Golden Pipeline
A time capsule of water,
gold & Western Australia
A project from the National Trust of WA
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.
“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”
The People
From grave diggers to greasers, wives to welders as well as the engineers and engine drivers, the story of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme encompasses many from different walks of life.
Engineer CY O’Connor and Premier John Forrest are individuals whose names are recorded in history but there are many nameless people whose stories deserve to be told. In fact, O’Connor himself did not claim credit for the scheme and in this section we identify other engineers who helped start and keep the water flowing.
Then there are those whose eyewitness accounts of the earliest days on the goldfields help us appreciate the conditions that actually gave rise to the scheme; stories of families who lived at the remote pump stations and more to share.
Explore
Click on any map section or place below to discover The Golden Pipeline.
Northam to Cunderdin
Explore section two
