Badgarning Dam & Puntapin Dam/Rock Reserve

Author

Shire of Wagin

Place Number

09023

Enlarge Map

Show Property Street View

There no heritage location found in the Google fusion table.

Location

Wagin

Location Details

Other Name(s)

Badjarning Dam and Puntapin Dam/Rock Reserve

Local Government

Wagin

Region

Wheatbelt

Construction Date

Constructed from 1927, Constructed from 1911

Demolition Year

N/A

Statutory Heritage Listings

Type	Status	Date	Documents	More information
(no listings)

Heritage Council Decisions and Deliberations

Type	Status	Date	Documents
(no listings)

Other Heritage Listings and Surveys

Type	Status	Date	Grading/Management		More information
Type	Status	Date	Category	Description	More information
Municipal Inventory	Adopted		Category 3	Category 3 Place considered to have a lesser degree of significance; to be retained and conserved if possible, and the conservation of the significance of the place should also be encouraged through provisions of the town planning scheme. It is recommended that prior to any major changes to the place, or demolition, that a photographic record be taken of the place.

Child Places

26014 Puntapin Rock Catchment Dam Reserve

Statement of Significance

The place has historic value as a demonstration of the importance of a reliable water supply to a town's development prior to the introduction of the Comprehensive Water Scheme.

Physical Description

Puntapin Dam (as for Badgarning Dam) comprises a dam of clay pipe with no intrusions of granite rock. The catchment area is granite rock (broken rock at Bargarning). Puntapin Dam has a rock with a retaining wall around and contour drains which direct the water to the dam at the foot of the rock.
Puntapin Dam is south-east of Wagin on Bullock Hills Road.

History

Badgarning Dam was constructed in 1911, to supply water to the town of Wagin. It had a capacity of 76 million litres and was handed over to the Shire of Wagin by the Minister for Works, Henry Daglish. It was completed at a cost of £11,000 and was estimated to impound 17,000,000 gallons.1 The Water Board took it over in 1914, for £15,000.
There were 16 km of piping to carry the water the 8 km to town.
The official opening ceremony for the new Water Scheme utilising Puntapin Dam was described extensively in the Wagin Argus:
There was great rejoicing in Wagin on Saturday, 19th inst., when the Minister for Country Water Supply (Mr J. Cunningham) declared the town's new water scheme open. ... The whole engineering work has been admirably carried out, and reflects the greatest credit on the engineers of the Country Water Supply Department. ... They visited the Water Scheme in the morning. Miss Cunningham set the machinery in the pumping station working, and Mr Stubbs [MLA] turned on the water, which is pumped from the dam to the concrete tower on the top of Puntapin Rock, and then gravitated to Wagin.... The new Puntapin scheme is estimated to cost £35,000. In 1930, the Badgarning Dam was superseded by the Puntapin Rock Catchment Scheme. The Puntapin Rock Catchment Scheme was started in early June 1927. The bottom was of solid clay with no intrusions of granite rock as with the Badgarning Dam. In 1928, a retaining wall was built around the rock and contour drains to take the water into the dam at the foot of the rock. A concrete tank of 675,000 litres capacity has since been constructed on top of the rock, Mr A. C. Diamond being the engineer. In 1930, Wagin was cut off from the Badgarning Dam supply and was entirely dependent on the water from Puntapin Dam. Mr E. G. H. Ganzer, chairman of the Wagin Road Board, during the opening ceremony had commented that, "the Puntapin scheme would be of incalculable benefit to the district". In 1956, Wagin was connected with the comprehensive scheme which brought water from the Wellington Dam. However, water from Puntapin Dam is still used, mixed with water from Wellington Dam.

Integrity/Authenticity

INTEGRITY: High
AUTHENTICITY: High

Condition

Good

Associations

Name	Type	Year From	Year To
Henry Daglish. Minister of Works	Architect	1911	-
Mr A. C. Diamond (Concrete Tank)	Architect	1930	-

References

Ref Name	Ref Source	Ref Date
MJ Pederick; "The Emu's Watering Place: A Brief History of the Wagin District". p.150	Churchlands College, Perth	1979
"Wagin Argus". p.5		31-1-1929
JS Battye; "Cyclopaedia of Western Australia". p,713	Hussey & Gillingham, Adelaide,	1913

Place Type

Historic site

Uses

Epoch	General	Specific
Present Use	GOVERNMENTAL	Reservoir or Dam
Original Use	GOVERNMENTAL	Reservoir or Dam

Historic Themes

General	Specific
OCCUPATIONS	Technology & technological change

Creation Date

22 Jul 1997

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Approved

Last Update

19 Sep 2018

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.