Kalamunda Cool Storage & Ice Works (fmr)

Values

The place is associated with Perth’s first permanent city water supply, which was built as a private enterprise prior to the government assumption of responsibility for water supply.

The place is associated with Neil McNeil and the Jarrahdale Timber Company.

The place is the oldest of four diversion channels listed in the Heritage Council’s database and is therefore of rarity value.

Physical Description

The place appears to comprise a small dam area off Canning Road and a collecting channel with earthen, rock and concrete walls approximately 1 metre deep running from Munday’s Brook to the Victoria Reservoir (fmr). Some sections appear to have been also completed in pipe.

History

In 1889 Neil McNeil’s Jarrahdale Timber Station Company took over the timber company at Rockingham and began building the Victoria Reservoir in that year. The Government had not yet assumed responsibility for water supply, and construction of the dam was undertaken as a private enterprise. The Reservoir was to be the first catchment dam in Perth.

The site chosen for the Dam was on Munday Brook, south of the old Mason and Bird timber Mill. McNeil carted imported Portland concrete with horse and dray from Perth, using Mason and Bird’s original track. Workers combined hand-mixed cement with rocks to form the wall of the dam.

Construction was completed in 1891, and Edward Keane’s wife opened the dam. The opening ceremony proved unforgettable, as attendees were forced to trudge through the muddy bush because of a lack of carts from the Station to the dam. Celebrations were further marred by their occurrence during an influenza epidemic. The party attending the ceremony is thought to be the first group to travel on Edward Keane’s newly opened railway.

The project included the construction of a pipeline to Kings Park that supplied Perth residents with their first reticulated water. The Kalamunda region did not itself receive reticulated water until 1954, despite its proximity to both the Mundaring Weir and Victoria Reservoir. The reservoir was purchased by the government in 1896.

Problems with the flow of water to Perth in the 1890s resulted in the building of diversion channels including Munday’s Brook Diversion Channel in 1897. The work was carried out by manual labour and use of horses.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity- Moderate
Authenticity- High

Condition

Poor

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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