STEWART AND FARNSWORTH'S RESERVOIR AND WATER RACE
CLUNES-EVANSFORD ROAD EVANSFORD, PYRENEES SHIRE
-
Add to tour
You must log in to do that.
-
Share
-
Shortlist place
You must log in to do that.
- Download report
Statement of Significance
This record has minimal details. Please look to the right-hand-side bar for any further details about this record.
-
-
STEWART AND FARNSWORTH'S RESERVOIR AND WATER RACE - History
Contextual History:History of Place:
Heritage Inventory History of Site:
June 1871: The reservoir and races of Messrs Stewart and Farnsworth:
Reservoir..................Cost £4,500
11 miles of head races, capable of carrying 70
sluice heads of water at 20s. per chain.................Cost £880
85 miles of supply races capable of carrying
20 sluice heads at 7s 6d. per chain.................Cost £2,550
150 miles of distribution races, about 50 miles of
which are now in use, and about 100 miles which
can be brought into use if required, the whole
valued at about 2s. per chain................Cost £1,200
About 100 miles of distribution races which
Mr. Stewart considers as abandoned. .................Cost Nil.
Sept 1871: Alluvial mining - There is a falling off in the numbers employed, and also total yield of gold. This is owing to our shallow workings being nearly exhausted, which will not give a living except for sluicing with hose and high pressure water; therefore, all those miners who have been in the position to move have departed for other goldfields, those left behind being, for the most part, married men with families. and who have blocks of ground under the recent Land Acts.
The reservoir and races of Messrs Stewart and Farnsworth will be the same as my former returns.
December 1871: The construction of reservoir, length and cost of water races, will be the same as for Sept 1871 - six sluicing parties, two sluice heads each, at 40s. per week, for 12 weeks, £144, and five puddling machines, one sluice head each, at 20s. per week, £60.
1975: The main water scheme at Back Creek was a reservoir, built by Stewart and Farnsworth on Stony Creek with a head race from McCallum's Creek. It cost £10,000 and began by serving sluicing parties on Ballaarat Hill and Hard (White) Hill, but served a number of localities soon after. The charge for water was £9per day, but despite this the diggers made £20 per week. The scheme began in June 1858.
1875: Dissatisfaction with the Amherst Reservoir led to the purchase of Talbot Reservoir by the Borough of Amherst in July 1875 for £3500.
1876-1878: On 13 December 1876 the council decided to call tenders for raising the reservoir wall and after several problems with tenders and contracts, the price of Isaac Meadows of £3551 2s 11d was recommended to the Government for acceptance. This work was completed by October 1877 and a contract had been let with Blyth and Co. for water pipes to reticulate Talbot in June 1877. Further tenders in connection with the scheme were let; settling ponds on the land of a Mr Jackson (W. Phelan, £1350 14s 11d); repairs to water race from Stony Creek to settling ponds site (Peter MacLeod); and standpipes in Argyle and Oxford Streets were erected by a Mr Hawkins in October 1878. Reticulation of Talbot was extended gradually as the need arose, and both the railways and gardeners were large consumers. The railway used 12,000 gallons a day (charge 1/6 per locomotive) and irrigation for gardens consumed 15,000 gallons during the day and 50,000 gallons at night.
1881: Difficulty with the supply was caused by the offtake at McCallum's Creek, which had become defective since the original construction by Stewart and Farnsworth.
1882: The council accepted the tender of Jones and Crabb (£196 16s 6d) on 17 April 1882 although much heartache was caused by rival Lexton Shire Council's decision to rate the land on which the offtake weir was situated.
1883-1885: The Talbot reservoir was surveyed in August 1884 by Batson prior to fencing and this was undertaken by a Mr Douglas in September 1885. Boating and fishing at the reservoir was subject to much discussion and in 1883 the Victorian Human Society had provided a life buoy in case of boating accidents.Heritage Inventory Description
STEWART AND FARNSWORTH'S RESERVOIR AND WATER RACE - Heritage Inventory Description
/nNow site of Talbot Reservoir. According to local information large sections of the original water races still survive including the weir where the water race commences. Further research required. INTERPRETATION: This is one of the three major reservoirs which served the Shire (the others being at Bullarook) and Amherst). All these sites are complemented by a linear network of water races and this reservoir is of especially [sic] significance due to its intact offtake on McCallum's Creek and the early standpipes in Talbot (p.196) EXTANT REMAINS: This reservoir is still in use as part of the main domestic supply to Talbot. It has been progressively modified although the essential features of the original sites are presumably still those on site. The offtake on McCallum's Creek is still intact (p.196) SOURCES:Talbot and Clunes Conservation Study, Richard Aitken, 1988
Heritage Inventory Significance: State [Provisional, requires more research and fieldwork] EXISTING HERITAGE LISTING: Talbot Reservoir, water race and standpipes. Schedule One: Buildings recommended for inclusion or retention in the Shire of Talbot and Clunes Interim Development Order; The Talbot Reservoir is a vital and early reminder of the importance of water to the central goldfields area, both for domestic supply and mining. This site is complemented by the intact offtake on McCallum's Creek and the standpipes in their original locations at Talbot. The site has: Historical significance: Stewart and Farnsworth's reservoir and water race is historically significant as a characteristic and well preserved example of an important form of gold mining. Gold mining sites are of crucial importance for the pivotal role they have played since 1851 in the development of Victoria. As well as being a significant producer of VictoriaÆs nineteenth century wealth, with its intensive use of machinery, played an important role in the development of Victorian manufacturing and engineering industries. Stewart and FarnsworthÆs reservoir and water race appears to have been the largest privately constructed, gold-related water scheme in the StateÆs history. Scientific significance: Sections of Stewart and Farnsworth's reservoir and water race are well preserved and would require a major survey project to document it properly.
-
-
-
-
-
STEWART AND FARNSWORTH'S RESERVOIR AND WATER RACEVictorian Heritage Inventory
-
Evansford Community Centre Honour Roll (First World War)Vic. War Heritage Inventory
-
-