Potts Hill Reservoirs 1 and 2 are heritage-listed reservoirs at Cooper Road, Potts Hill, City of Canterbury-Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia. They were designed by Board of Water Supply and Sewerage and built from 1880. The reservoirs are now maintained by the Board's successor, Sydney Water (a corporation owned by the state government). It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 November 1999.
History Yagoona This residential suburb just north of Bankstown was known as Irishtown, at least as early as 1833. Two other suburbs in the area (Bass Hill and North Bankstown) were at one time also called that name. Like Bankstown, Irishtown, or Yagoona as it became known in 1927, was classified as a rural area. The name "Yagoona" is Aboriginal for "now" or "today". The present suburb was created by changing the boundaries in the area, when Bankstown began to expand.
In 1831 a number of grants of 30 to 50 acres were made north of Liverpool Road. Early landowners included Thomas Walford, Martin Short, Thomas Kennedy, Samuel Terry, Patrick Whalan and Joseph Eldridge (who received 100 acres that year). In 1839 Samuel Thornton received 100 acres at Irishtown, east of the present Saltash Street and south of Liverpool Road. One of the earliest churches in the suburb was the Methodist church on Dutton's Hill, in use at the end of 1859.
The first police station was built in Yagoona in the 1950s when the suburb began to develop and new houses were being built. A post office had operated since 1941.Pollen & Healy, 1988, 277
Upper Nepean Scheme Prospect Reservoir In 1867, the Governor of NSW appointed a Commission to recommend a scheme for Sydney's water supply, and by 1869 it was recommended that construction commence on the Upper Nepean Scheme. This consisted of two diversion weirs, located at Pheasant's Nest and Broughton's Pass, in the Upper Nepean River catchment, with water feeding into a series of tunnels, canals and aqueducts known as the Upper Canal. It was intended that water be fed by gravity from the catchment into a reservoir at Prospect. This scheme was to be Sydney's fourth water supply system, following the Tank Stream, Busby's Bore and the Botany (Lachlan) Swamps.
Designed and constructed by the Public Works Department of NSW, Prospect Reservoir was built during the 1880s and completed in 1888. Credit for the Upper Nepean Scheme is largely given to Edward Orpen Moriarty, the Engineer in Chief of the Harbours and Rivers Branch of the Public Works Department from 1858 to 1888.
Potts Hill Reservoirs There are two reservoirs at Potts Hill; Potts Hill Reservoir, which was built as an important component of the initial Upper Nepean Scheme which was commissioned in 1888. The second, Potts hill Reservoir 2, which has almost twice the capacity of the former, and was built in 1923 to supplement the first, and is also regarded as a component of the Upper Nepean scheme. When the Upper Nepean scheme was commissioned, Prospect was the major storage reservoir, and Potts Hill No. 1 was the key service reservoir to cope with daily fluctuations in demand. They currently operate as key service reservoirs for a large part of the south western metropolitan area. Likewise, Prospect Reservoir, is now only a service reservoir rather than a storage reservoir.
Description The Potts Hill Reservoir site is near Regents Park and Bankstown. It is situated upon the highpoint of the area and is bounded by Rookwood Road and Brunker Road, Cooper Road and the Sydney Water Supply Pipelines. Reservoir No. 1 was the first reservoir on the site, constructed between 1887 and 1889.
Reservoir No. 1 is a rectangular shaped enclosure, constructed of earthen banks with puddled clay cores with a concrete floor. The embankments are primarily built by excavation but the southeast corner was constructed by building up with fill. The embankments are lined on their inner faces with sandstone masonry and this facing shows evidence in places of reconstruction, both in sandstone and concrete, following failures of the embankments at various times.
Reservoir No. 2 has a broadly triangular shape and is constructed with mass concrete walls and floor.
Palm tree plantings occur along the north, east and west banks of the Reservoir and function as windbreaks and perimeter plantings. These trees also occur along either side of the carrier canal (which is also currently in the process of being roofed and sealed).
The western bridge is a former rail bridge (associated with siding provided to bring coal for the Pumping Station) which runs diagonally across the Main. It is a simple concrete structure which arches over the pipeline and encloses it completely. This bridge has virtually no features above ground level and is entirely unadorned. This former railway siding, which was originally used to deliver coal to the steam-driven pumping station, now exists only as a remnant perway embankment across the site.
East of this is a simple, single lane vehicular bridge which also runs diagonally across the Main and features short, square decorative concrete corner posts with pyramidal caps and steel tube balustrades running between them. It is otherwise almost identical to the railway bridge but the side panels to the bridge are offset from each other. The third bridge is continuous with the western side of this structure. It is physically identical to the other two bridges but runs at right angles to the direction of the pipeline.
In the northeast corner of the site is a collection of buildings, some associated with the former Pumping Station and the rest representing new office or functional buildings. The original pumping station is an agglomeration of several large steel-framed, gable roofed buildings clad in corrugated iron built abutting each other, representing several expansions of operations over time, plus a second free-standing building of the same materials and design. The southern side of the main building formerly contained large Babcock and Wilcox boilers, whilst the pumping equipment was contained in the northern building and the free-standing building, but all equipment has since been removed. Attached to the southern side of the Boiler House is a former coal bunker, comprising opposing buttressed concrete walls, which is now used to store building materials.
Just north of Reservoir No. 1 are three simple buildings which are remnants of a former caretaker's or groundkeeper's area. The larger building is a small, two roomed building built of timber framing clad in asbestos concrete sheeting with a corrugated iron gable roof. It has a narrow verandah on its southern side beneath the roof overhang and sits on low brick piers. It appears to have been transported complete to this location. There is a large double door centrally on its southern side.
East of this building is a smaller, single-roomed storage shed with corrugated iron cladding and a skillion roof. There appears to have been a garden enclosed by wire-mesh associated with this building. Between these two structures and located to the north of them is a small, timber-framed and asbestos-concrete sheet clad toilet building with a gable roof clad in corrugated iron. It has two adjacent, north-facing cubicles, each with a timber door but a toilet pan is installed only in the eastern cubicle. The western cubicle is used for storage purposes.
Adjacent to the northeast corner of Reservoir No.1 are three simple buildings which are associated with the Pressure Tunnel. The Residential Buildings West of Reservoir No. 1 is a prominent hill, sparsely covered with Eucalyptus trees. All three are single-storey, gable-roofed buildings, but are from different time periods. All three of these buildings are now offices associated with the site and various Sydney Water operations, although the two older buildings were originally constructed as residences. The southernmost of these is a late Federation style, double fronted cottage of brick with a terracotta tiled roof. It is simply decorated, with a roughcast rendered and half-timbered pair of projecting gable ends, brick verandah balustrades and verandah posts and triple casement timber-framed windows with toplights to the front facade. The centre building is also a double-fronted brick cottage with a terracotta tiled roof. Dating from s, its roof has hipped gable ends and the projecting bay of the front facade features a curved corner of moulded bricks. The entrance is framed behind a timber screen of open square lattice above a short brick balustrade. The third, northernmost building is a simple rectangular brick building with a hipped gable roof clad in green coloured concrete tiles. Dating from s, it has a recessed entrance bay on the northern side with steel verandah posts and a full-height window which returns around the northern corner. On the southern side, a vehicular garage behind a roller shutter door is included within the main building. There are a further two modern demountable buildings located on the north side of this building.
In the centre of the site near the northeastern extremity of Reservoir No. 2, are four buildings which are used as storage sheds and workshop spaces.
Just south of Reservoir No. 1 is a group of four structures which are associated with the City Tunnel.
South of Reservoir No. 1 and separated by a drop in ground level of over 3m, is an area of abandoned industrial buildings which are all in poor condition and are cordoned off from entry. They are the remnants of the former Metallising Depot of the MWS & DB. They are located on either side of a road accessed from Rookwood Road and were formerly isolated from the rest of the Potts Hill Reservoir site. These buildings have no direct association with the Reservoirs and, owing to a high level of industrial contamination, are due to be demolished in the near future.
The site contains many tree plantings and managed bushland areas which serve two primary purposes. The trees are important functionally because they act as windbreaks near the Reservoirs, minimising waves on the water surface which can put extra pressure on the built facilities. The second function was to make the site vegetated, preventing soil erosion and water degradation, whilst managing the environment to prevent bushfires. These practical considerations had the additional benefit of creating an environment attractive to persons employed at the site. Important features include the date palm tree boundary plantings along the Carrier Canal and surrounding much of Reservoir No. 2, the perimeter plantings around Reservoir No. 1 and the managed bushland upon the hill west of Reservoir No. 1. There are scattered pockets of bushland north of Reservoir No. 1, southwest of Reservoir No. 2 and a further patch of open woodland on the western side of the Reservoirs site, encircling the former Plant Workshops. The curtilage boundary for the site has been defined by the various operational precincts as detailed in the "Potts Hill Reservoir Site - Conservation Management Plan" by Godden Mackay Logan. These include: - The Input Distribution Precinct. - The Output Distribution Precinct. - The Reservoir No. 1 Precinct. - The Reservoir No. 2 Precinct.
The Potts Hill Reservoirs site is an operating facility with a range of features dating from 1888 to the present.
Modifications and dates 1888 Completion of the initial stage of Upper Nepean Scheme included at Potts Hill: Reservoir No. 1; 72-inch main from Pipe Head to Potts Hill; screening chamber; and 48-inch main from Potts Hill to Petersham and on to Crown Street Reservoir 1893 Second 48-inch main from Potts Hill to Crown Street Reservoir