Beetaloo Reservoir. Plaque commemorating its construction back in 1886 to 1890. : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Beetaloo Reservoir. Plaque commemorating its construction back in 1886 to 1890. / denisbin
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示-改変禁止 2.1 |
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| 説明 | Beetaloo Valley and Reservoir.This Garden of Eden in the Lower Flinders Ranges was first occupied by white pastoralists in 1844. Messrs W and J Jacob took out an annual licence or leasehold over the Beetaloo Run in that year. The name for their run was taken from a local Aboriginal word for the springs and creek there. Beetaloo Valley in the Lower Flinders Ranges is just east of Port Pire and Beetaloo Creek rises near the Bluff (724 metres high) and the Wirrabara Forests to the north. Most of the valley is gently undulating with ranges to the west and the east and it is an altitude of 300 to 400 metres high. The lookout over the Beetaloo Reservoir is 370 metres above sea level. This was excellent pastoral country and in 1851 when 14 year government leases were available for runs the Beetaloo Run was taken over by J Logan who some years later sold the leasehold to John Reid. They were sons of John Reid one of the founders of the town of Gawler in 1839. The 21,000 acre leasehold Beetaloo run was sold by John Reid in 1882 top another pastoralist but other land in valley was taken up for farming and orchards and vegetable growing at this time. Within a couple of years there was a nursery and several orchards in the valley. The Hundred of Howe was not fully surveyed and declared until 1891 after the completion of the Beetaloo Reservoir. ( Mr J Howe was an MP from Port Pirie and four times a Cabinet Minister before 1900 and he was a politician who strongly supported the Beetaloo scheme). The main route to Beetaloo Valley in the 19th century was through Hughes Gap behind Port Pirie and near Warnertown. The school at Beetaloo Valley was built in 1885 and opened in 1886. It was originally called Hughes Gap School but this was later changed to Beetaloo Valley School. The Beetaloo Institute was erected in 1886 and during the construction of the reservoir some church services were held in it as well as teetotal social functions! As early as 1882 newspapers were discussing the option of building a reservoir at Beetaloo to provide reliable disease free water for the Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo as well as Port Pire and other northern towns. Government officials first visited the site in 1883 and the water was tested for purity in Adelaide. Parliament considered the scheme in June of 1883 and planning work began soon after on the engineering of the pipeline from Beetaloo to upper Yorke Peninsula. One Member of Parliament who pushed very hard for this project was the Mayor of Wallaroo David Bews the Minister for Education in the 1880s and the MP for Port Pirie John Howe. Detailed engineering reports were tabled in Parliament in September 1885 and following 18 years of agitation by the Copper Triangle town the bills for creating the reservoir were passed in both houses of parliament in December 1885. In 1886 Beetaloo was transformed as hundreds of workers and families descended on the valley. They lived in tents near the reservoir works. A stone hotel was built and opened and it operated for several decades before becoming a residence. The cost of the reservoir was estimated at £72,000 and the cost of the pipeline to Moonta a further £128,000. This was massive expenditure for a colonial government in the mid-1880s. At the time it was seen as a work of national importance and it was the largest reservoir in the southern hemisphere at the time. The engineering of the reservoir was precise and it was intended to be built of local stone but after several attempts none could be located and concrete was used instead. The dam wall was to be nearly 600 feet wide, 100 feet high and have a curvature based on a radius of 1,414 feet to ensure the correct curvature for the weight of water behind the wall. Work the reservoir proceeded at the same time as work on the major pipeline to Moonta. As the scheme neared completion the issues of the day revolved around the cost of water to households in the Copper Triangle and the taxes required from across the state for the project. Some issues never change. Work was completed in October 1890 so that Moonta residents would have water during the summer of 1891 and beyond. After the Reservoir was completed the valley returned to its former peaceful state. An Advertiser newspaper report in 1907 referred to it as fertile oasis. The valley had received 22 inches of rain that year and the wheat crops were expected to deliver up to 40 bushels to the acre ( many SA farms produced about 8 bushels to the acre). It claimed crop failure was unknown here and the valley had apple, pear, cherry, apricot, peach and orange orchards. Vines had not been successful and had been rooted out. Tomatoes and other vegetables were also grown for the Port Pire and regional town markets. It was a veritable Garden of Eden. |
| 撮影日 | 2016-09-20 11:29:41 |
| 撮影者 | denisbin |
| タグ | |
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| カメラ | DSC-HX30V , SONY |
| 露出 | 0.003 sec (1/400) |
| 開放F値 | f/3.2 |