FACTS  The was built between 1951 to 1957 EILDON  It was built just downstream of the older Sugarload Dam wall.  The tender for the dam was won by an Ameri- can Company called UTAH  UTAH imported large machinery for most of the heavy work  The Euclid was the most recognised piece of machinery used by UTAH HISTORIC  The dam has a concrete core wall  Unlike the Sugarloaf Dam, Most of the work was via mechanical labour  In 2005 the wall was upgraded to lift the stan- dard to worlds best practice, making it safer and more earthquacke resistant  When full the holds just over 3,300,000 Megalitres of water  The small township of Bonnie Doon was flooded by the dam.  Bonnie Doon township was shifted higher  The dam was built by the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission.  Eildon township as we know it today was built ARTWORKZ TOURISM WEBSITE by UTAH for the workers and their families. It www.esplash.me even had a cinema! Visit our website for local Visitor Information Centres.  All town roads were dirt at this stage  A newer power house was built and 120 Brochures have been produced by passionate volunteers to help promote our District. Megawatts generators installed Disclaimer: The authors have taken care to ensure this Shadowed by over 30 Mountains and  Over 2,000 tons of explosives were used dur- publication is correct, though please be aware that errors and omissions do occur. ing the construction phase on the banks of the beautiful Last Updated: 28 October 2014 Brochure 095 and Lake Eildon. This is our playground! HISTORY HISTORY HISTORY

The new spillway was cut through 8 million cubic Tourism became the base for the township of Eil- yards of rock requiring over 2000 tons of explosives don’s growth, becoming the centre of a tourism to shift the rock. The new spillway is one of the larg- boom up until 1997 when the 15 year drought all but est of its type in . demolished the trade. When water returned in 2010, tourism numbers again began to increase. The reinforced concrete water chute controlling the water flow as it leaves the three gates high above is Eildon Township was mostly established as part of 1,370 feet long. It directs and slows the water the Utah Construction phase. Over 300 before it enters the prefabricated timber homes were erected, each with artificially created between four and six rooms. The town itself had pondage area Electricity, sewerage and water supply as well as a Confirmed site of the Sugarloaf Wall. (detention weir). well designed layout and road system. The shop- Image courtesy Julie Howard-Schachner Water was again ping centre remains largely the same today as it tunnelled into a large was built. There was also a modern cinema built, generator via the though this has since closed its doors. newly constructed The Eildon Dam History Eildon Spillway. intake tower. This The flooding of the dam meant that the old township Courtesy Julie Howard-Schachner was basically a of Bonnie Doon was now below the water level and concrete tower was flooded by the rising waters. Parts of the town The giant American construction company “Utah” sitting over a large intake hole that funnelled water were saved by relocating the buildings, though most was called in to build a much larger dam just down- to the two generators that produced 120 megawatts were left to become part of the legacy of the rising stream of the original Sugarloaf after of electricity for the State Electricity Commissions lake. many years of consideration. Holding nearly nine grid. times the water capacity of the original dam, construction of the new wall started mid morning on Then Premier, the Honourable Sir Henry Bolte Friday the 15th of June 1951 with an official officially opened the dam on the 19th of October political opening when the then Premier of 1956, marking an end to works that had changed turned the first sod of soil with a shovel. The new the district. wall cost the community 20 million pounds. The new lake covered the old wall with just on 100 Unlike the former Sugarloaf construction phase feet of water, and created a much more popular The Sugarloaf dam wall visible in 2009. which had very little mechanical advantage, UTAH tourist location for tourists than the employed all manner of strange large sized previous dam. Fishing, boating and swimming machinery. The largest of these being the imported brought people from far and wide. The lake was American Euclid truck which achieved in a day what again home to fish including the Brown and Rain- Today the wall still stands strong and tall and with would have taken groups of men months during the bow Trouts, Perch and Redfin. the end of the drought, water is returning in quickly previous Sugarloaf wall construction. The dam was as is tourism and even locals travelling out to enjoy built mainly from locally sourced materials, making In 2001 the turbines at the Powerhouse were up- the beautiful surroundings. construction cheaper and quicker as well as keeping graded from 120 Megawatts to 135 Megawatts to many locals employed in the process. help meet growing demand and ensure the turbines would continue to run well into the future.