The Boothtown Aqueduct is a heritage-listed 19th-century

water bridge Navigable aqueducts (sometimes called water bridges) are bridge structures that carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railways or roads. They are primarily distinguished by their size, carrying a larger cross-section of wa ...

Greystanes Greystanes is a suburb in Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Greystanes is located 25 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Cumberland Council. Founded in the late 1790s, Greystan ...

, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1888, the aqueduct was built to cross a valley to carry water from

Prospect Reservoir The Prospect Reservoir is a heritage-listed potable water supply and storage reservoir created by the Prospect Dam, across the Prospect Creek located in the Western Sydney suburb of Prospect, in New South Wales, Australia. The eastern bound ...

to residents of Greater Western Sydney. Part of the

Lower Prospect Canal Reserve The Lower Prospect Canal Reserve is a heritage-listed former farm and public water supply canal and now bushy corridor and nature reserve stretching through the heart of suburban Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The lineal corridor stretche ...

, the aqueduct was the longest continuous concrete work of its kind in Australia in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It was listed in November 1991 in the

New South Wales Heritage Database New South Wales Heritage Database, or State Heritage Inventory, is an online database of information about historic sites in New South Wales, Australia with statutory heritage listings. Contents It holds the information about sites listed on t ...

. The aqueduct was constructed as a part of the

Upper Nepean Scheme The Upper Nepean Scheme is a series of dams and weirs in the catchments of the Cataract, Cordeaux, Avon and Nepean rivers of New South Wales, Australia. The scheme includes four dams and two weirs, and a gravity-fed canal system that feeds ...

to convey water from the new Prospect reservoir to the new Potts Hill reservoir.

History

In 1892, after the

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Wh ...

walls of the aqueduct fell into the creek below it, the walls were reconstructed and restrengthened with a concrete lining and

tie rod A tie rod or tie bar (also known as a hanger rod if vertical) is a slender structural unit used as a tie and (in most applications) capable of carrying tensile loads only. It is any rod or bar-shaped structural member designed to prevent the separa ...

s. Due to its failings to have its capacity inflated, the aqueduct was bypassed in 1907 with the establishment of the inverted

syphon A siphon (from grc, σίφων, síphōn, "pipe, tube", also spelled nonetymologically syphon) is any of a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. In a narrower sense, the word refers particularly to a tube in a ...

. The aqueduct was subject to demolition in the 1990s but due to objections by the local community, the aqueduct and surrounding reserve area were saved and finally included as part of the ''Western Sydney Cycle Network''. The

NSW State Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party o ...

catered $100,000 in funding and a cycleway was constructed over a few years beginning in 2001 and completed in 2003. In 1907 the aqueduct was by-passed with a 3 metre wide, reinforced concrete syphon, built on the southern side that allowed the water supply to cross the valley using gravity to push the water up into the

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface fl ...

on the other side. Nearly a century later, the Lower Canal and syphon was superseded after a pipeline was established in the 1990s, and the bush reserve surrounding the canal opened to the public in 2003 as a

cycleway Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except w ...

Design

The bridge is made up of 22 arches made of

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

, each of span with a clear span of brick with sandstone springers and was named after John Booth. The aqueduct has a look of an architectural puzzle, expanding and decreasing in size, with the arches aligning differently with each change of aspect. Today, the concrete legs have

weathered ''Weathered'' is the third studio album by American rock band Creed, released on November 20, 2001. It was the last Creed album to be released until '' Full Circle'' came out in October 2009, with Creed disbanding in June 2004. It is the only Cr ...

look, stained by rain and weather. Some vandalism is present on the bridge's arches. The towers are made of rendered brick, embellished with cement-furnished

castellation A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

and doorways that are lancet-arched. The aqueduct was blocked with concrete plugs to divert water into the tube and into a large new concrete pipe. The tube inlets were built as ornate fortified towers with steel trash racks and sluice gates to control the water flow. Fairly decorative features are integrated into the brickwork, such as dentilation, pilasters to each arch and string courses of round cast bricks. The side walls are secured by tie rods.Lower Canal at Pipehead: Conservation Management Strategy, Futurepast Heritage Consulting, 2012

Access

Boothtown Aqueduct is located on Macquarie Road within a stretch of bushy parks in the suburb of Greystanes. It is surrounded and obscured by residential housings which was built in the 1960s. The aqueduct can also be accessed from Gipps Road to the west, with a number of

Transit Systems Sydney Transit Systems NSW, previously known as Transit Systems Sydney, is a bus operator in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a subsidiary of Transit Systems. History In November 2012, Transit Systems was awarded a contract by Transport for ...

bus stop A bus stop is a place where buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelters, seating, and possibly electronic passenger ...

s close to the bridge on both roads. A pedestrian cycleway passes along the top of the aqueduct as it crosses Boothtown Gully, and west to Prospect Reservoir.

Cycleways Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except wh ...

and walking tracks meander through the western suburbs, with connections across much of the Sydney metropolitan area.

Gallery

File:Greystaneswaterbridge.jpg, Panoramic view File:Greystanesboothownaqueduct.jpg, The aquedeuct with suburban view in background File:Aqueductbush.jpg, View from bushy shrubs File:Boothtowngreystanes.jpg, Exterior view of cycle/track way on the bridge File:Boothtownsyphon.jpg, The syphon File:Boothtownwalk.jpg, The walking track within the bridge

References

External links