Hobart Town Rivulet - Artists' ImpressionsA journey down the Rivulet through the eyes of the artist
Diversions and Floods
The New Cut indeed! ... with one nights’ rain is completely overflowed! Colonial Times, 26 August 1825 |
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The course of the stream was subject to a number of diversions as the township grew. Minor changes resulted from land reclamation, water supply dams, minor flood controls and mill races. But the first major diversion was the ‘New Cut’, begun in 1824. It ran parallel to Collins Street to join the Park Street Rivulet rather than across the original ‘natural’ bed of the Rivulet (under the present City Hall and then into the Derwent near the site of the present Zero Davey building). The original stream bed east of Collins Street was filled in to form the new Market Place in 1825-26.
In 1882 the flow of water and detritus was contained in a canal with timber retaining walls which ran along the line of what is now Evans Street. Then in 1914-16 the stream was diverted through a major culvert and tunnel under the Queens Domain to reach the River Derwent north of Macquarie Point. The canal was then filled in and became Evans Street.
Flooding in the stream was always a problem. Early bridges were the first to suffer damage or destruction. The flood control measures constructed in the 1960s have restricted the flow of water in some parts to almost a third of what it used to be. A raging rivulet is rarely seen now, except after heavy snow on the mountain.
Related Resources
back From Mountain to Shore Water Supply Mills and Bridges
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