THE GOLDEN PIPELINE T H E GOLDEN PIPELIN E A N A TIONAL TRUST PROJEC T THE POLITICS OF THE GOLDFIELDS WATER SUPPLY SCHEME Sir John Forrest officially opens the Scheme by turning on the water at Coolgardie on 24 January 1903. BL 001000D The Goldfields Water Supply Gold and Water Cost of the Scheme Scheme, built between 1898 and When gold was discovered at Fly The cost was enormous but 1903 to deliver water 560 km from Flat near Coolgardie in 1892, then Premier Forrest was determined INFORMATION SHEET NUMBER 1 Mundaring to Kalgoorlie, has been at Hannan's (later Kalgoorlie) in the scheme should go ahead and a lifeline to the arid interior of 1893, thousands flocked to the arid in July 1896 put the proposition Western Australia for 100 years Goldfields. The lack of fresh water to Parliament. There was criticism and was central to the was a huge problem and resulted from several politicians and after development of the State. in poor sanitation, diseases such long debate Parliament approved The scheme's inception and as typhoid and many deaths. the raising of a loan from England construction were controversial Alternatives such as carting water, of £2 500 000, (5 million dollars), and full of drama and intrigue. condensation plants and drilling more than WA's entire annual bores failed to provide an adequate budget. However, there was a A changing colony supply. Premier Forrest visited in lengthy delay as the funds proved Western Australia in the early 1895 and saw for himself the difficult to raise and approval 1890s was entering a period of enormity of the problem and, from a British engineering advisory great change. The sparsely as more than half the colony's committee took months. Criticism populated and isolated colony had population now resided in the of the scheme began to mount. recently achieved self-government Goldfields, he was under and Premier Sir John Forrest, considerable pressure to find Regional antagonism a dominating influence on the a solution to the water crisis. There was ill-feeling about the size political scene, was determined to of the scheme. Perth did not have expand the colony. In 1891 he Following this visit, Forrest its own water supply and many felt employed CY O'Connor, an Irish formally requested O'Connor to that Forrest was putting a huge born engineer working in New investigate the problem. Earlier financial stake into the Goldfields. Zealand, as Engineer-in-Chief and proposals had included pumping In the eastern states and in other told him the colony required water from the Avon River near countries it had already been seen 'Railways, harbours, everything'. Northam to the Goldfields. After that gold could run out as quickly O'Connor immediately began exhaustive enquiry O'Connor as it had appeared. The Goldfields work on Fremantle Harbour and and his team recommended a were populated with 't'othersiders' improving the colony's rail system. scheme to pump water from a dam (people from Australia's Eastern east of Perth through a pipeline colonies) who, aware of the to Coolgardie. importance of gold to the colony, considered that the wealth they THE GOLDEN PIPELINE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION go to Golden Pipeline Website: www.goldenpipeline.com.au Water Corporation Website: www.watercorporation.com.au R e a d Cyril Ayris, CY O'Connor: the man for the time, Cyril Ayris Freelance, 1996 Anthony Evans, CY O'Connor: his life and legacy UWA Press, 2001 Frank Crowley, Big John Forrest 1847-1918, UWA Press, 2000 The Goldfields strongly supported Federation, 31 July 1900 BL 54425P National Trust, The Golden Pipeline were generating should be used O'Connor came under increasing Heritage Trail Guide, 2002 to improve conditions in the strain from the attacks on his J Lefroy, D Frylinck and M Duke, Goldfields - starting with a reliable personal and professional integrity The Pipeline CY O'Connor Built. supply of water. and, tragically, took his own life Fremantle Arts Centre Press, on 10 March 1902, just a month Critics of the Scheme Western Australia, 2003 before pumping began. Critics in the press and Parliament V i s i t attacked the scheme from the In May, the Government enquiry No 1 Pump Station, beginning because of the amount into the scheme found no basis Mundaring Weir of public money being spent. for press accusations of corruption INFORMATION SHEET NUMBER 1 The Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail O'Connor was also accused of against O'Connor. The enquiry was giving jobs to former colleagues critical of the land dealings of his The National Trust promotes the from New Zealand. Sunday Times deputy, TC Hodgson. Although no value of heritage and uses its editor FC Vosper, who was also charges were laid, Hodgson was heritage assets to build a better a politician, ran a personal attack suspended and later resigned from future for Western Australia. on O'Connor's integrity and ability his position. The National Trust seeks to through the paper. encourage and educate the Lord and Lady Forrest officially community about the appreciation, Parliamentary debate over a opened the scheme ten months enjoyment and use of its unique contract for caulking the pipes after O'Connor's death, in three cultural and natural heritage, and to and controversy over land dealings separate ceremonies at Mundaring, provide long-term social, economic along the pipeline route prompted Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie on 22 and environmental benefit to all a formal Government enquiry into and 24 January 1903. The scheme Western Australians. the entire scheme in February cost £2 655 220, only slightly 1902. O'Connor was in South more than O'Connor's estimate F o r m ore information Australia at the time of the enquiry made seven years earlier (which regarding membership and and returned to face more press did not include the extension to accusations of corruption and Kalgoorlie). Water has flowed to v o l u nteering contact: incompetence. With Forrest's move the Goldfields ever since. The National Trust of Australia into Federal politics, O'Connor (Western Australia) now lacked political support. PO Box 1162 The new Premier, George Leake, West Perth had long been an opponent of the Western Australia 6872 Goldfields Water Supply Scheme. Telephone 08 9321 6088 Facsimile 08 9324 1571 Email [email protected] Website www.ntwa.com.au THE GOLDEN PIPELINE T H E GOLDEN PIPELIN E A N A TIONAL TRUST PROJEC T PIPES OF THE GOLDFIELDS WATER SUPPLY SCHEME Mephan Ferguson factory. Closing the BL 213427P The pipes were 28 feet (8.5 m) long to BL 3359B locking bar, 1901 fit the railway wagons The Goldfields Water Supply length of the pipe. This locking Statistics of Original Pipes Scheme was built between 1898 bar system replaced the need for Pipe thickness 1⁄4" (6.355 mm) and 1903 to pump fresh water from riveting the plates together and Pipe diameter 30" (76.2 cm) Pipe length 28" (8.5 m) the Darling Range near Perth therefore minimised the risk of INFORMATION SHEET NUMBER 2 560 km east through a pipeline to leakage as no holes were drilled The steel plates were imported the arid Goldfields. The pipes were into the pipes. There were also flat from Germany and the the most expensive component of no rivet heads to slow the flow United States of America and the scheme. Today, the pipeline of water through the pipe. the locking bars and joint rings continues to supply water to came from England. Pipes were The pipe was then coated with tar Western Australia's Wheatbelt manufactured by two contractors and bitumen to help protect the areas and the Eastern Goldfields. who established factories in steel from corrosion. This coating The pipes have undergone some Perth - Mephan Ferguson, the was sprinkled with sand to prevent changes, replacements and inventor of the locking bar system, the tar melting in summer heat. upgrades. and G&C Hoskins. Hoskins The pipes were 28 feet (8.5 m) developed new machines to long to fit the railway wagons T he Original Pipes speed up the production process which transported the pipes to The original pipes were made and a pipe could be produced of steel and constructed using where they were laid. every 6 minutes. the innovative locking bar system invented by Mephan Ferguson. Two steel plates were each bent into a semi-circle. The long edges were given a dovetail shape. These edges were inserted into an 'H' shaped long bar which was then pressed closed under great pressure to form a joint that ran the From plans by G &C Hoskins 1901 THE GOLDEN PIPELINE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION go to Golden Pipeline Website: www.goldenpipeline.com.au Water Corporation Website: www.watercorporation.com.au R e a d JM Ferguson, Mephan Ferguson: A Biography, 1992 National Trust, The Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail Guide, 2002 Caulking Machine, 1902 BL 000839D J Lefroy, D Frylinck and M Duke, Laying the pipes Over half of the original locking The Pipeline CY O'Connor Built. The pipes were laid in trenches bar pipes are still in use today Fremantle Arts Centre Press, to avoid contraction and expansion and all pipes are now coated with Western Australia, 2003 caused by temperature extremes. tar and aluminium paint to V i s i t Lengths of pipe were joined prevent corrosion. No 1 Pump Station, together as they were laid, using Mundaring Weir, a process which packed the joint Wood stave pipes Laying the pipeline above ground Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail with lead, known as 'caulking'. A was undertaken during the Great ring of steel was fitted around the The National Trust promotes the Depression when unemployment INFORMATION SHEET NUMBER 2 butted ends of the pipes.