The Double Bay Compressed Air Ejector Station is a

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

former

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

pumping station Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as well drilling, drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastru ...

(SPS87) and now decommissioned sewerage infrastructure in Jamberoo Lane, Double Bay, adjacent to the rear boundary of 63 William Street, in the

Municipality of Woollahra Woollahra Municipal Council (or Woollahra Council) is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woollahra is bounded by Port J ...

local government area of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. The site of the pumping station and the State Heritage Register curtilage is shown on SHR:01324–Plan 2019, reproduced on the internet page referenced here. The Ejector Station was designed and built from 1895 to 1896 by the New South Wales Department of Public Works. It is also known as Double Bay Sewage Ejector Station No. 1 (decommissioned). The property is owned by

Sydney Water Sydney Water, formally, Sydney Water Corporation, is a New South Wales Government owned statutory corporation that provides potable drinking water, wastewater and some stormwater services to Greater Metropolitan Sydney, the Illawarra and the B ...

, an

agency Agency may refer to: Organizations * Institution, governmental or others ** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients ** Employment agency, a business that ...

of the

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

. It was added to the

New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...

on 18 November 1999.

History

In 1859,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

's sewerage system consisted of five outfall sewers which drained to

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

. By the 1870s, the harbour had become grossly polluted and, as a result, the government established the Sydney City and Suburban Health Board to investigate an alternative means of disposing of the City's sewage. This led to the construction of two gravitation sewers in 1889 by the Public Works Department (PWD): a northern sewer being the

Bondi Ocean Outfall Sewer The Bondi Ocean Outfall Sewer is a heritage-listed sewerage infrastructure at Blair Street, North Bondi, Sydney, Australia. The sewer line commences at the intersection of Oxford Street and College Street in Darlinghurst and then travels in ...

(BOOS) and a southern sewer draining to a sewage farm at

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

. Low-lying areas around the Harbour which could not gravitate to the new outfall sewers continued to drain to the old City Council sewers. Low-level pumping stations were therefore needed to collect the sewage from such areas and pump it by means of additional sewers known as rising mains, to the main gravitation system. The first low-level area serviced was in Double Bay, where the PWD constructed five compressed air ejectors in 1898 and which served the BOOS until 1929. The first comprehensive low-level sewerage system began at the beginning of the 20th century when the Public Works Department built a group of 20 low-level pumping stations around the foreshores of the inner harbour and handed them over to the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage in 1904. Overall, greater Sydney now has over 600 low-level sewage pumping stations.

Description

The Double Bay Sewage Ejector Station No. 1 is located under the road surface of Cross Street. It consists of a steel caisson approximately diameter which received sewage through a reflux valve. When full, a float operated valve then allows compressed air to pressurise the vessel, closing the inlet reflux valve and forcing the sewage up the rising main into a receiving manhole on the main gravity sewer. The depth from road surface to the top of the ejector equipment is . The compressor station was located near the intersection of Bay Street and

New South Head Road New South Head Road, is a major road in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, linking the inner-eastern suburb of Rushcutters Bay to the southern reaches of the South Head peninsula. Route New South Head Road runs north-east from Rushcutters Bay th ...

. The steel caisson is wide and carries the inscription, "Pope Maher and Co Sydney 1896 Darlington Iron Works". Other inscriptions on the equipment read, "Shone and Aults Patent Manufactured by Hughes and Lancaster London Nos. 438 and 447, 1896".

Modifications and dates

The steel caisson has been filled with sand.

Heritage listing

As at 24 August 2005, Double Bay Sewage Ejector Station No. 1 remains is of historic and technical/research significance. Historically, it was the first low level sewage pumping station constructed to serve Sydney in 1898 and is the only surviving ejector station of the five originally built to serve Double Bay. It is also significant for its historically integral association with the Bondi Ocean Outfall Sewer which it served. It has high scientific significance, having educational potential to reveal information about the shone ejector principle of lifting sewage by means of compressed air, which was superseded by present-day electrical pumps. The remnant fabric is now unique and of high archaeological value. Double Bay Compressed Air Ejector Station was listed on the

on 18 November 1999 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales. The Double Bay Sewage Ejector Station No. 1 site is the only known remaining Shone Ejector Station of five which were constructed by the PWD in 1896 and the immediately following years. It is associated histrocially with the Bondi Ocean Outfall Sewer, which it served. This marked the beginning of the provision of sewerage for Sydney's low level areas. The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales. Item is an underground station and does not have any notable outstanding aesthetic values. The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. The station has high educational potential to reveal information about the ejector principle, which was at its time an effective system for pumping liquids with a high solid content that was superseded by modern, special purpose electrical pumps. The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. The Double Bay Ejector Station No. 1 (and its remaining fabric and components) are unique as the first low level station to serve Sydney and is the only known remaining Shone Ejector of the five constructed in Double Bay. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales. The Double Bay Ejector Station No. 1 is a representative example of a low level sewage pumping station with a Shone Ejector.

References

Bibliography

Attribution

{{WaterNSW, state=collapsed New South Wales State Heritage Register Double Bay, New South Wales Buildings and structures in Sydney Sewerage infrastructure in Sydney Articles incorporating text from the New South Wales State Heritage Register 1896 establishments in Australia Buildings and structures completed in 1896