perspective to glimpse what may come A history of A history of Barwon Water and what we should do in the future. Most importantly, Barwon Water and its it highlights the environmental awareness the authority predecessors has always had and its growth into a modern and its predecessors environmental business serving its community. Leigh Edmonds Leigh Edmonds ISBN 0-9594919-4-5 www.barwonwater.vic.gov.au BACK COVER IMAGE FRONT COVER IMAGE West Barwon Reservoir (1965) Lower Stony Creek Reservoir (1873) Remember, our world is a globe suspended in space. A self- contained world where all the forces of nature are intertwined. Think of it as Gaia, an ancient symbol for all these intertwined forces. Seen from space, ours is basically a blue planet overlaid with great swirls of white. It is a world of water. Vast blue oceans cover most of its surface and the white clouds are water floating in the air, part of the great cycle on which the entire environment of our world depends. The power of the sun evaporates countless billion tonnes of water daily, purifying it, lifting it into the air and dropping some of it on our land as Leigh Edmonds rain. All life on our land depends on water from that rain. Without it, life shrivels and dies. Leigh Edmonds is a practising consulting historian of many years experience. He has studied, The water we use is harvested from that land by organisations taught and written in a wide range of historical areas like Barwon Water, just as everything we eat is harvested. Since the inception of its predecessor almost a century ago, Barwon including Australian, European. technological, Water has known about the link between how we treat our transport, communications and local history. He has sources of water, the natural environment and our health and been an International Scholar of the Society for the daily lives. Throughout, it has been committed to protecting History of Technology. His particular interest is in how that link. the development of modern technologies, industry, business and politics has shaped our world. This is his Today we all understand what Barwon Water has known; Gaia - first major work in Victoria after having lived in Western the intertwined forces of nature - has to be preserved. We have to think again about how we treat our environment, particularly Australia for many years. water that is fundamental to our daily lives. Each of us, from the smallest child to the largest industry, has to treat water with respect if our great and wonderful blue planet is to survive. Remember, we hold its future in our hands. GAIA The Australian Oxford Dictionary(1999) 1. Gk Mythol. the earth personified as a goddess…. 2. the earth viewed as a vast living organism. Living By Water Living By Water A history of Barwon Water and its predecessors Leigh Edmonds iv First published 2005 © Barwon Region Water Authority This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Edited by Graeme Vincent Published and printed by Sands Print Group. Hard Cover Edition - ISBN 0-9594919-5-3 Paperback Edition - ISBN 0-9594919-4-5 1. Victoria, Barwon Region Water Authority - History. 2. Water supply - History. 3. Sewerage - History. 4. Victoria, Geelong - History. Barwon Region Water Authority 61-67 Ryrie Street, Geelong, Victoria www.barwonwater.vic.gov.au v 1921 Salus populi suprema lex esto (Motto of the Geelong Waterworks and Sewerage Trust) 2003 ‘Through excellence in customer service, environmental care and business efficiency, we will be a leading provider of sustainable water and sewerage services.’ (Vision of the Barwon Region Water Authority) vii FOREWORD Several months ago, the Victorian Government launched the Our Water Our Future strategy that will revolutionise water use in Victoria. It sets out what we must do to ensure our valuable water resources are protected. I believe it is a necessary change and the key to a sustainable water future for us all. How fortuitous then that Barwon Water has commissioned a history that looks back over more than a century and a half of water use in Victoria. While it focuses on developments in the Barwon region, it also says much about water use across the entire state and explains the historical background to our new water policy. I am not surprised Barwon Water commissioned this comprehensive history because the authority has long been at the forefront of innovation in Victoria’s water industry. Living By Water helps us understand how and why events unfolded in the past and shows the environmental perspective that has always been present in the water industry. It also reminds us that the water services we take for granted are provided by people, many of whom have dedicated their lives to serving us. It tells of their efforts and achievements against the background of wider political, social, economic and environmental change over more than a century. This history also reminds us of the power of symbols. In the past, Barwon Water used the symbols of Hygieia and Aquarius, the ancient Greek goddess of health and the water carrier, to explain its role in the community. This history concludes by invoking the powerful symbol of Gaia, the living earth, to explain the vital necessity of ensuring a sustainable future for our water supply. Gaia is a large concept and so is the challenge that lies ahead of us. Living By Water helps us look back to understand the world in which we live. This history also reminds us we must learn from the past rather than be bound by it, so it will help us face the future with greater wisdom. John Thwaites Minister for Water October, 2004. ix CONTENTS FOREWORD vii CONTENTS ix PREFACE xi INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 Settling by the Water, to 1860 9 CHAPTER 2 Water for Geelong, 1860-1910 41 CHAPTER 3 Sewering Geelong, 1906-1917 75 CHAPTER 4 Great Works, 1917-1929 105 CHAPTER 5 Problems, 1930-1950 139 CHAPTER 6 Working Family, 1951-1967 175 CHAPTER 7 Interesting Times, 1967-1983 225 CHAPTER 8 Reform, 1984-1993 279 CHAPTER 9 Revolution, 1993-2003 329 CONCLUSION From Past to Future Tense 363 APPENDIX I Chronology 371 APPENDIX II Our People 403 APPENDIX III Conversion Tables 437 REFERENCES References, Bibliography and Photographic Sources 439 INDEX 443 xi PREFACE Writing the history of Barwon Water and its predecessors has been an extremely interesting and challenging project. Through it I have learned much and met some wonderful people. I hope this history goes some way toward repaying the help everyone has given me while I’ve been working on it and meets some of the expectations of those who entrusted me with the history of their authority. There are many people who have been very helpful during my work on Living By Water and it seems odious to have to select a few for special mention. Everyone I have had contact with at Barwon Water has been unfailingly helpful and I thank each and every one for their assistance and encouragement. Without that help this book would not have been what it is. There are, however, some people I would like to especially thank for their direct involvement in this project. Without some of them, this book would have been impossible to write; without the assistance of some others, it would be a different and poorer work than it is. First are Stephen Vaughan (Chairman of Barwon Water) and Dennis Brockenshire (Chief Executive) who saw the need for this history and made it possible. Both have been very supportive, encouraging and helpful and their direct involvement toward the end of the writing helped make much of the text far more interesting, lively and thoughtful than it otherwise would have been. Mike McCoy (an ex-Executive Manager of Barwon Water) has been my Virgil at Barwon Water (though the authority is far too pleasant for that analogy to work well). He has been an inexhaustible source of information and ideas for this history, has read all the drafts carefully and made a valuable contribution to the final result. I really cannot thank him enough for his support in this project. Joe Adamski, Rachel Olney and Pauline McPherson have provided endless support in countless little ways, and some big ones. They have contributed a great deal to the ease with which this project has been carried out. Thanks also goes to Damian O’Doherty (the survivor of many amalgamations) who, although he has not been directly involved, has passed on many encouraging comments and a wealth of experience in the wider Victorian water industry. In fact, everyone on the fourth floor has made me feel right at home and been encouraging and helpful.