PLANTATION REPLENISHMENT WATER SCHEME – 1930’S STILL OPERATIONAL TODAY

By August 1933, the Burdekin River had not had a flood since 1927 and the underground water level had diminished somewhat.  The Shire Council along with the farmers and townsfolk were getting worried about the water supply. Mr R. E. Shaw, assistant engineer of the Irrigation branch of the government addressed the Council.  The Plantation Creek, (a delta mouth of the Burdekin River) was selected to replenish the underground water supply.
The Burdekin River water would be diverted through a tunnel from the river into Plantation Creek. A survey was to be undertaken to include a pumping plant in the Delta, their capacity, distance to water and depth of drift at various points along the creek. It was ascertained from this survey that Plantation Creek was once the main channel for the Burdekin River to enter the sea.
The Burdekin River water would enter Plantation Creek through a pipe line that will be about 644 feet long and 5 feet above the bed of the river.  From here Plantation Creek was a well watercourse (with high scrub covered banks) to Cameron’s Waterhole (at the junction of Giddy Road Plantation Creek and Maidavale Roads). At the entrance to Plantation Creek much dirt would have to be excavated. The water would then flow down to what was known as the Klondyke Lagoon, (once known as Gilmore’s Lagoon and now Hutching’s Lagoon). Klondyke means a very rich source of wealth - it can refer to a card game, mining such as gold, or in this case, untold water.  Klondyke Lagoon is not only a part of Plantation Creek but it has beneath its bed a spring of water that bubbles away timelessly. There were to be 12 pumping plants between the river and Klondyke Lagoon.
Between March and April in 1934, the Plantation Scheme was established after the Council had voted for it to go ahead.  The estimated cost was £19,000 with the Government paying subsidising half and the shire to pay the other half. It was depression years and 75% of the labourers were to be chosen among relief workers and the other 25% labourers to be chosen by the Ayr Shire Council. As usual the estimated cost to the scheme would run over the £19,000. Sometime in 1934-35 tenders were called for the construction of the pipe line and the successful tenderers were Super Pipe and Construction Companies of Brisbane and Sydney, the local manager of the firm was Mr E H Bishop.  The pipe line was 644 feet long, 7 feet high and 7 feet wide.  It was constructed of reinforced concrete the tops and bottoms being 11 inches in thickness and sides 6 inches.  Some 240tons of cement was required and 43 tons of steel for the job and 700 cubic yard   of concrete will comprise the pipe and conduit. The bottom will be 5 feet above the bed of the river, and when the flood water of the Burdekin is level with the rails at Inkerman Rail Bridge, the conduit will be running full bore.
As a safe guard against erosion of the river bank, the first 120 feet of the conduit will be laid after tunnel laid for that distance.  This work was well in hand by October-November 1935. The remainder of the conduit was laid in an open cut approximately 24 feet in depth.  For the work of excavating this huge trench, a Bucyrus Excavator was employed, working three shifts of eight hours each.  The soil removed in a day of 24 hours is from 800 to 1000 cubic yards. The excavator steam shovel did an excellent work and had previously been used in the Theodore area during the irrigation works there. The conduit laid in the open cut will be covered after the completion with the soil which has been excavated. At one portion of the tunnel the floor will be approximately 27 feet underground.
As a further safeguard against erosion, the banks of the river from the bed to the top in vicinity of the intake was to be stone faced.  To prevent large timber and other debris from entering the pipe, the face was provided with a grid consisting of three-inch trash bars 15inches apart. In order to ensure that the water flowing into the pipe will all find its way to the creek and not be lost when the river commences to recede, a flood gate was provided near the intake. This will result in impounding all the water in the pipe when a flood is at its peak.  This flood gate was worked on a screw known as Archimedes Screw which is very simple to operate.
On account of the low level of pipes there will be 22,000 cubic yar of excavation between the outlet and the end of the conduit and Cameron’s Waterhole, a distance of eleven miles of open drain. This work was not completed until sometime in late 1936. This Plantation Replenishment Scheme was an experiment as authorities did not know if pumping water from the Burdekin River into Plantation Creek and into the underground would work. It has proved to be a success over the years as will be shown.
It is interesting to note the names of some of the road crossings along Plantation Creek to Cameron’s Waterhole. There is Gilligan’s Culvert near the river and Plantation Creek entrance.  Gilligan was bailiff for North Queensland Pastural Co which had property from Inkerman Station to the Burdekin River on the Southern side and on the Northern side of the river,  Jarvisfield and along Plantation Creek. The Clare Crossing on Clare Road, then we come to Old Clare Road, known as Laun’s Crossing.  Laun’s had a farm there which previously had been in the Rossiter Family and now Bugeja’s. Burnett’s Crossing at Giddy Road and Maidavale Road and down to Craig’s Crossing at the junction of Robertson’s Road and Maidavale Road. Craig’s Farm was previously owned by Spelta, and after Craig it became Whitson’s Farm.

Sometime towards the end of 1938, a cutting in Plantation Creek between Cameron’s Waterhole and Klondyke Lagoon to remove debris and certain obstructions along the Creek give Plantation Creek uninterrupted flow were submitted to the Department of Irrigation and Water Supply.  It was not until the floods of 1940, that the Plantation Replenishment Scheme proved to be a success.
For two or three days after the flood in the Burdekin River, the 7 by 7 feet conduit at the entrance to Plantation Creek from the river, the Creek ran full bore and the water reached the town boundary.  During the water’s progress, the large lagoons and water courses were all filled and immense quantities have penetrated the sandy soil to the underground storage.  The original scheme cost about £19,000 with the shire paying half on a 50-50 loan subsidy.
By 1945 the river ran into the creek for about 2weeks every year and growers using the irrigation plants along the bed of the creek noticed an improved supply of underground water since the installation of the diversion roughly ten years ago from 1935 onwards. One of the old hands that worked and irrigated along the creek gauged the depth of Hutchings Lagoon by the number of turtles sunning themselves on an old tree log in the creek. The depth being two turtles down to 4 turtles or maybe 5 turtles on the tree log.
This Replenishment Scheme which began in 1934-35 is noticed in the underground from the entrance to Plantation Creek down past Norham Road today.  A fish ladder has been installed at the culvert on Cislowski Road, Ayr town water is pumped from Plantation between Hutchings Lagoon and Cislowski Road. Plantation Park and its recreation facilities benefit from the Scheme also. Down towards the mouth of Plantation Creek which once acted a port for the Ayr District, an embankment has been built to stop the Salt from the ocean penetrating to far up the creek. Yes, the Plantation Replenishment scheme has been a success.
Note:  Much fishing has taken place along the banks of the Plantation Creek where Barramundi and other fish has been caught over the years.  Crocodiles have been known to lurk in the creek between Robertson and Cislowski Roads.  Swimming and kayaking have been another favourite pastime of the locals in the creek. Another pastime that was carried on by the young folk of the district was swimming through the culvert on Cislowski Road when the stream was flowing. Perhaps this was carried on at other crossings along Plantation Creek as well.

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