Golden Pipeline

National Trust of WA

Explore The Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail

A self-guided drive trail between the Perth Hills and Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields. Go with the Flow. Follow the water to discover more about the audacious goldfields water supply scheme and Engineer CY O’Connor.

Discover The people and the Scheme

“Future generations, I am quite certain will think of us and bless us for our far seeing patriotism, and it will be said of us, as Isaiah said of old, ‘They made a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” – Sir John Forrest

Gilgai to Dedari

Towns

Reminders of once busy wayside stops are easy to miss and you’ll be forgiven for thinking prospectors would have hurried through this area without stopping.

But, in the days of horse, before trains even, they had to stop wherever there was water. Maps of the time detailed every well and dam and the distance between them. Swampers are said to be termed such because they paid for their gear to be carried in wagons and walked alongside teamsters who knew where to obtain water.

Both Boorabbin and Woolgangie were once bustling railheads with rock catchments. A prospector in his 1895 diary described Boorabbin as having a post office and an extra pub and stores. When he travelled the road was littered on both sides with empty cans since prospectors had to rely on tinned food. A ‘tin circle’ is often the last remaining reminder of a stopping place. Men sat around a camp fire, heated the food in their tins then threw them over their shoulders.

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Click on any map section or place below to discover The Golden Pipeline.

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