This metal plaque is in the Pitt Street Mall. The Tank Stream was not long, perhaps a little over a kilometre, and it was more a trickle than a stream. It raised in a swamp as you can see from the diagram. I have included two views down Pitt Street, ie facing north. The second shows the storm-water drain that flows into the tunnel beneath the surface which is the current day stream. The first one shows a sliver of the harbour bridge right down and beyond the Quay.
The Tank Stream provided fresh water for the colony for about 40 years, being replaced by the pipes of Busby's Bore which came all the way from the sandhills of Centennial Park. Very quickly the new settlers became aware of the fragility of water supply in a continent like Australia. And they did themselves no favours, by degrading and polluting the stream with human waste and the waste and carcasses of animals.
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9 comments:
That is a great shot of the mall at the bottom. I didn't realise that squiggy drain had anything to do with the Tank Stream.
I still remember fondly The Fatal Shore and The Road to Botany Bay... Any suggestion on further readings
It's curious when we start digging into our own city's history the unexpected things we find, isn't it?
Water, water everywhere, and all the boards did shrink.
What a tough existence it would have been Julie.
Here are three further suggestions, VP:
Sydney Harbour: A History" by Ian Hoskins (2009); "Colonial Ambitions: Foundations of Australian Democracy" by Peter Cochrane (2006); and, "The Colony: AHistory of Early Sydney" by Grace Karskens (2009.
You might also be interested in two novels by Thomas Keneally, "The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith" (1972), and "Bring Larks and Heroes" (1967).
I will copy this comment over onto your Livorno blog, too,
Julie - Thank you!
My pleasure!
I have not noticed that plaque in Pitt Street Mall before and interesting that there's more to the grates than I thought. Good shot.
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