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Showing posts with label maroondah aqueduct. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maroondah aqueduct. Show all posts
A 3 km hike on June 14, 2015, starting at the Donnelley's Weir Rd, then along Management Road 17.and Condon's Track. Back to the Echo Tunnel and the Maroondah Aqueduct.Trail.
This area was destroyed in the Black Saturday fires - the regeneration is astonishing.
These pictures were taken on January 20, 2013, in the Healesville district, 65 km east of Melbourne.
They
show the scenery and environment in the Maroondah Reservoir catchment
area, on a 3 km hike along Management Road 17, starting at the
Donnelley's Weir Rd, and continuing towards Mt Monda, adjacent to Sawpit
Creek.
My hike included an exploration of the Echo Tunnel area,
and inspections of the Maroondah Aqueduct, the historical Sawpit Creek
Weir, and the site of the former picnic ground.
The Aqueduct was
built in 1891 to carry water from the Watt's River Weir to Preston, and
this section is still in use by Melbourne Water.
It is fed from the Outlet Tower at the Maroondah Reservoir through the Echo Tunnel.
The black/white photo is dated to 1940, and shows the Tunnel Entrance. The "bat flaps" were added in later years.
They show the environment, scenery and features along the open-channel section of the disused Maroondah Aqueduct, in Kangaroo Ground, 30 km NE of Melbourne.
The Aqueduct was built in 1886 to carry water from the old Maroondah Weir to Melbourne. It consisted of open channel and underground pipe, passing through the Yarra Glen district, Christmas Hills, Kangaroo Ground, Research, Greensborough, then to Preston.
Most of the Aqueduct was decommissioned in 1980. The present-day 30 km Maroondah Aqueduct transfers up to 220 ML/d from Maroondah Reservoir to Yering Gorge. The Yering Gorge Pumping Station pumps water from the Yarra River and the Aqueduct, up through a rising main and tunnel into the Sugarloaf Reservoir.
The Maroondah Aqueduct Trail follows a 4 km open channel section of the former management track from Main Rd, Research to Allendale Rd, Eltham North.
Another open channel section, 2 km, starts at the end of Nicholas Lane, Kangaroo Ground, and the adjacent old management track may be walked. A small car-turning area is at the old bridge. The track is protected from public vehicle access by a locked gate, but walkers can pass through the fence.
There are nice views of the valley and the Yarra Ranges.
These pictures were taken on Good Friday, April 22 2011.
They show the Memorial Tower at Kangaraoo Ground, 30 km NE of Melbourne, views from the Tower, panoramas from the Yarra Glen-Eltham Rd, and some images of the former disused Maroondah open channel Aqueduct, at the nearby heritage bridge on Nicholas Lane.
The Aqueduct was commissioned on 1891, and carried water from the original Maroondah Weir in the Watt's River Valley, east of Healesville.
This early weir was ultimately submerged beneath the big Maroondah Reservoir in 1927.
The Aqueduct consisted of 41 km of open-channel concrete, and 25 km of tunnels, pipes, and syphons, taking water to the Preston storage reservoir, 61 km distant.
This section of the aqueduct which I visited is a surviving part of the open channel structure - public access is not permitted by Melbourne Water.
Condon's Track is an 8 km walking route in the Yarra Ranges National Park, within the Maroondah Catchment area, 60 km east of Melbourne.
It links Donnelley's Weir Rd with Monda Rd, an increase in altitude of about 800 m.
The southern section of the Track is along Melbourne Water's Road 17, one of several forest management roads in the catchment area on which walkers are permitted.
The Track goes over the "Echo Tunnel", where the Maroondah Aqueduct begins, and crosses Sawpit Creek, through old logging forest. Large stumps are along the track, with horizontal saw cuts still visible.
I walked 6 km (return) of this Track on March 11, 2011, along Road 17, starting at the junction with Donnelley's Weir Rd (116 m altitude), with a turnaround at about 385 m altitude. Here, the track deteriorates and ascends very steeply up the flank of Mt Monda, eventually reaching Monda Rd (altitude 917 m).
Ths history of the region is interesting. Construction of the Maroondah Reservoir started in 1891, and was completed in 1927. Logging was widespread in the forest until the Reservoir and Aqueducts were opened. Many of the former logging tracks were taken over by the Board of Works (now Melbourne Water), and walker access was prohibited.
Sawpit Weir was decommissioned in 1988.
In 1929, visitor facilities were built in what was known as "Condon's Gully Picnic Stop", described as "just off Condon's Gully Track", and it was said that access was by horse and coach from Healesville, "4 miles".
There are references to remains of these facilities still existing in the early 1970s, but their exact location is unknown, and possibly destroyed in fires.
The prohibited-access section of Road 17 is the original track to the Gully. East of Condon's Gully is the Meethinna Creek and Meethinna Falls. The Falls are no longer public access, with the track having been closed in the 1930s.
Images of the period 1880 to the early 1900s show the beautiful Falls, but historical references indicate that by 1915, walking access had become difficult, due to the tracks becoming overgrown by forest growth, and not being maintained. There has been no public access permitted to the Falls since about 1939.
It is not generally known that the Maroondah Reservoir was formed by damming the Watts River. Condon's Creek and Matthinna Creek formerly entered the Watts River, at the base of Mt Monda. These creeks now flow into the Reservoir.
Most of this area was destroyed in the February 2009 fires and there has been extensive regrowth. The track was reopened in late 2010.
