East Perth's Engineering Industrial Heritage

"When it is borne in mind that Perth has no natural drainage… and that many acres around us in all directions are covered in marsh and bog, producing foetid, unwholesome miasma, all year round, it is indeed matter for wonder how it is that pestilential fever is not forever stalking in our midst."

The Inquirer - August 1873

Draining the Lakes

The original Perth settlement (now the CBD) is located on a low sandy spur, approximately 15m high, 500m wide and 3km long, bounded to the west by a high limestone ridge (Kings Park / Parliament House, to the south and east by the Swan River, and to the north by a series of 10 or so freshwater lakes and lagoons which drained into the Swan River.

The majority of these lakes were shallow and during the hot summer of 1833 they dried up leaving the settlers to depend on shallow wells and a few springs. Development of Perth to the north was hindered by the presence of these lakes, which often flooded in winter months – as Lake Kingsford did in 1847. The next year the Colonial Health Committee found that the lakes were a direct influence on disease in Perth and recommended that a permanent drain be constructed.

The first drains were completed by convict labour in August 1848 and drained an area encompassing the current CBD into Claisebrook and thence into the Swan River. By 1854 it was found that these drains were insufficient. Two Royal Engineer Lieutenants – Crossman and Wray were commissioned to examine the drainage of the lakes. They recommended constructing a much larger new drain.

Following further flooding over the next four winters, these works were doubled in capacity. Even these measures were insufficient to avoid further flooding in 1870’s and an entirely new drain was constructed in 1877.

The Gold Rush and its Effects

During the early 1890’s the discovery of gold in the north and east of WA resulted in a significant increase in the population of Perth – from 8,500 in 1818 to 61,000 by 1901. Many of these people where itinerant, staying in Perth only long enough to gather supplies before setting off to the Goldfields. Large tent cities were established, generally around the shores of the northern lakes. Reticulated water was limited to only about 2,750 properties in the City and nightsoil collection only reached about 5,500. Everyone else relied on the shallow wells which were becoming increasingly polluted with the influx of the gold diggers.

Typhoid became endemic, and the following cases and deaths are recorded:

1895: 566 cases, 70 deaths;
1896: 663 cases, 89 deaths;
1897: 1408 cases, 134 deaths; and
1898: 800 cases, 74 deaths;

Water samples from the reticulated scheme water were also found to contain typhoid. In November 1896, more than 500 ratepayers gathered in the Perth Town Hall and demanded that something be done!

Claisebrook Main Drain Scheme

Following this meeting a new system of main drains was constructed to drain the shallow northern lakes and prevent flooding of the large ones at a cost of over £100,000 at the time.

These were some of the largest engineering works ever carried out by the Perth City Council (Perth Drainage did not come under central government control until about 1910) and were of mass concrete construction, 4ft (1.6m) in diameter. They discharged into Claisebrook at Lord St which then open channel. (It was enclosed in an 8’6” (2.6m) circular brick drain in 1905).

The Council was so proud of its achievement that they commemorated it in a small gallery built off the main drain. This was last sighted in 1983 and with more stringent Occupational Health and Safety regulations, further human access was shortly thereafter banned and the gallery soon became an urban myth.

In 2020 the Water Corporation’s ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) team was doing an inspection of the main and rediscovered the Gallery. It was found to be a corbelled brick-built chamber, with a 3m x 2m “Foundation Stone” set into the concrete clearly reading the following texts:

City of Perth

Main Drainage Works

S.H. Parker Esq.

Mayor 1901

E.H. Gliddon City Engineer

E. Gjedsted Res Engineer

Thos Hill Contractor

Burswood Sewerage Treatment Plant

As part of this expansion of public health measures in 1909 the Claisebrook Sanitary Sewer – a 915mm x 610mm (36” x 25”) egg shaped, or “Monier” sewer, was completed which flowed by gravity into a large septic tank at Claisebrook, with an under river 760mm syphon and two filter beds built at Burswood (opposite the Stadium).

In 1914 the scheme was expanded with three pump stations built on the “other” side of the Perth ridge – Ozone, Mill St, and Hill St. By this time there were 103km of sewers and the system was growing all the time. In 1915, a new syphon was laid, and four new filter beds constructed (via Camfield Car Park) later expanded to 10 by 1920 as a massive expansion of the system was undertaken.

These beds were 30.5m in diameter and 1.8m deep and smell complaints started to be made immediately on completion. The 1920-21 dry summer exacerbated algae blooms

“Practically everywhere in Perth waters there float a mess of brown matter, sometimes thick and evil looking and sometimes in long green slimy strings, which cling to the body of a swimmer who happens to pass near enough to it. This matter is gradually spreading int Melville water and can even been seen in Freshwater Bay" - West Australian

In response to this in 1923, construction commenced on the 60“ (1525mm) Perth Main Sewer from Subiaco to Highgate and the Swanbourne and Subiaco treatment plants and in 1936 Burswood ceased to function.

Claisebrook Pumping Station

Unfortunately the “top end” of the Perth Main Sewer is 12m higher than the Claisebrook Site. So, In 1936 a pump station was constructed to pump this sewerage into the Perth Main Sewer. It consisted of 3 x 12” (305mm) and one 10” (255mm) Thompson pumps with the existing 7ML septic tank being used as the suction tank.

The pump station at Horden St picking up Vic Park and Rivervale also pumped into this site across the Causeway. With the completion of the Mt Pleasant pump Station, this arrangement is now only used when the replacement Armagh St Pump Station’s pressure main (discharges in front of Murdoch Hospital on South St) is offline.

The sewerage was quite anerobic, so a ventilation chimney was constructed on the corner of Smith and Lincoln St to vent the H₂S. This only ran for six weeks due to smell complaints.

With the completion of Claisebrook Cove this pump station was replaced by a semi underground station built into the bank in from of the 1909 tank which is still in use! The pumps in the new station are approximately the same size but three times the capacity.

Perth Bunbury Railway

The Southwestern Railway was constructed for the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) by various private contractors from 1891. Construction was completed in two parts. The first, East Perth to Pinjarra, was undertaken by William Atkins (former mill manager of the Neil McNeil Co. Jarrahdale) and Robert Oswald Law (who built the Fremantle Long Jetty).

Work began in 1892 but was slowed by difficulties with building the bridge over the Swan River. and opened on 22 May 1893.

Originally called the Swan Bridge and later the Bunbury bridge, it was a single-track, timber railway bridge. The delay was due to troubles with sinking the jarrah piles into the soft riverbed: they were intended to be sunk 42 feet (13 m) below the water level but reached this depth under their own weight as soon as they were put in position. Ultimately, they had to be driven to 85 to 96 feet (26 to 29 m) before a solid footing was found.

Following concerns for its safety, a so-called "temporary" replacement bridge was built between 1930 and 1932.

After 63 years of use, the temporary structure was closed when a new concrete dual-track Goongoongup Bridge was built as part of the electrification of Perth's suburban railways. It was opened in 1995, with the old timber bridge being demolished in early 1996.

Windan Bridge (opened April 2000) is immediately adjacent and carries road traffic from the Graham Farmer Freeway.

East Perth Power Station

The first major industrial installation in the area was the East Perth Power Station. It was constructed between 1913 and 1916 by the Western Australian State Government, which announced that the facility would generate all the electricity needed in the Perth Metropolitan area and was primarily designed to supply electricity to the government tramway system.

The site of East Perth was chosen because coal could easily be delivered there by rail and because the enormous quantities of cooling water required by the condensing plant could easily be drawn from the Swan River. Construction was completed at a total cost of £538,000.

The first three units consisted of Willans and Robinson steam turbines driving Brown Boveri alternators. Each one had a continuous rated output of 3 MW with the capacity to intermittently supply 4 MW giving the station a maximum output of 12 MW. A fourth unit, a 7.5 MW C. A. Parsons and Company turboalternator, was commissioned in December 1922. It occupied the one and only spare bay that had been provided during the initial development of the turbine hall.

In 1934, after many years of planning, tenders were invited for the supply of the major items of power plant for ‘B’ Station, the official opening ceremony being on 20th January 1938. ‘B’ Station consisted of a single 25,000-kilowatt set rated at 6.3 kV @ 40 hertz. Major advancements over ‘A’ Station included:

Higher steam conditions: 600 psi at 800°F versus 210 psi at 600°F;

Much reduced throughput of circulating water through a three-stage steam bleed-off from the steam turbine used for feed water heating;

A new power system control room;

Boiler flue gas directed through electrostatic precipitators which removed most of the particulates from the emissions; and

The introduction of a wet ash handling system which facilitated the disposal of boiler precipitator residue on the other side of the Swan River adjacent to the site of present-day Perth Stadium.

The one and only ‘C’ Station unit, Unit 7, was commissioned 19 June 1956. It generated 30 MW at 22kV and 50 Hz. Being of post-war design, it delivered greater efficiencies than the South Fremantle units which, like the East Perth ‘B’ Station, were of pre-war design.

In 1968 the station converted from coal to oil, but six years later returned to coal firing. The station was decommissioned and closed in December 1981, as more advanced and cheaper methods of electricity generation made the facility redundant.

The East Perth Power Station is considered to be one of the State's most significant industrial heritage buildings. It includes a range of remnant machinery and equipment that is believed to be unique in the world because it contains the five different stages of power generation technology that occurred in the 20th century.

Read more on East Perth Power Station here

East Perth Gasworks

The next major installation was the construction of the gasworks, which began in 1915 when the first gasholder was erected on the southernmost portion of the site. Prior or soon after this, the Claisebrook Drain was re-routed to the south to allow the construction of other plant elements such as retorts in which coal was heated to produce volatile gas and solid coke.

The plant reached full production in 1924 and it remained in service until the 1970's. After treatment the gas was passed into gas holders for storage. A total of five gas holders were installed, three of which were relief holders used to store raw gas prior to cleaning. Purified gas was distributed to customers from the two operational holders located in the southwestern corner of the site.

The landmark 20-sided gasometer known as the "No. 2 Cityholder" was removed in 1985.

MTT (Bus) Workshops

The Metropolitan Transport Trust (MTT) opened their Central Workshops in Kensington St in February 1961. With the formation of the MTT in 1958 and the takeover of various private suburban bus companies, a need was identified for a modern heavy maintenance facility, replacing the old tramway one at the Causeway “Car Barn”. It eventually consisted of a machine shop, panel shop, air shop, engine shop, transmission and axle shop, trimming shop, paint shop and servicing bays. It could (and did) entirely rebuild bus bodies from supplied chassis.

It was closed in 1998 with the privatisation of the MTT and breakup into private suburban bus companies. Also, modern buses do not need the heavy maintenance like those from previous generations. For example, engines are not rebuilt on a mileage basis anymore but on failure.

Other Works

Apart from the works mentioned above, the Mechanical and Electrical depot for the PWD were located at Jewel St until the merger with the MWB in 1985 and due to the plentiful supplies of good quality clay and coal, a Brisbane and Wunderlich established a brick works and tile yard on the north bank of Claisebrook opposite Haig Park which operated until the mid-1990s

In those days the brook was reduced to timber laced drain approx. 3m wide with the outlet from the Claisebrook Main drain discharging at Plain St. In early 90’s as part of the East Perth Redevelopment Tea Tree Lagoon was reestablished, though now called Claisebrook Inlet.

As part of this redevelopment we did however lose Haig Park on the southern side of the brook. This was Bordered by Wittenoom St to the south between Plain St and Trafalgar Rd an was used for cricket and hockey and particularly sadistic training running up the 15m bank to Wittenoom St.

Author: Perry Beor April 2024