Stories in the Pipeline: preserving Goldfields Pipeline heritage

• Community research project to help guide CY O'Connor's Goldfields Pipeline heritage preservation
• Strong focus on recording stories and memories from Aboriginal communities along the pipeline
• Sections of the 120-year-old pipeline reaching the end of service life
• Long-term upgrades vital to secure Goldfields' safe and reliable water supply

Memories and stories of the Goldfields Pipeline are being sought for a major community-led research project to help preserve the 120-year-old pipeline's heritage and tourism value.

Commencing late August, the 'Stories in the Pipeline' project aims to record a history of the public's interactions with CY O'Connor's iconic pipeline, which conveys drinking water 566km from Mundaring Weir to the Eastern Goldfields.

The project will span pre-colonial to modern times and, in liaison with Aboriginal consultants, have a strong focus on exploring the role of Aboriginal people in the development of the pipeline, and the impacts on Aboriginal lands, culture and heritage.

Other anticipated story themes include: establishment of private and market gardens; Muslim cameleers and their transport routes linking with the pipeline; arrival of abattoirs; management of diseases and hygiene; and the contributions of immigrants, among others.

As well as helping identify heritage and tourism-related opportunities, the project will inform where original pipe will be retained for heritage purposes, as old sections are progressively replaced with modern below-ground pipe over the next 70 years.

These long-term upgrades are essential to secure a safe and reliable water supply into the future, as the above-ground pipe reaches the end of its service life, enabling more efficient and cost-effective operation and maintenance.

Responses to the 'Stories in the Pipeline' project will be collated via online surveys, interviews, focus groups, school and community outreach, and story collections via written submissions.

Once finalised, the project will inform the preparation of a heritage interpretation strategy and management plan that will be open for public comment, expected by early-2024.

Stories, memories and photos related to the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme can be submitted via Water Corporation's project partner: hharchitects.com.au/pipeline-stories or emailing: pipeline@hharchitects.com.au.

For further information on Water Corporation's plans for renewing the Goldfields Pipeline, visit: watercorporation.com.au/goldfieldspipereplacement

Comments attributed to Water Minister Simone McGurk:

"Water Corporation's project is important to help preserve CY O'Connor's Goldfields Pipeline heritage value, including prioritising areas of original above-ground pipe for preservation and ways to reuse the old pipe.

"While we rightly want to preserve the pipeline's rich heritage, it's also important to acknowledge the pipeline, and ensuing population growth and clearing of land, hugely impacted Aboriginal people and their ways of life.

"By recording these stories, Water Corporation will be able to present a more holistic and accurate legacy of the pipeline and its contribution to the development of our State.

"I encourage everyone with a personal connection to the Goldfields Pipeline to share their stories, memories and photos."

Comments attributed to Kalgoorlie MLA Ali Kent:

"For more than 120 years, the heritage-listed Goldfields Pipeline has served the Eastern Goldfields but it requires long-term upgrades for a continued safe and reliable water supply, as well as supporting future population and economic growth.

"By engaging with the community, both now and in the future, the 'Stories in the Pipeline' project will enhance our understanding of the pipeline's legacy, while allowing Water Corporation to deliver the vital operational upgrades.

"I look forward to seeing how this fantastic project helps us convey the story of one of Australia's greatest engineering achievements for years to come."

Goldfields Pipeline heritage fact file

• Designed and built under the supervision of WA's first Engineer-in-Chief, Charles Yelverton (CY) O'Connor, to supply fresh water to the arid Goldfields.
• Constructed between 1898 and 1903 to pump fresh water 566km east from Mundaring Weir to Mount Charlotte Reservoir, Kalgoorlie.
• Designed over eight separate sections to overcome the difficulty of pumping water uphill (390m) over such long distances. It included two main reservoirs, the main conduit of the pipeline, eight pumping stations, holding tanks and regulating tanks.
• Original pipes were made of 30-inch diameter steel and connected using an innovative H-shaped locking bar system instead of rivets. A coating of tar and bitumen protected the steel from corrosion.
• The 28 feet (8.5m) long pipes were manufactured in Perth from American and German steel with locking bars and joint rings shipped from England.
• More than 39% of the original locking bar pipeline from the early 1900s remains in use.
• Pipeline was built, where possible, alongside the route of the railway line to enable the pipes to be easily transported. The 60,000 pipes were laid underground to avoid temperature-related expansion and contraction issues.
• The main pipeline traverses several Aboriginal language groups: Whadjuk, Ballardong, Kalamaia, Gubrun, Kapurn or Kalaako, Maduwongga, Wongatha, Koara and Wutha.
• Officially opened at Mount Charlotte, Kalgoorlie, on 24 January 1903 - then the longest freshwater pipeline in the world.
• In the 1930s, due to corrosion and leakage, the pipes were lined with concrete and re-laid above ground on concrete blocks. Due to political pressure amid the Great Depression, 64km of steel sections were replaced with karri wood pipes to support the timber industry and save costs but all were replaced by 1971 due to leakage, termite damage and dry rot.
• Original pumps at the eight pumping stations could deliver 5 million gallons (22.73 million litres) of water per day.
• The pipeline is one of the elements of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme that was included on the National Heritage List in 2011.
• In December 2022, a collection of 22 sites – including steam pump stations, reservoirs, tank sites and other equipment – was included in the State Register of Heritage Places.
• In 2009, the scheme was recognised internationally by the American Society of Civil Engineers as an international Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Source: Extracts taken from the National Trust of Western Australia 'The Golden Pipeline' information sheets.

To learn more about the pipeline, the Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail offers a unique visitor experience.