BENWELL FLOODGATES
INTERSECTION OF RIVER TRACK AND REGULATOR TRACK, BENWELL FOREST
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Statement of Significance
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BENWELL FLOODGATES - History
Irrigated farming began in the Guttrum State Forest Region in the 1870s. The Koondrook Irrigation Trust was established shortly after, in 1885, to provide water for the extensive grazers and dairies, as one of four Trusts aimed at providing irrigation to the wider Kerang district (McKinna et al 2012; Victorian Places 2015). Koondrook was proclaimed a town in 1888 (McKinna et al 2012). The Benjeroop and Murrabit Irrigation and Water Supply Trust (established in 1886) adopted a scheme to pump from the Murray River via Myall and Reedy Creeks to irrigation channels within the Benjeroop and Murrabit region. The main supply channel with a regulator (sluice gates, known as the Benwell Floodgates) to control the volume of water from the Murray River was constructed in 1887. In the same year, a weir with a sluice was built on Reedy Creek in the Benwell Reserve (Kaufman and Ballinger 2014, pp. 48-49). In 1887-1888, the Benjeroop and Murrabit Irrigation Trust embanked part of the Murray River at Benwell Forest as a method of flood prevention, constructed a dam at the Murray River inlet in Guttrum Forest, and built a weir in Guttrum Forest to create water storage for irrigation. The system was replaced in 1906 with a gravitational scheme following a number of dry years at the turn of the 20th century when water levels did not reach the excavated channel in which the floodgates were constructed, and steam engines had to be employed pump at the floodgates. The floodgates are not mapped on Parish mapping dating to 1923. The irrigation channel leading to the floodgates is visible in aerial imagery dating to 1945.BENWELL FLOODGATES - Interpretation of Site
Benwell Floodgates are a water regulation device constructed circa 1886 within a wide hand cut irrigation channel and are related to water management, pastoral and/or agricultural activity in the Myall region. The site may contain buried features related to the construction and operation of the floodgates. The site may provide information regarding past activity related to water infrastructure and water management. The site’s history can be directly linked to the development of irrigation in the Myall region. The Benwell Floodgates were intended to control the volume of water from the Murray River into a channel which ran to the township of Myall, where the water entered Reedy Creek. The main supply channel used for this process was 9 m in width and 1.2 m deep, and ran on a gradient of 1 in 5,000. The channel with regulator, which were constructed in 1886, took water from the Murray to Myall where it entered Reedy Creek and was subsequently channelled to areas of Murrabit and Benjeroop. In the same year, a weir with sluice (with sluice gates – the Benwell Floodgates) were built on the channel in the Benwell Reserve, and filled with water via a channel from the Murray. This water supplemented the irrigation system via a second channel connecting the weir to Reedy Creek. Although designed to have a permanent pumping station, one was never installed. In 1906, the newly formed State Rivers and Water Supply Commission took over the works, and replaced the system with a gravitational scheme. Benwell Floodgates are a water regulation device constructed circa 1886 within a wide hand cut irrigation channel and are related to water management, pastoral and/or agricultural activity in the Myall region. The site may contain buried features related to the construction and operation of the floodgates. It therefore meets Threshold A (archaeology). The site may provide information regarding past activity related to water infrastructure and water management. The site’s history can be directly linked to the development of irrigation in the Myall region. This site thus also meets Threshold B (place history).
Heritage Inventory Description
BENWELL FLOODGATES - Heritage Inventory Description
Located on a redundant irrigation channel in Benwell State Forest, the Benwell Floodgates consist of a series of steel runners attached to timber posts. These hold steel panel gates and threaded metal rods. The site is relatively undisturbed however the structure is in poor condition with some missing elements. Timber elements of the structure have been subject to deterioration due to exposure to the elements and termites. Metal elements are rusted, and some elements (threaded metal rods) appear to have been removed. The site is in fair archaeological condition in a relatively undisturbed site. It is considered of high archaeological potential to reveal further information about the construction of the regulator through dislodged components which may be buried in the surrounding earth. Interpretive signage has been installed adjacent the site.
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