Burrinjuck Dam photograph album with ephemera, 1907-1957

MLMSS 11366/Box 1X

fonds

1907-1957

Graphic Materials, Photographs, Textual Records, Ephemera

9627522

0.30 metres of textual and graphic material (1 outsize box)

Burrinjuck Dam is situated near the headwaters of the Murrumbidgee River in the Great Dividing Range. It is about 55 kilometres south-west of Yass, and about 330 kilometres south-west of Sydney.
In 1891 the Murrumbidgee Valley was identified as being ideal for irrigation development. After devastating droughts in 1901-02, the NSW Parliament approved the establishment of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area Scheme to control and divert the flow of local river systems for the purpose of food production.
Burrinjuck Dam was built in a narrow gorge on the Murrumbidgee River. The steep gorge required the erection of a cableway across the spillway face to ferry workers and materials from one side to the other. Building materials were delivered to the site by a wood-burning locomotive travelling on a narrow gauge railway line built for the project, connecting the construction site to the main southern line at Goondah, south of Yass, 42 kilometres away.
Work started in 1909 but was not completed for 20 years due to World War I and labour shortages. Hundreds of workers lived on-site at ‘Burrinjuck City’ in barracks provided for single men. They used steam engines and manual labour to build the massive wall.
Following a big flood in 1925 that sent water pouring more than a metre over the wall, it became clear the height of the wall and size of the spillways had to be increased. These enlargement works continued for another 20 years between 1937 and 1956, again interrupted by war.
Reference: https://www.waternsw.com.au/supply/visit/burrinjuck-dam (accessed 27/05/2020)

Compiled by Fr. John Alt, whose father and he went to Burrinjuck dam in the early 1900s. Donor is the executor of the estate of Father John Alt.

A photograph album containing 50 gelatin silver photoprints, including inserted pink slips with annotations. With a related folder of loose photographs, postcards, and printed ephemera. The collection, compiled by Father John Alt, is mainly of Burrinjuck dam during construction. There are photographs of men, machinery and buildings at the dam, and also of Burrinjuck town and the Murrumbidgee Valley, much of which was inundated after the dam’s construction. There are various photographs of dam structures, including images of Head Tower, the Terminus, and of cableways across the spillway. Also includes images of workers, domestic buildings in Burrinjuck town, Burrinjuck farm, and the Burrinjuck trains (named Kate, Archie, Robin), being narrow gauge, wood-burning locomotives used to carry materials for dam construction.

Copyright status:: In copyright - Life of creator plus 70 years
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales