Lia teruttena/WATERWORKS
“Amongst all of the remains, the Pipeline Track is known to have a national significance as a cultural and scientific feature.”
The mountain has always been the water tower for the inhabitants below.
In the earliest days people drank from its streams directly.
When the British colonised, they began to abstract its water so hard, the natural supply was at times exhausted.
THE 1831 DIVERSION
In 1825, with the natural flow of water becoming inadequate to the needs of a growing population and an increase in industrial usage, a scheme was mooted to divert waters at the Springs from the Browns River watershed and convey it across the face of the mountain to the Hobart Rivulet catchment. Convict labour did the work. The works began with the construction of an access track, now known as Milles Track. A constable was appointed to supervise the workers and foundation work for the constable’s cottage remain in the area. Robert Sydney Milles, city surveyor, city engineer and director of the waterworks, created the watercourse in 1831. Improved over the years, parts of it are still in good, working condition 190 years later.
HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE
The water race (WPHH0001) is still in-place near on two hundred years after it was built and it is still diverting water. It is of high local and almost certainly state-level heritage significance. In 2018 the Park’s Trust decided that the 1831 Diversion Springs Water Race should be given high priority for nomination to the Tasmanian Heritage Register.
The 1860s Pipeline
Hobart’s Mountain Pipeline now brings water all the way from Wellington Falls to the Waterworks’ Upper and Lower Reservoirs.
The Pipeline has had a very important role in Hobart’s water supply from when it was constructed in stages from 1866 onwards. Initially it provided the entirety of the supply, now its supply is down to about 20%. There is still much infrastructure to admire, such as the stone aqueducts below Fern Tree, and the steep siphon closer to Wellington Falls.
These extensive waterworks are recognised on Tasmania’s Heritage register.
The photos below show the original 1861 aqueduct leading from Fern Tree Bower to the Waterworks Reserve, as well as the 1881 sandstone replacement.
THE RESERVOIRS
Three major reservoirs were built to store water for the city, harvested from the mountain. The first two were the Lower and Upper reservoirs at the Hobart Waterworks Reserve. The third at Ridgeway.
Brown’s Creek
The second water source harnessed for the augmentation of the water supply was sourced at Browns Creek.
THE BACK FLANK
The pipeline from the headwaters of the North West Bay River, high on the back flank of the Mountain, disgorged a cataract of pure water every week. An extension of the pipeline from Fern Tree around to Wellington Falls was not only desired, but required.
Photos above show how the Hobart City Council was proud of this significant project, and the members regularly visited the intake at St Crispin’s Well via the pipeline tramway. And these visits certainly attracted interest in the papers.
“The trip on the trolleys was, perhaps, the most interesting portion of the outing. Horse-drawn, the little conveyances bump along the track at a walking pace. The return was another matter. The gradient alone is relied on for motive power, and the sight of the brake in the hands of a sturdy bushman is a positive relief to the nervous passenger, as the pace sometimes attained is not a little exciting to the uninitiated. The fact that yesterday one of the brakes refused to act temporarily provided a few seconds' sensation for the party generally, though, fortunately, no untoward incident resulted.” ~ World, Dec 11, 1918.
SOURCES
See also our page on the Pipeline Track.