Designations | |
---|---|
Official name | Cape Leeuwin Waterwheel |
Type | State Registered Place |
Designated | 14 May 2002 |
Reference no. | 106 |
Cape Leeuwin water wheel, sometimes called the petrified water wheel, is a non-operating water wheel, near Cape Leeuwin, in the south-west of Western Australia. It was used to pump fresh water to the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. It is notable both for its coastal location and because it has become heavily calcified. The water wheel is located above a small cove, approximately 400m to the north of the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse cottages. The base of the water wheel structure is just above the high-tide sea level.
The water wheel was constructed in 1895 by the contractor building the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse, the partnership of Maurice Davies and John Wishart. Water to power the wheel was taken from a freshwater spring in a wetland about 330m away. The overshot water wheel [1] [2] had a maximum speed of "over 30 revolutions per minute", [3] and drove a pumping arrangement—known as a "Douglas force pump" [4] —that included a hydraulic ram, which, in turn, pumped some of the water via a small pipeline to the site of the lighthouse. The design of the water wheel is unusual in that tail water is restrained by an overflowing reservoir, and part of the tail water is diverted to the pipeline. Originally, the piped water was used to make mortar during the construction of the lighthouse. It was later used as a domestic water supply for those living in the cottages at the lighthouse. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] The water was pumped into an elevated storage tank, 15 feet (4.6 m) above ground level. [4]
By the late 1920s, the water wheel had become a minor tourist attraction, with one visitor opining, "The great water wheel, which supplies the place with water, had been going for 30 years. It just goes on and no one cares or worries about it. It just pumps the water up to the homes, and that is all that is needed. And it just does it with no attention, no strikes or labor agitation. This is the next thing to perpetual motion, and has to be seen to be believed." [11]
The water wheel and pump were still running in 1931, [12] [13] [11] [4] and apparently as late as 1935, [14] [15] but had been retired by 1937, having been replaced by a windmill. [16] [lower-alpha 1] According to one report, the water wheel stopped being used around October 1936. [17] In 1938, a new pumping system was installed. [18] The lighthouse was connected to the Augusta town water supply in 1978. [7] The water wheel was regularly photographed over time. [1] [19] [20] [21] [22] The water wheel was incorporated into the lighthouse precinct in land management plans in the early 2000s. [23]
The spring water that feeds the water wheel is calcium rich and over the years the wheel became heavily encrusted with deposited calcium compounds, which stopped it rotating but also preserved it. [24] [6] When the wheel stopped turning is uncertain, but it appears to have been functional to at least 1940. [1] By 1956, the flume to the waterwheel was dilapidated and no longer delivering water to the wheel [25] [26] and it remained in that state until at least 1960; [27] it was restored by the end of 1962. [28] Over the years, the flow from the spring has decreased and the flow to the now-stationary wheel is provided by an electric pump. The calcified remains of the wheel are kept moist by the flow, to prevent cracking. [6] The air chamber of the hydraulic ram remains in place, on the southern side of the structure. [9] [10]
The water wheel and its associated structures are on various heritage registers. [9] [10] The site is within the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, and lies near the southern terminus of the Cape to Cape Track. [29]
Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park is a national park in the South West region of Western Australia, 267 km (166 mi) south of Perth. It is named after the two locations at either end of the park which have lighthouses, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste. It is located in the Augusta-Margaret River and Busselton council areas, and is claimed to have the highest visiting numbers of any national park in Western Australia. The park received 2.33 million visitors through 2008–2009.
Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly mainland point of the Australian continent, in the state of Western Australia.
Augusta is a town on the south-west coast of Western Australia, where the Blackwood River flows into Flinders Bay. It is the nearest town to Cape Leeuwin, on the furthest southwest corner of the Australian continent. In the 2001 census it had a population of 1,091; by 2016 the population of the town was 1,109.
Hamelin Bay is a bay and a locality on the southwest coast of Western Australia between Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste. It is named after French explorer Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, who sailed through the area in about 1801. It is south of Cape Freycinet.
St Alouarn Islands are a group of islands and rocks south-east of Cape Leeuwin in Western Australia, approximately 11 km south of Augusta in Flinders Bay.
Yallingup is a town in the South West region of Western Australia, 256 kilometres (159 mi) south of Perth. Yallingup is a popular tourist destination because of its beaches and limestone caves, and proximity to Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park.
Western Australia has the longest coastline of any state or territory in Australia, at 10,194 km or 12,889 km. It is a significant portion of the coastline of Australia, which is 35,877 km.
The Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on the headland of Cape Leeuwin, the most south-westerly point on the mainland of the Australian Continent, in the state of Western Australia.
Cape Clairault is located south of Yallingup in the coastal region between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin.
The Great Southern Herald is a weekly newspaper published in Katanning, Western Australia. It is distributed to communities in Katanning, Kojonup, Cranbrook, Gnowangerup and Lake Grace.
Hamelin Island lies north of Cape Hamelin, just out to sea from the former Hamelin Bay Jetty, on Hamelin Bay, on the south west coast of Western Australia, about 7 km north of Cape Leeuwin.
This is a list of newspapers published in, or for, the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia.
The Avon Gazette and York Times is a defunct English language newspaper that was published weekly in York, Western Australia. The newspaper was first published as The Avon Gazette and Kellerberrin News between 10 July 1914 and 8 January 1916.
The Beverley Times is a defunct English language newspaper that was published weekly in the Wheatbelt town of Beverley, Western Australia, between 1905 and 1977.
The Australian is a defunct English language newspaper that was published monthly in Perth, Western Australia, between 1907 and 1908 under the patronage of the Australian Natives' Association (ANA).
This is a list of newspapers published in, or for, the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.
This is a list of newspapers published in, or for, the South West region of Western Australia.
Old Eyre Highway is a remnant part of the Eyre Highway that was abandoned in the construction of a route closer to the coast of the Great Australian Bight.
Leeuwin is a rural locality of the Shire of Augusta–Margaret River in the South West region of Western Australia. The locality is surrounded by the Indian Ocean on three sides. Cape Leeuwin and the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse are located within the locality of Leeuwin, being its southern-most point.
Naturaliste is a rural locality of the City of Busselton in the South West region of Western Australia, located on a peninsular between the Indian Ocean and Geographe Bay. At the northern point of the peninsular and locality lies Cape Naturaliste and the state heritage-listed Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse. The northern-most part of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park is also located with the locality.
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