A Precious Resource - Busby's Bore

Paperbarks beside Busby's Pond in Centennial Park

A few weeks ago, I told you the history of the Tank Street which was the first supply of clean fresh water for the convict colony. By the early 1820s the Tank Stream was so polluted that an alternative had to be found.

The cairn marking the start of the bore, just within the Robertson Road gates of Centennial Park

John Busby, an engineer, came up with the idea of constructing a 3.6 kilometre tunnel from the Lachlan Swamps in Centennial Park to Hyde Park in the centre of Sydney Town to enable the piping of spring water which could then be sold to residents and provided to water carriers who plied their trade to the surrounding suburbs.

Left: John Busby Right: A section of the bore, date unknown

Poor old Busby was low on 'people skills', and engineering skills as well. The convicts in his work team did not respond to coercion and were not skilled diggers. The bore was not completed for 16 years. Water eventually flowed in March 1837.

'Busby's Bore' was the water supply for the colony until 1859 when a series of water tanks was established (on the ridge atop Centennial Park at Bondi Junction; on Oxford Street at Paddington; and in Crown Street) to which water was pumped from an extended series of lakes which were consolidated further with the official establishment of Centennial Park in 1888. These lakes were linked up to the more extensive swamplands of the Botany basin for a comprehensive water supply network. The BJ and Crown Street tanks still operate today. The Paddington tank is now the Reservoir Gardens.

Within in Victoria Barracks there is a vent down to the bore

The 'pipeline' cuts through under the Showground site, under Moore Park Road, beneath Victoria Barracks, beneath Taylor Square eventually running down Oxford Street (beneath it) into and through Hyde Park.

Woolcott's 1857 drawing shows the water flowing above ground through the race-course which is now Hyde Park

Even though there is a memorial fountain opposite the St James courts in commemoration of this engineering feat, the ramp and water station ended near the corner of Park & Elizabeth Streets close to where the Child Health Centre used to be. Parts of the bore are still down there, but entire sections have collapsed and have been filled with sand to stop subsidence.

On the cairn in Centennial Park, the route of the bore is detailed

Finger tip food

Autumn in the park

Every Man - a tribute

In memory of Kevin Walker Fenton Died 8.5.1989 Collision at sea Sunset and evening star And one clear call for me. And may there be no moaning Of the bar, when I put out to sea. Aged 58 years

Simple and unadorned, this rock stands atop the bluff in memory of a plain man, an every-man. Standing beside the rock, I gazed steadily out to sea wondering what sort of man this was, this Kevin Walker Fenton.

What did he look like? Was he tall, was he fat, was he bald, did he wear a beard? What sort of man would arouse such a dignified feeling of loss? Which friend decided upon the verse? How did they transport and erect the memorial? “Moaning of the bar” did this mean he was a fisherman, or a drinker at the local? It would seem that he was a fatalist. When his time was up, that was how it was meant to be – ‘one clear call’.

How do two boats collide at sea? Standing on the point, with the early morning on-shore breeze caking my face with salt, all that was apparent was the immensity of the Pacific Ocean. What caused two ships to collide at sea? Was Kevin Walker Fenton the only fatality? I nodded sagely as I considered his body to have never been recovered.

Vale Kevin Walker Fenton. May the sunset and evening star continue to chart your journey

Theme Day - Statues - The footballer

Dressed in the woollen cap, sweater and tight knee-length trousers worn by rugby football players of the 19th century, this statue has the Neoclassical face of Apollo. Ironic? There’s more.


Our hero stands high upon a plinth overlooking green playing fields, every bit the macho-dandy, but look closely at his screaming hordes. There surrounding our rugger-bugger, like points of a compass, are four bronze cherubs. North to trumpet the kick-off. South to record the score. East invites attention with her naked behind. And, finally, West standing in glorious victory with the lion-skin of Hercules gracing her shoulders.


As if that is not enough, this Florentine sculptor has sprinkled between our cherubs hordes of tiny putti. Cupid was depicted as a putto, and putti were often shown in attendance on immortals.

Immortals! We are talking football here! This is sounding more like a statue fit for Melbourne and its leaping-leeroys.


Taking a broader perspective, we note the bronze lions, standing in attendance, one in each corner of the octogon base. England still protecting her offspring as it takes its first tentative step into nationhood.

This statue was commissioned by Sir Henry Parkes to adorn the Grand Drive in Centennial Park, to please the gentry as they perambulated in their buggys. I wonder if he knew that the Florentine tongue was wedged firmly in said Florentine cheek.

‘We won’ (aka The Footballer) by Tommaso Sani, 1893

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