Goulburn Waterworks - Historic Engineering Marker #67 Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia
By Team MavEtJu on 30-Oct-15. Waypoint GA7726

Goulburn Waterworks - Historic Engineering Marker #67

Located on the banks of the Wollondilly River, on the Northwestern outskirts of Goulbum, the GOULBURN WATERWORKS, which includes the steam pumping station and weir, is virtually fully intact after its construction in the 1880s and use up to 1977. It is an excellent representation of the municipal water supply stations installed through out New South Wales during that period and displays the development of these systems over the past century.

The Goulburn Waterworks was originally installed with a compound beam pumping engine. It was upgraded a number of times with additional sump pumping engines and finally electric pimps, most of which are still intact in the original building. The original beam pumping engine is still operational and is most probably the only remaining beam engine still intact in its original location in the Southern hemisphere.

The site has excellent heritage preservation potential in that the original buildings including pump house, boiler house and engineer's residence are intact. The original weir, Marsden Weir, which supplied the city's water is still standing, and the engine and boilers are still in place with the engine being operational off an alternate vertical steam boiler.

The Goulbum City Council took control after the Steam Museum that occupied the site since the 1950s closed down with the death of the proprietor. The aim of the council is to develop the site into a heritage precinct and park preserving as much of the original waterworks infrastructure as possible. A 'Friends of the Waterworks' preservation group maintains the engine and organises running days for public exhibition.

Contents of the plaque:

The original water works comprising Marsden Weir , the pumping station and its equipment, was designed and constructed between 1883 and 1886 under the direction of E. 0. Moriarty, Engineer-in-Chief, Harbours 8. Rivers of the Public Works Department, NSW. Construction was supervised by engineer H. A. Moriarty and the works were managed for Goulburn City Council by engineer Edward J. Woodhart from 1887 to 1922. The water works as upgraded, supplied water to Goulburn up to 1977. It is of State heritage significance and is the only remaining intact example of its type in NSW. The Institution of Engineers Australia and Goulburn City Council 2003.

When logging this virtual, please add a photo of yourself or your GPSr at the plaque.

Note: Take note that the Waterworks are open Sunday 10:00 - 16:00, Mon & Tue 10:00 - 14:00 and most school and public holidays 10:00 - 16:00. If you cannot get inside, a shot of yourself at the entrance is worth half points but feel free to log it anyway.

For more information, please see the nomination PDF at the Heritage Register at the Engineers Australia website: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/heritage/goulburn-waterworks-wollondilly-river-1886