Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow!

As I was searching through TROVE hunting for maps suitable for my last blog post, I came across an interesting map which I had not seen before. It was dated 1st September, 1857 and showed the course of the Barwon including surrounding subdivisions and the holdings of major land owners/squatters in the area to a point several kilometres south of Winchelsea. This in itself was of interest, however, what caught my attention was the depiction of a "reservoir and aqueduct for supplying Geelong with water".
What had I found?
I should have remembered as I have read about it before, but had not seen it in map form.  This was one of several options put forward to supply the town of Geelong with a clean, reliable water supply - something which was desperately needed by the 1850s.
A full description of the woes of Geelong's early water supplies would require a significant amount of time and blog space and in any case, the whole story of Geelong's aqueous history is addressed in Leigh Edmonds' book Living by Water: a History of Barwon Water and its Predecessors, 2005 which can be downloaded from the above link. Here however, I will look briefly at not only what happened, but what might have happened.
As I have mentioned in the past, the first step in securing a water supply for Geelong was the breakwater built by Captain Foster Fyans with the aid of convict labour in 1841. This stopped the flow of salt water back upriver from Barwon Heads and dammed the flow of the river, resulting in higher water levels between Breakwater and Buckley Falls.
For several years, this was the extent of Geelong's water supply. The water from the river was either collected directly (free of charge) by the local citizens or was pumped from the river and distributed by private contractors. Joseph Griffen installed a pump near Moorabool St in 1841 and a little later, William Jewell erected a tank on the riverbank near Yarra St from where water-carriers could fill their casks.

William Jewell's pump by the Barwon River. Image taken from Sand, Fireworks
and Boxthorn: the History of Breakwater and Area (William Smith, )

In 1850, William Gray erected a reticulated system which pumped water from the river through metal pipes to the Market Square and to the Waterfront via a holding tank located near the north west corner of Moorabool and McKillop Streets. The system was not without its problems which were further complicated by wrangling with the council and a rapid population increase following the outbreak of the Victorian gold rush in 1851.
In 1852, the council established the Geelong Water Company whose brief was to secure a water supply for Geelong from some point above Buckley Falls. The engineer hired to undertake the study recommended a 4 foot high dam, located above the falls, however public subscription for the scheme was lacking and the company quietly folded.

Illustration of the Market Square by S.T. Gill (1857), clearly showing Gray's tank
and a water cart waiting to fill up. Image held by the State Library of Victoria

At about the same time, another public company - described in The Argus of 10th February, 1853 as the Geelong Junction Water Company - entered the arena. Backed by none other than William Gray, it was claimed that by October that year, the company would be ready to supply water from above Buckley Falls to the suburbs of Ashby, Kildare, Chilwell, Little Scotland and New Town (sic). The water, it was stated would be pumped from a reservoir on the hill "immediately over Levien's Punt", however by 1854 the scheme was still not up and running and council held concerns that the company would provide a virtual private monopoly over water supply in the town for Gray and a small number of associates. Once again, the plan was abandoned.
In 1852, the colonial government had allocated £800,000 for the construction of water supply schemes for Melbourne and Geelong. £600,000 was to be spent on a dam at Yan Yean to supply Melbourne, with the remainder to be spent on Geelong.  In 1855 it established the Geelong Water Commission to look into the state of the town's water and to recommend a more extensive supply scheme.
In his report submitted to the Commission in February, 1857, engineer Henry Millar came to the conclusion that water taken from below Inverleigh was unsuitable as sediment from mining activities along the Yarrowee/Leigh River near Ballarat had so polluted the water that it rendered the lower reaches of the Barwon unusable. Instead, his favoured option was the construction of a reservoir on Wormbete Creek - a tributary of the Barwon running through 'Wormbete Estate', established by Henry Hopkins in 1837. It was the map of this proposal which I had discovered on TROVE.

What could have been. An 1857 map showing a proposed reservoir located
on Wormbete Creek, designed to supply Geelong with water.
Image held by the National Library of Australia

This scheme which the Commission presented to the government was estimated to cost £362,430 and would run from the reservoir through pipes to Geelong, supplying a potential population of 50,000 with 190 (50 gallons) of water per day. The government however, immediately made it known that this expense was unacceptable and advised the Commission to consider a cheaper option. It was revealed not long after, that the £200,000 allocated for Geelong's water scheme had been spent instead on Yan Yean.
Reluctantly, the Commission suggested that water pumped from above Buckley Falls to a holding basin could be implemented for £64,848, but reinforced the unacceptable quality of the water. Next, claiming that the Commission had failed to act, the government appointed a select committee to again investigate Geelong's water woes. The Commissioners promptly resigned en masse.
In June, 1858, the select committee unsurprisingly recommended that a supply should be secured from above Buckley Falls, indicating that the Wormbete Creek option was too expensive. An alternative suggestion that Geelong be connected to the Yan Yean scheme was also rejected. And there things sat.
At the beginning of 1859 two government experts were sent to report on the findings of the Select Committee. Rather than support one of the existing alternatives however, they suggested a fourth option - a reservoir collecting water from the springs and creeks around Mt Buninyong and Mt Warrenheip, which would supply both Geelong and Ballarat. Water from the reservoir could be piped to Geelong along the same line as the Geelong-Ballarat Railway which was under construction at that time.
Again, nothing was done. As the colonial government floundered under pressure from the rapidly increasing population, Geelong council took matters into their own hands and established yet another committee to look into the water issue. In addition to considering the options recommended by the select committee and the government experts, they considered a fourth option; one which would see water collected, not from the Barwon catchment, but from the watershed above Stony Creek in the Brisbane Ranges - a tributary of the Little River.
The scheme would see a reservoir built north of Anakie which would store up to 1,000 million gallons (3,785 megalitres) behind an earthen wall. Water would then be carried via an open channel and a series of pipes to a reservoir at Anakie before being piped to a distribution reservoir at Lovely Banks from where it would be distributed to Geelong residents.

What might have been. An 1867 map outlining plans for the Stony Creek
reservoir, pipes and channel. Note also, the intended channel from Wallace's
Swamp as well as a proposal to divert water from the Werribee River into
the system and a proposed pipe to carry water to Steiglitz. Image held
by the National Library of Australia

Finally, after 14 years of wrangling, the £42,572 contract to build Geelong's water supply was signed in May, 1866 and work got under way. Before construction was even completed however, there were problems; first with money and then with design. Concerns that the capacity of the dam may not be adequate in 1870 saw work begin on a channel draining water from Wallace's Swamp north of the dam, however this work was later abandoned. Then, in 1871, the dam wall began to subside and it was discovered that the foundations upon which the wall had been built were unstable. Various measures were considered and it was decided to lower the dam wall and reinforce it.
This had the effect of reducing the capacity of the dam to a mere 168 million gallons. To compensate for this, a second reservoir was built further down the creek. The Lower Stony Creek Reservoir as it was known, was constructed in the space of 18 months between 1873 and 1874. This new reservoir had a capacity of 120 million gallons, however, with a larger catchment area, its annual capacity was estimated as closer to 232 million gallons. It cost £17,000 to build but because of differences in elevation, could not use the original channel and pipes. As a result, it therefore required a separate pipe costing a further £12,000 to carry its water to the basin at Anakie.

The dam wall of the Lower Stony Creek Reservoir, built 1873-1874 from a
combination of cement, sand and rock it was the first cement dam in Australia and
only the third of its type in the world

 Plagued by delays, cost blowouts and technical problems due to poor workmanship, corner cutting and the use of substandard materials, the system was not without its problems. In addition to the subsidence of the main dam wall, a tunnel under the embankment also leaked, there were fears that the spillway - built on soft clay - would erode as well as issues with leakage from the aqueduct and tunnels carrying water to Anakie which required remedial work. Then, as the system was at last ready to come on line and the service basin at Lovely Banks filled up, poor brickwork caused one of its embankments to develop leaks, requiring it to be drained in order to fix the problem.
Eventually however, despite all the setbacks and delays, on 11th September, 1873 the first water flowed to the Geelong Infirmary and Benevolent Society, with the rest of the town progressively coming on line in the following months. After more than twenty years of political wrangling, Geelong finally had its first reliable, reticulated water supply.
Today, the Stony Creek Reservoir - along with two additional reservoirs built in 1914 and 1918 - still form part of the Barwon Water supply system, also receiving water from the upper reaches of the East Moorabool River. The Lower Stony Creek Reservoir was decommissioned in 2001, with the water from the East Moorabool and the upper reservoirs instead channelled via a new pipe to the Sheoaks Diversion Weir.

A watershed moment

As this blog has progressed over the last three years, its scope has grown to include the two major tributaries of the Barwon - the Leigh/Yarrowee and Moorabool Rivers - as well as the smaller creeks which also drain into each of the three rivers. Then, a while back I was asked what area was included in the watershed of the Barwon.
Good question! I knew in general terms that it would include the three rivers and any creeks and streams which flowed into them, but just how far did that extend? So I thought I'd have a bit of a look an see what maps and diagrams were available that would provide a visual image.
On the Australian National Library's website I soon found several historical maps which outlined the area including the following map published in the 1950s:


Map of the Barwon watershed. Image produced by the Victorian State
Rivers and Water Supply Commission, 1954 and held by the State Library
of Victoria (Click to enlarge)

As expected, the extremities of the watershed to the headwaters of the three rivers and the Barwon river mouth at Barwon Heads. The most southerly extent of the catchment lies to the south of the township of Forrest in the Otway Ranges, with the peaks of that mountain range providing a dividing line between the Upper Barwon and the Victorian coastline. In the north, the watershed extends from Ballarat where the Yarrowee River rises in the city, to a point north of Ballan in the Wombat Sate Forest where the east and west branches of the Moorabool River begin their journey to the sea.
For administrative purposes, the Barwon catchment area falls within the boundaries Corangamite Catchment Management Authority (CCMA). The Corangamite Catchment is responsible for some 13,340 square kilometres from Ballarat to Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula and along the coast to the town of Peterborough which lies about 50km east of Warrnambool. It is one of ten such authorities which cover Victoria.

Map of the Victorian catchment management authorities taken from the
Department of Environment and Primary Industries website

For provision of services such as drinking water and sewerage, the Barwon and its tributaries - as far as I can tell - fall under the jurisdiction of two water authorities. The majority of catchment area is contained within the area serviced by Barwon Water which includes an area of about 8,100 square kilometres from Apollo Bay in the west to Meredith and Cressy in the north and to Little River and the Bellarine Peninsula in the north and east. This map on the Barwon Water website shows the extent of the area of supply. Those parts which do not fall under the auspices of Barwon Water are the upper reaches of the Moorabool and Yarrowee/Leigh Rivers which lie in the area controlled by Central Highlands Water servicing an area of 9,275 square kilometres.
But this still doesn't exactly answer the question: what is the combined catchment area of the three rivers - Barwon, Moorabool and Leigh/Yarrowee?

Another 1950s depiction of the Barwon watershed, titled Catchments
of Barwon River and inland Basins, created by the Victorian State Rivers
and Water Supply Commission and held by the Victorian State Library
(click to enlarge)

According to Wikipedia, the watershed of the Barwon and its tributaries makes up about 8,590 square kilometres, however I have not been able to independently verify this and suspect it may refer to the full extent of Barwon Water which includes catchment regions which are not part of the Barwon system. According to various other websites, the Moorabool River accounts for 2,300 square kilometres, the Yarrowee/Leigh River for around 890 square kilometres, however it seems very hard to find a clear answer for the Barwon itself.
The City of Great Geelong website indicates that the Barwon's catchment extends to 3,700 square kilometres. Given the area covered I believe this refers only to water flowing directly into the Barwon however the wording is ambiguous. Assuming that my interpretation is correct, then the combined catchment area of the three rivers is in the region of 7,790 square kilometres or more than three quarters of a million hectares - but less than the 8,590 square kilometres suggested by Wikipedia.
So, in short, I'm not precisely sure, however if anyone can provide a figure, I would be pleased to add it to this post.
NOTE: subsequent to publishing this post, the CCMA inform me that "Corangamite CMA's GIS (Geographic Information System) figure is 495,480 ha for the entire basin including Upper Barwon, Barwon, Murdeduke, Leigh, Moorabool" which converts to the much smaller figure of 4,955 square kilometres for the Barwon watershed plus the Murdeduke Basin.

A tale of two rivers

At the end of the previous post, we had stopped for a picnic lunch at the bridge across the west branch of the Barwon at Kaanglang Road outside of Forrest - a pretty spot with large trees rising all around.Next, we headed off, up a walking track which took us along the east side of the river towards the wall of the West Barwon Dam.

The terrain was relatively flat and the walk an easy one. The river at this point is still little more than a trickle, despite the presence of such a large reservoir so close by. This I discovered is the result of a controlled flow released from the dam by the relevant authority -  Barwon Water. What is not explained is how they decide exactly how much water is to be released from the dam at any given point in time and what impact that has on the river further downstream. For that matter, it would be interesting to know what type of river the Barwon would be if there were no dams, no weirs and no Breakwater to control the flows along its course. The Wautharong would have known.

Old apple tree run wild

The scenery along the track is a combination of towering gums to either side, a variety of non-native deciduous trees beginning to show the effects of autumn, clipped park lands and - somewhat incongruously - old apple trees which presumably are the remnants of another era. Regardless of their origins, the apples seem quite at home in their surrounds and are currently fruiting prolifically, cascades of fruit hanging from branches several metres high.
At one point, there appears to be a small weir which restricts the flow of the river and at another, so the visitor information at the dam informs me, is a pipe which feeds water from the West Barwon branch of the river across to the east branch. And so we continued, following the track, but - due to a noticeable lack of signage - not exactly sure where or how far we were going.
Despite this, we found ourselves after not too long at the foot of the dam wall and wondering how to ascend. Immediately in front of us was a wide spillway, obviously designed to carry overflow if the dam exceeds its capacity, however judging from the amount of graffiti to be found up its length, there has been no danger of an overflow in quite some time. To our right was a small foot bridge and a path which, we eventually discovered, would take us to the top of the wall. Another vestige of earlier times took the form of blackberry bushes growing to either side of the path, their fruit almost finished.

View of Munday Creek and West Barwon from the dam wall

The view from the top was, as you might expect, panoramic. The wall is located just below the junction of the west branch of the Barwon River and Munday Creek which flows into the Barwon from the East.

Walking across the top of the wall, we were able to see a short distance up each waterway, both of which appeared to be heavily wooded. It is pleasing to know that logging in the area has finally stopped, giving our most important waterway a chance of survival.

As is to be expected with such a large man made structure, tourist information concerning the history of the area and the dam itself was readily available. From the board I learnt that the dam was built in 1965 by the then Geelong Waterworks and Sewerage Trust (now Barwon Water) and now provides the majority of the water supply for the greater Geelong region.

Whilst boats are banned and swimming or wading is not allowed in the dam, fishing (with a license) is allowed from the bank. The dam is stocked with the expected supplies of eels, both brown and rainbow trout, redfin, and blackfish but other than at the dam wall, access can be difficult from the bank due to the steep approaches and thick tree cover.

Barwon East Branch

Perhaps more excitingly, the dam is also home to a small population of platypus, although I can not say we were lucky enough to spot one while we were there. After reading the boards and checking out the view, we headed back down, this time, taking the path down the opposite bank back to the car.

At this point, we still had a little time to spare, so we decided to head up a little higher and investigate the east branch of the Barwon.

What a difference a few mountains can make! The East Barwon I discover, is quite different from the West. Whereas the latter has been somewhat altered from its native state by exotic plantings, obvious signs of European influence and not to mention the dam, the east branch by contrast, is another world. It is cool, damp and has a distinct rain forest feel to it. Whilst the trunks of soaring gum trees rise above both rivers, along the banks of the east branch, the under plantings are much closer to the water and tree ferns are abundant. There are no clipped park lands, but rather a simple dirt track which winds its way beside the river, rising higher into the Otways as the track makes its way towards Lake Elizabeth.

Billabong beside Barwon East Branch

By the time we arrived at the bottom of the track, we were limited for time. So after another quick cuppa to sustain us, we headed upwards. At one point we came upon a pool - a billabong.

Really running short of time at this point, we continued up the trail, hoping to make it to the bottom Lake Elizabeth which we knew was somewhere up ahead.
Once again, we'd studied up on our tourist information and had been informed that Lake Elizabeth was formed on 17th June, 1952 when a landslide blocked the east branch of the river, forming a natural dam wall. The landslide was not discovered until a party was sent to investigate the sudden cessation of the river's flow. A little under two months after the landslide, the dam overflowed running down a natural channel. A year later in August 1953, the top 26 metres of the dam wall was washed away after particularly heavy rains, reducing the lake to approximately one fifth of its original volume, and changing the course of the river. The resulting watercourse was straighter than the original and lined with boulders and gravel along its length, carried down by the second landslip.
As we walked, the track continued to rise, steeply in places, until it was many metres above the height of the riverbed. Despite this, the gums growing at water level still towered above us. Eventually, with the light continuing to fail, an executive decision was made that we should walk until 5pm and if we had not reached the bottom of the lake by that time, then we would turn back.
Disappointingly, this did turn out to be the case. Whilst the walk was only a couple of kilometers, we were out of time. Lake Elizabeth and the promise of some fairly spectacular photographic opportunities would have to wait for another day. So we turned back and headed down to the car park, which somewhat surprisingly was busier than when we first arrived. Then, after a quick stop to use the visitor facilities, we were on our way home.