Hobart Town Rivulet - Artists' Impressions
A journey down the Rivulet through the eyes of the artist
Water Supply The Run which supplies us with clear, wholesome Water,having its source in an adjoining Mountain, leaves me with no reason to doubt of its providing a constant Supply (Lieutenant Governor Collins to Lord Hobart, 4th March 1804) |
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The rivulet has always been of great value to the people of Hobart, first as the source of their water supply, for sustenance and industry, and later as a place of recreation and leisure.
The colonial authorities were soon to be disappointed by the pollution of the ‘clear, wholesome water’ by residents and industry alike. The challenge of providing fresh water continued for decades – government reports, conflict with Peter Degraves and other landowners, with petitions by the inhabitants to the Lieutenant Governor. A dam was constructed across the Rivulet at the Cascades, above the most polluted section. Water was piped across to the Barracks and thence into the town to deliver water to the population and to fill the tanks of the visiting ships to the Hobart Town wharves.
The Rivulet was to remain the colony’s major source of water for both domestic and industrial use for almost sixty years. The construction of the Waterworks Reservoirs from the 1860s regulated the water supply for the city. The catchment and environs of the stream are now administered by Hobart Water, the Wellington Park Management Trust and the Hobart City Council, with a large area below the borders of the Trust owned and maintained by the Cascade Brewery.
Mills and Bridges Diversions and Floods From Mountain to Shore
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