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Well, it’s Wednesday so time again for a little about the history of Newcastle in New South Wales, which is where I live, kinda. I live in the council of Lake Macquarie not Newcastle.
Anyway this week we will have a brief look at Newcastle water.
Newcastle’s earliest of fresh water were wells and springs, as
the population grew these soon became inadequate and a pipeline from the Walka
waterworks at Maitland took over as the main supply in the 1880’s.
In 1892 The Hunter District Water and Sewerage Board was established, taking over from local councils the job of building regional infrastructure.
It soon became apparent that the supply from the Hunter River
wasn’t going to be adequate for the growing population and industry. So, they
built Chichester Dam, near Dungog, with working starting during the first World
War and was completed with water flowing into the city in 1923. It gravitated
to big reservoirs mainly those at Waratah that fed the city’s steelworks and
other related industries.
Hunter Water Board Pipeline Plan
So, for the first time in years Newcastle had a truly reliable
water supply.
Just as important as water supply is sewerage, before the city
had a proper sewerage system “nightsoil” had to be carted to depots. Otherwise,
home burial of sewerage caused problems, contaminating water and spreading
disease. Early council sewers emptied into the harbour.
If anyone is wondering what the term “nightsoil” means it is
this, human excrement collected at night from buckets, cesspools, and
privies.
The men who did the job of collecting the cans of human waste
were called either “sanny men” or the “dunny man”. The dunny man would usually
access clients’ outhouses via the back lane and would visit every night to
ensure a clean outhouse for the next morning.
I couldn’t find when the use of this system finished but I do
know that Tim can remember the “dunny man” coming and picking up the can from
their dunny when he was very young. So I think it was sometime in the 1960’s.
An ocean outfall was seen as the answer with Bar Beach being the
first choice by authorities, however political pressure shifted it to Merewether
and plans were laid for a new treatment plant and outfall at Murdering Gully.
It’s hard to understand the sheer scale of the task of building the
city’s sewers and the hidden pipelines which is in some cases a really big task
to undertake.
The new outfall began working in 1936 it is around this time
that the Water Board stop using the name Murdering Gully changing it to Burwood
Beach.
What is the history of the name Murdering Gully? What a name!
ReplyDeleteSome of the farmers in our family when I was young had their own outhouse or privy. They moved them and buried the old holes. Glad we don't have to have those anymore! Smelly and full of spider webs and flies!! Awk!
ReplyDeleteYes, what is the history of Murdering Gully? We had an outhouse at the ranch I was raised on. Big hole, covered with building. When full, the building was moved to the next location and the hole covered.
ReplyDeleteI never realized before just what a huge undertaking it was to provide adequate water and sewage systems for towns already populated, Jo-Anne. And what an awful job being a Dunny man! Blessings!
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