The pipeline from Mundaring to Kalgoorlie

Mundaring
Now a commuter suburb, famous for the Mundaring Weir which provided water for Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie
Located 39 km from Perth and now considered an outer suburb of the city, Mundaring's main claim to fame is the Mundaring Weir which, through the remarkable engineering achievements of Charles Yelverton O'Connor, supplies water to the towns in the wheatbelt and across to Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie.

The first European into the Mundaring area was Ensign Robert Dale who, in 1829, traced the Helena River upstream to a point near the present site of the Mundaring Weir. It is thought that Dale named the river after his sister, Helen. Two years later Dale returned to the area while charting a road from Guildford across to York. It was on this road that the settlement of Mundaring slowly evolved.

The name 'Mundaring' is an apparent Anglicisation of the Aboriginal word 'Mindah-lung' which was used by the local Aborigines to describe the area. The first European to use the term was William Burges who mapped the Helena River in March, 1834.

There was a land grab in the area from the 1840s but, while the land was claimed, few of the 'owners' actually decided to move to their properties. In fact many of the large holdings were quite useless.

By the 1880s there was a sprinkling of settlers in the area and a small settlement had been established on the Great Eastern Highway. The first freehold land in the area wasn't granted until 1882 and it wasn't until 1889 that a sawmill opened in the area and timber cutters moved in to exploit the extensive stands of jarrah and karri.

The turning point in the history of the area came in 1896 when the Western Australian government committed itself to the construction of the Mundaring Weir and the pipeline which would connect the waters of the Helena River to the thirsty mining towns of Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie. In 1898 a railway line was completed connecting the main Eastern Railway line to the Mundaring Weir site. The township grew rapidly to meet the sudden increase in population. Local entrepreneurs were quickly on the spot to provide services for the workers on the dam.

In his book The Helena Story Edward Quicke describes the establishment of the dam community: 'By June 1898 there were 295 men working at the weir...The area became a vast camp with men living in tents and families in hessian and barrel staves shanties. Conditions were fairly primitive and a letter from the local schoolmaster to the Education Department complained that people from 'the camp' were using the school toilets on weekends and holidays...A police station was established about half-way between the school and the traffic bridge over the river. It consisted of the inevitable hessian and barrel staves and as there was no structure capable of holding prisoners, the latter were chained to a log! There was a store and a post office and one of the shanties dispensed home made hop beer. The latter was so popular that many of the workmen had difficulty negotiating the hill to their tents...As a result of their efforts the road up the hill between the dwellings was called 'Struggle Street'.'

The dam was completed in 1900 and the laying of the pipes began in 1902. The construction of the both the dam and the pipeline are two of the engineering wonders of Western Australia. They are great achievements in an age when earth moving equipment and tractors were not available. The genius behind the whole project was Charles Yelverton O'Connor

O'Connor was born in Ireland in 1843. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1865 and moved to Western Australia, where he was employed as the Engineer-in-Chief, in 1891. His major projects were to be the state's railways, the establishment of Fremantle harbour, and the construction of the water pipeline from Mundaring to Coolgardie.

O'Connor initiated the plan to build the pipeline in 1895 but it was violently opposed in Parliament and the approval to start work wasn't granted until 1898. Even when the project was underway its critics, believing it to be impractical, did not relent. O'Connor was subjected to a particularly vicious press campaign. He committed suicide (partly as a result of the pressures - his suicide note included detailed instructions on the construction of the pipeline) in March 1902. The pipeline was completed the following year and the result was that vast areas of the wheatbelt and the goldfields, which had been relying on unreliable wells and waterholes, suddenly found that they had regular supplies of water. The scheme changed the face of the central Western Australia forever. From a situation where water was being transported 500 km by train to a daily output of 5 million gallons being delivered along 557 km of pipes was little short of a miracle.

Soon after the water scheme was opened it became a popular weekend activity to travel out from Perth to inspect Mundaring Weir. In wintertime, when the spillway (at the time the weir was the highest overflow dam in the world) was running people would come to the dam just to see the 'man-made waterfall'. The local hotel, the Goldfields Weir Hotel, did a roaring trade and by 1909 the branch line trains had been time tabled to connect with trains arriving from Perth.

Today the Weir is still a pleasant picnic spot and No 1 Pumping Station has been converted into the C Y O'Connor Museum honouring the man whose ingenuity and genius converted the scheme into a reality. The museum exists because in 1954 the pumping of the water was changed from steam to electricity.

In her excellent book, The Swan Valley: A Perspective in Time and Place, Dorothy B. Robinson notes that the Mundaring Dam's unusual straight walls are a direct result of a response to the geology of the whole region.

'An interesting feature about the wall of the Mundaring Weir is that it has been built straight across the valley rather than in the convex curve considered desirable for dam walls. With a convex curve, the pressure of the water actually strengthens the wall by compression. At the same time, however, it diverts water to the sides, putting pressure there. The granitic rocks of the Helena River walls have, in ages past, been split by earthquakes and faults, and it was thought that they would not be able to withstand the pressure of the water, so the wall was built straight across the valley.'

'Another interesting feature of the Mundaring Weir area is the pine plantation that surrounds the dam. Shortly after construction of the dam, the surrounding forest was cleared to allow for greater runoff, more water to flow into the dam. Unfortunately, this led to erosion and to soil flow into the dam, and, as well, due to the rising water table which followed the clearing of the trees, the water became saltier. Solution? Replant the forest.'

Things to see:  

Walking in the Area
People interested in walking in the Mundaring area should obtain a copy of the Kattamorda Heritage Trail which is a 27 km walking trail which starts at Mundaring Weir Road, includes the Weir and Museum, and continues along the old horse tramway paying particular attention to the flora and natural history of the region.

A very detailed account of the history of the area, including day by day details of all the early explorations of the Helena river, is told by Edward Quicke in The Helena Story.

The Mundaring Hobby Centre
The Mundaring Hobby Centre (find out more by going to http://vianet.net.au/~mdghobby/) attracts considerable numbers of tourist modellers who drop in when in when they visit the town.

	Motels
	Travellers Rest Motel Great Eastern Hwy Mundaring WA 6073 Telephone: (08)9295 2950 Rating: **
	Hotels
	Mundaring Hotel Nicholl St Mundaring WA 6073 Telephone: (08) 9295 1006
	Mundaring Weir Hotel Mundaring Weir Rd Mundaring WA 6073 Telephone: (08) 9295 1106 Rating: **
	The Mahongany Inn Private Hotel Cnr Great Eastern Hwy & Homestead Rd Mundaring WA 6073 Telephone: (08) 9295 1118 Rating: ***
	Cottages & Cabins
	Faversham Cottages 2075 Jacoby St Mundaring WA 6073 Telephone: (08) 9295 1312 Facsimile: (08) 9295 3127 Rating: ****
	Caravan Parks
	Mundaring Caravan Park Great Eastern Hwy Mundaring WA 6073 Telephone: (09) 295 1125
	Camping & Other
	YHA Mundaring Weir Hostel Mundaring Weir Rd Mundaring WA 6073 Telephone: (08) 9295 1809
	Restaurants
	Mundaring Weir Hotel Mundaring Weir Rd Mundaring WA 6073 Telephone: (08) 9295 1106
	Travellers Rest Motel Great Eastern Hwy Mundaring WA 6073 Telephone: (08)9295 2950