Yan Yean Water Supply System Conservation Management Plan Volume 2: History
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Yan Yean Water Supply System Conservation Management Plan Volume 2: History Final May 2007 Prepared for Melbourne Water © Context Pty Ltd 2007 All rights reserved; these materials are copyright. No part may be reproduced or copied in any way, form or by any means without permission. Project Team: Lesley Alves – Historian Context Pty Ltd - David Helms, Natica Schmeder, Chris Johnston, Jackie Donkin & Fae Ingledew Godden Mackay Logan – Tony Brassil Dr Helen Doyle - Historian Context Pty Ltd 22 Merri Street, Brunswick 3056 Phone 03 9380 6933 Facsimile 03 9380 4066 Email [email protected] ii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V PREFACE VI 1 PROVIDING A WATER SUPPLY FOR MELBOURNE 7 1.1 Introduction 7 1.2 Melbourne’s early water supply 7 1.3 Development of Melbourne’s infrastructure 8 1.4 James Blackburn 9 1.5 Development of the Yan Yean water supply system 9 1.5.1 History of the site 9 1.5.2 Blackburn’s water supply scheme 11 1.5.3 Construction of the Yan Yean Reservoir and associated system 13 1.5.4 Improving supply –fixing problems with the system 14 1.5.5 Increasing supply - additions to the system 18 1.6 Role in Melbourne’s development 21 1.7 Developing other water supply systems 22 1.7.1 Maroondah and O’Shannassy Systems 22 1.7.2 Upper Yarra, Thomson, Sugarloaf and other storages 23 2 MANAGING THE WATER SUPPLY 25 2.1 Introduction 25 2.2 Governance 25 2.3 Maintenance 25 3 ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENTS 29 3.1 Introduction 29 3.2 The reservoirs 29 3.2.1 Yan Yean Reservoir 29 3.2.2 Service Reservoirs 31 3.2.3 Toorourrong Reservoir 31 3.3 Pipes, mains and aqueducts 32 3.4 Other Australian urban water supply systems 33 3.4.1 Launceston and Hobart 33 3.4.2 Bendigo 33 3.4.3 Brisbane 34 3.4.4 Adelaide 34 3.4.5 Sydney 35 4 THE PRESTON RESERVOIRS 37 4.1 Introduction 37 4.2 Preston Reservoir No. 1 37 4.3 Preston Reservoirs 2 & 3 39 iii 4.4 Use of the Preston reservoirs and later developments 43 5 DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURAL LANDSCAPES 45 5.1 Introduction 45 5.2 Early vistas 45 5.3 Protecting and beautifying the reservoir 47 5.4 The Caretakers’ gardens 53 5.4.1 Yan Yean 53 5.4.2 Wallaby Creek 54 5.4.3 Preston and Toorourrong 54 5.5 Reference Areas 55 5.6 Protection of the Plenty Ranges watershed 55 5.7 Aqueduct plantings 56 5.8 Beautification of St Georges Road pipe track 58 6 RECREATION AND COMMEMORATION 59 6.1 Introduction 59 6.2 Tourism & recreation 59 6.3 Celebrations and commemorations 61 BIBLIOGRAPHY 63 Primary sources 63 Archives - Public Record Office Victoria 63 Published 63 Newspapers and Articles 63 Secondary sources 63 Published 63 Unpublished 65 Pictures 66 Websites 66 Oral source 66 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Our thanks are also extended to the following individuals whose assistance and advice was invaluable in the preparation of this history: • Ross Mugavin of Parks Victoria • Paul Balassone and all the staff at Melbourne Water who provided historic information, plans and oral history. • Doug Kerr v VOLUME 2: HISTORY PREFACE This is Volume 2 of the Conservation Management Plan for the Yan Yean water supply system. The Yan Yean system CMP comprises six volumes as follows: Volume 1: Executive Summary Volume 1 provides a summary of the study methodology and the key findings and recommendations. Volume 2: History Volume 2 provides an explanation of the historic development of the Yan Yean system within the context of the historic development of Melbourne and its water supply. It takes a thematic approach, drawing on the key themes set out in existing histories of the Yan Yean system such as Yan Yean. A history of Melbourne’s early water supply and Vital Connections. Melbourne and its Board of Works 1891-1991, and also looks beyond Victoria to the development of water supply systems in other parts of Australia during the nineteenth century. Volume 3: Heritage assessment Volume 3 provides an assessment of the cultural significance of heritage places associated with the Yan Yean system, and concludes with a statement of significance for the whole of the Yan Yean system. Volume 4: Conservation policy The history in Volume 2 and heritage assessment in Volume 3 provides the basis for the conservation policies and management strategies in Volume 4, which includes recommendations to manage the heritage values of the Yan Yean system and implement the CMP. Volume 5: Heritage place and Volume 5 contains place records for all of the heritage places precinct citations associated with the Yan Yean system, which a detailed history, physical description, photographs and statement of significance. The place records are derived from the Melbourne Water Yan Yean system HERMES database. Volume 6: Appendices Volume 6 contains the following reports that provide background or additional information: Yan Yean water supply system CMP & interpretation plan project management plan (March 2006) Context Pty Ltd Indigenous cultural heritage values of the Yan Yean system. Draft report for Context Pty Ltd (November 2005) Heritage Insight Yan Yean water supply system: A review of natural heritage values (December 2005) Ecology Australia Interpretation Plan M57 water main replacement project (2006) Context Pty Ltd. vi YAN YEAN WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM CMP 1 PROVIDING A WATER SUPPLY FOR MELBOURNE 1.1 Introduction Early Melburnians drew their water supplies from the Yarra River, but problems of pollution and the high cost of delivery soon prompted a search for a better supply. During the 1850s, as James Blackburn’s scheme to bring water from the mountain ranges north of Melbourne was taking shape, other services and institutions essential to the growing city were also being developed. “The Yan Yean” as Melbourne’s water came to be known, was a key resource in Melbourne’s transformation from a small frontier town to a sophisticated modern city with a special pride in its gardens. The innovative Yan Yean water supply system was not without its problems, however, and remedies to improve water quality and quantity reflected scientific theories of the era. One of the main actions taken to improve water quality was to close the catchment to all other uses. During the latter decades of the nineteenth century the Yan Yean system was improved and expanded to its limits. The Wallaby Creek weirs and aqueduct were built to divert water from north flowing creeks, bringing extra water via the Toorourrong Reservoir and Clearwater Channel. The delivery system from Yan Yean was greatly expanded by increasing the pipelines and building service reservoirs. Other water supply systems were also developed, mostly during the twentieth century, integrating the Yan Yean system into a greatly enlarged urban scheme. This is the story of the Yan Yean water supply system and its place in Melbourne’s growth and development from first European settlement to the present. Subsequent chapters will expand on various aspects of the system. 1.2 Melbourne’s early water supply Crucial to the choice of the site for Melbourne in 1834 were the availability of fresh water and access for shipping. Batman’s village began to take shape on the banks of the Yarra River where a rocky barrier near present day Queen Street separated salt water from fresh. The Yarra River was Melbourne’s first water supply, with a distribution system consisting of horse-drawn tanks delivering to households, at high expense to the consumer. The Yarra was also Melbourne’s drain. Within a few years the river was so polluted by wastes created by the settlers and their industries, that its water posed a threat to public health. Melbourne Town Council, formed in 1842, sought suggestions for a clean piped water supply for the town. Of the schemes put forward, the best was that of Melbourne’s Town Clerk, J.C. King, who proposed pumping Yarra water into a reservoir on high ground near Dight’s Falls. However, although Council saw the provision of a water supply as its right and responsibility, it lacked the funds to implement such a scheme. A decade of investigations and deliberations ensued before a decision could be made regarding a suitable water supply system for Melbourne.1 Meanwhile, in 1849, a slight improvement in quality and price was achieved when the Melbourne Water Company commenced pumping water from the Yarra. The 1 Dingle, Tony and Doyle, Helen, Yan Yean, A history of Melbourne’s early water supply, North Melbourne, 2003, pp 3-6. 7 VOLUME 2: HISTORY water was filtered through charcoal and stored in iron tanks on the corner of Elizabeth and Flinders streets. From there it was distributed by water carters.2 The Melbourne Water Company was owned by James Blackburn, who was to become a key player in the story of the Yan Yean water supply system. Following Separation from New South Wales in 1851 the new Victorian Legislative Council, instead of providing the hoped-for funds to the Melbourne Council, appointed a Commission of Sewers and Water Supply, thus taking the matter out of municipal control. In 1854 the Commissioners built a large elevated tank on Eastern Hill with the intention of providing a reticulated supply of water pumped from the Yarra. They had already begun laying pipes in the city, in anticipation of the Yan Yean system, then in course of construction, but the tank was inadequate for the purpose.3 1.3 Development of Melbourne’s infrastructure By this time Melbourne had grown into a sizeable town, serving as a port and commercial centre for the pastoral industry that had spread across the western and central regions of the Port Phillip District.