Parramatta Dam - Engineering marvel of the world!

 

Lake Parramatta Dam was the first large dam built in Australia, only the 11th arch dam built in the world, and the only ashlar masonry arch dam built in Australia. ('Ashlar' means stones hewn to rectangular shapes). This engineering marvel is highly regarded by engineers around the world.  The Parramatta Dam is the second example in the history of the world of a dam built using mathematical calculations and a curving wall – the first dam built in this manner is only 1 year older than Parramatta Dam. Parramatta Dam is a masonry arch-walled dam across Hunts Creek. It was constructed of solid sandstone quarried from the creek. Each block was carefully dressed to accurate dimensions and laid in courses 0.6m high. The dam wall extended about 4m into the abutments on each bank. It was completed in 1856 to supply water for domestic purposes; and was operational until 1909. In 1920s and 1930s dam was a popular bathing and picnicking spot. Now the dam is used for Water storage.

The people of Parramatta had been asking for improved water supplies almost since the town was founded in 1788 – while the river originally was wonderfully clean, soon after settlement the surrounding trees were cleared and run-off and sewage pollution left the river dirty.  Wells provided some townspeople with water and a public well was built in June 1815, however most Parramatta residents relied on water carts for their water, which would deliver water from the Parramatta river to storage cisterns at the houses.  By the 1850’s the river was often polluted by sewage and the water was unpleasant, and a Committee of Water Commissioners was established to determine how to provide the town with good clean water.  Choosing Hunts Creek rather than Toongabbie Creek, in 1851 the Commissioners recommended constructing a dam and piping water to homes.  Percy Simpson’s design was chosen, builder of Oatlands House and the Great North Road, and now Parramatta is blessed with an engineering marvel, the arch wall dam on Hunts Creek, at beautiful Lake Parramatta. 

The Memorial Gates - memorial honour for Volunteers of Undivided India, Africa and Caribbean

On 6th November, 2002 HM The Queen officially inaugurated the Memorial Gates on Constitution Hill in London, UK.

The memorial honours the five million men and women from Undivided India, Africa and the Caribbean who volunteered to serve with the Armed Forces during the First and Second World Wars. It also celebrates the contribution that these men and women and their descendants, members of the Commonwealth family, continue to make to the rich diversity of British society.

Photo: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

On the roof of the pavilion are inscribed the names of recipients of high military honours, many of whose stories are recorded in the Military Honours pages.

James Ruse

 

James Ruse was born on 9th August 1759 in Launceston, Cornwall in England. He arrived as convict with the first fleet.

At the Bodmin Assizes in 1782 he was convicted of burglarious breaking and entering; his capital sentence was changed to transportation to Africa for seven years. Because of the loss of the American colonies, James Ruse spent five years on the hulks at Plymouth.

When it was decided to establish a penal colony in New South Wales he was sent out with the first fleet in 1787 on the Scarborough. . When it was decided to establish a penal settlement in New South Wales he was sent out in the First Fleet in 1787 in the Scarborough. In July 1789 he claimed that his sentence had expired and soon afterwards he asked for a land grant, inspired by the desire to take up farming, an occupation to which he had been bred. He was one of the settlers who had knowledge of agriculture and farming.

James Ruse married Elizabeth Perry at Parramatta on 5 September 1790 and they successfully farmed their land. In February 1791, Ruse received 30 acres in Land Grant Number 1 and by the end of the year Ruse, his wife and child no longer needed food from the government store.

In October 1793 he sold his farm to Surgeon Harris for £40. In January 1794 he obtained the first land grant in the Hawkesbury area, which he sold in 1798 for £300. Another grant at Pitt Town Bottoms which he obtained in 1797 he sold in 1809.

In 1800 he purchased twenty acres facing the river near North Richmond but because of heavy losses due to floods in 1800 and 1801, he sold it to Richard Cheers. In 1809 he successfully obtained a land grant in Bankstown. He retained contact with the Hawkesbury throughout the Macquarie period and in 1819 received a 100-acre grant at Riverstone.

In addition he owned 3 horses, 2 cows and 7 hogs. In 1825 he was recorded as owning ten acres of land, all in the Windsor district, and twelve hogs. By 1828 he was working as an overseer for Captain Brooks at Lower Minto. In 1834 he was living at Macquarie Fields. Two years later he was received into the Roman Catholic Church, though there is no evidence that his wife or seven children followed his example.

His death on 5 September 1837 brought to a close the career of one whose importance in New South Wales history has been unduly exaggerated and romanticized. Although his early achievements were noteworthy, he soon faded into the background.

He is buried in the cemetery of St. John’s Church, Campbelltown.