Kings Park Heritage Tour
THis tour includes Kings Park, Mt Eliza and surrounds.
Welcome
Welcome to the Perth Engineering Heritage walking tour of Perth City.
Follow this online tour guide and learn how engineers helped create the Engineering Infrastructure of Perth we know today.
You can start and end at any location, and take as long as you like, or stop for coffee or a cool drink along the way.
Keep this page open on your phone.
We have presented the tour locations in a convenient sequence for walking.
You can also choose your own tour and see what sites are of interest to you. Simply click on the green arrow "directions" symbol alongside the images of each location below. This will take you to Google Maps on your phone and help guide you to the best viewing location. Wander as you like when you reach the location, then click the green arrow, the next directions symbol, to find out how to reach the next location.
Safety
While exploring, please consider your safety at all times. Do not look at your phone while walking!
Please, please watch out for vehicles when crossing roads and stepping back to admire the engineering works.
If you are taking photographs, ask your companions to watch out while you are concentrating on photography!
Kings Park Engineering Heritage tour
Mt Eliza
Our marvelous Mt Eliza Mt Eliza House (Kaarta Gar-up) has been offline for much of 2023 as Water Corporation complete their pipe renewal project within the grounds. The Mt Eliza house will become the meeting ground for future management and employee meetings and work activities for important group meetings and team building days.
Next time you’re at the House take a moment to look around – the Reservoir at Mt Eliza remains really important to Perth’s water supply today.
Perth’s initial reservoir - old Pond One located at Mt Eliza was built as part of the Victoria Scheme in 1890 and held 784 thousand gallons (3.6ML).
The 1890’s were a period of rapid population growth in Perth, but this resulted in a strain on the city's water supply. It’s said that some households in Perth went without water for days because the path connecting to the Mount Eliza reservoir was too small.
Due to Perth’s steady growth in demand, WC progressively added more storage: • In 1902 came Pond Two with a much greater capacity of 2.4 million gallons (11ML) • Then in 1911 Pond Three – with a 10-million-gallon (45ML) capacity • And in 1924 Pond Four – at 13.6 million gallons (62ML) and • Lastly the “new” Pond One 1935 – at 10 million gallons (45ML). This incorporated the floor and some of the walls of “old” Pond Two, and old Pond One was demolished.
Just to confuse you even further, Ponds 3 & 4 then became Ponds 2 & 3!
Over the years a number of different mains have also fed into Mt Eliza: • In 1890, the 305mm main from Victoria Dam – a section of which is up on the third floor at JTWC. • This was amplified in 1895 to 525mm – and a piece of this was recovered recently from the Reservoir (not in use). • In 1925, a 915mm locking bar pipe from Canning and Wungong Dams, a piece of which is in the front reception at JTWC; and • In 1961 the 1370mm from Serpentine Dam (and later on everything south, including Desal) which is the current inlet.
Mt Eliza Reservoirs and Reticulated Water for Perth
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 out midst
“The Inquirer” - August 1873.
Prior to 1890, Perth drew all its water from private wells, many of which were polluted by adjacent cesspits
Waylen Report (1883) – Typhoid and diphtheria were considered endemic. Sanitation Commission Report (1885) called for: Removal of all cess pits, to be replaced by a night soil scheme
Creation of a clean water supply scheme for Perth
The first clean water scheme for Perth, was eventually completed in 1890 and consisted of:
- An Impounding Reservoir on Mundy’s Brook of 240 million gallons (1.09GL).
- A Service Reservoir on Mount Eliza of 643,650 gallons (2.9ML); and
- 1,364 chains (27.4km) of 12” (305mm) Cast Iron water supply main
- All for the princely sum of £116,324 4s 7d ($232,649.46)
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 were itinerant, staying in Perth only long enough to gather supplies before setting off to the Goldfields.
Large tent cities were established 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;
- 1895: 566 cases, 70 deaths;
- 1896: 663 cases, 89 deaths;
- 1897: 1408 cases, 134 deaths;
- 1898: 800 cases, 74 deaths;
Water samples from the reticulated scheme water were also found to contain typhoid.
More than 500 ratepayers gathered in the Perth Town Hall in November 1896 and demanded that something be done!
The major supply main from the Dam to the City was more than doubled in capacity; from 305mm to 510/535mm.
Reticulated water was extended into several inner-city suburbs
Growth of Mt Eliza
- 1890 – Pond #1 – 784,000 gallons
- 1901 – Pond #2 – 2.4 million gallons
- 1911 – Pond #3 – 10 million gallons
- 1924 – Pond #4 – 13.6 milion gallons
- 1935 – new Pond #1 (incorporating old Pond #2) - 10 million gallons
Inlets:
- 1890 – 330mm from Victoria Dam
- 1895 – 525mm from Victoria Dam
- 1925 – 915mm from Canning and Wungong Dams
- 1961 – 1370mm from Serpentine Dam
Bores:
- 1905 – Central Pump Station Leederville, 3 bores
- 1906 – Causeway Pumping Station
- 1931 – Kings Park Pumping Station
Connections:
- 1905 – 300mm to Claremont Reservoir
- 1914 – 460mm to Mt Hawthorne Reservoir
- 1918 – 760mm into North Perth
- 1924 – 760mm to Scarborough
- 1925 – 760mm to Fremantle
- 1955 – 760mm to Swanbourne
- 1960 – 1065mm to Bold Park Reservoir
The Pensioner Guard Rifle Range
The Pensioner Guards were English military personnel who served on convict transportation ships en-route to the Swan River Colony between 1850 and 1868 and were given employment and grants of land on arrival.
Their initial employment lasted for six months, or the duration of the voyage, whichever was the longer time. After this they became "pensioners" and had to serve 12 days per year as well as whenever called upon.
They paraded annually in Perth at the Pensioner Barracks.
Part of their purpose was to maintain law and order in the colony.
Many enlisted in the British Army as boys, around 15–17 years of age, and served in many parts of the world including India, Afghanistan, China, Crimea for about 21 years before being pensioned off.
This meant several guards were under 40 years of age and had young families when they came to Western Australia.
As an incentive they were promised a two-room cottage and a plot of land sufficient to grow crops, vegetables and keep livestock. In the interim they were given accommodation in the barracks
Designed by Richard Roach Jewell, the Barracks were originally built from 1863 to 1866 and was later extended to house an additional 21 families.
Each family apartment had two rooms, each about 4.0 by 3.4 metres (13 by 11 ft), with at least one fireplace.
The outbuildings included a cookhouse, firing range and gunroom, washhouse, stores and stables.
The Rifle Range itself was the first permanent European feature constructed on this tableland and was built in 1862 by convict labour.
The Rifle Range extended from the Old Observatory to the State War Memorial Concourse and remained in use until 1895.
The Rifle Range at the back of Kings Park had been closed for several months due to complaints of stray bullets. Several alterations have now been made to prevent bullets going over the hill” and the Range has now been reopened to the “great satisfaction of the Volunteers, whose competitions have all been delayed.” 11th May 1886- Dundee Courier “Rifle Range Kings Park back in action”
The King’s Park “bottle guns”
In the late 1870’s two British military experts, Jervois and Scratchley, had recommended extensive defensive works for the major Australian ports. The Empire became very worried about Russian Aggression and the colonies, pushed along by public pressure, began strengthening their defences on the lines recommended.
In response from a request from the Legislative Council, the UK government offered two ex-Royal Navy guns to the colony for coastal defence purposes
The Kings Park guns, familiarly known as “bottle guns” based on their appearance, bore the official designation of RML (Rifled Muzzle Loading), 7 inch (calibre) 6.5 ton, Mk 1 guns. They fired a 50.8 kg shell to a range of about 3650 metres.
Even before the guns arrived onboard the SS Suffolk in 1881, they were considered obsolete. They were landed on the beach near Fremantle where they lay undisturbed for several years, as colonial financial constraints prevented their being adapted for service use. Finally, they were taken to the Western Australian defence facility at Karrakatta.
In 1905 the guns were moved to Kings Park, Perth, and mounted at Mount Eliza, overlooking Perth Water. However, in 1932, following the landscaping of the State War Memorial concourse, the guns were sold for scrap and dismantled.
The mountings were removed but the guns survived and were buried between the State War Memorial and the first rotunda. They remained buried until 1966 when after several unsuccessful attempts; they were in their buried locations using a magnetometer.
After excavation, restoration and mounting on timber replica carriages was then undertaken.
Successful completion was heralded by the firing of blank charges in a ceremony on 23 February 1969.
In October 2003, after further horticultural developments at Kings Park, the guns were subsequently relocated to HMAS Stirling. They were displayed at the entrance to Garden Island
The Narrows Bridge(s)
The Narrows Bridge is a freeway and railway crossing of the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia.
Made up of two road bridges and a railway bridge constructed at a part of the river known as the Narrows, located between Mill Point and Point Lewis, it connects the Mitchell and Kwinana Freeways, linking the city's northern and southern suburbs. The original road bridge was opened in 1959 and was the largest precast prestressed concrete bridge in the world. Construction of the northern interchange for this bridge necessitated the reclamation of a large amount of land from the river.
The riverbed at the site of the proposed bridge was not ideal for bridge building, with soft mud extending down as deep as 80 feet and sand beds below that going a further 40 feet down. Construction on the road system began in 1956, and the contract for construction of the bridge was built by Danish firm Christiani and Nielsen in conjunction with Western Australian engineering firm J. O. Clough & Son.
The bridge cost £1.5 million, as part of a wider road system costing £3.5 million. Construction of the bridge took 2 years and 5 months. It was officially opened by Governor Charles Gairdner on 13 November 1959. He unveiled a plaque on the bridge together with Premier Sir David Brand, Commissioner of Main Roads
A plan to widen the Narrows Bridge at the cost of $70 million plan would involve the addition of four extra traffic lanes and was part of a $230 million package upgrading and extending the southern end of the Kwinana Freeway.
The construction of a separate bridge was also deemed necessary because the foundations of any new structure might settle in the soft river bed at a different rate from the existing bridge. The bridge was constructed by the incremental launching technique, with 28-metre segments pre-cast on both shores and pushed out into place as the construction progressed. The bridge was divided into two strips lengthways, with the eastern half launched separately from the western half, and the two decks were later joined at the bridge's centre line.
The construction of a third bridge was needed due to the lack of previous planning provisions when the second bridge was constructed. The railway bridge deck was made from nine steel girders each weighing up to 99.5 tonnes and up to 54 metres long. These girders were built in Kwinana, brought to the site by road and lowered into position with a crane.
