Neening Tank

Statement of Significance

The Neening tank has significance because of its association with agricultural development in the Nungarin area.

History

The earliest reference to Neening tank is in H.S.King's field book number 9, (1889) page 60 (plan 326). This was located on Avon location 11347, and would have referred to an early earth tank, or dam. The tank was mentioned again by J.C.Watt in 1908, field book 97, page 21
The tank is located at Nocaning Rock which was first shown on exploration plan number 25 - Country Eastward of York, by C.C.Hunt 1864-5-6. The purpose of these trips was to open up country for grazing by forming a chain of wells, tanks and drains.
In the typescript of Ted Fitzgerald's Memoirs (Sir James Mitchell's Civil Servant Land Settlement Scheme 1909 - written 1987), he mentions that the Government blasted a dam at the foot of Neening Rock (c1909). He says that the dam was approximately 1 chain square and 12 feet deep. Perhaps this blasting referred to an enlargement of the tank noted earlier by King and Watt.
Fitzgerald noted that the Government arranged for each settler to be supplied with a thousand gallon tank, and each tank was filled with a couple of hundred gallons of water from the Neening tank.
On page 9 of Fitzgerald's memoirs is the following account of the Neening Dam:
"In the first few years we had to depend on the Neening Dam for water, the years started to get dry and the dam went dry. In one corner there was a spring. My dad dug it out and it used to take about 3 or 4 hours to make 3 or 4 hundred gallons of water and if some settler came along in the meantime and emptied it out, we would have to wait till it made up again. "Later the water supply laid a pipeline from Merredin Pumping Station out through the farms north westerly onto the Nungarin Road and on to Nungarin and from this line the pipes were laid to North Baandee and out Burran Rock way. All the pipes were carted on jinkers pulled by camels. They used a big forked salmon gum with a steel share to dig the trench to put the pipe in. The pipes were about 5 and 6 inch diameter. One end was cupped (sic) shaped and was sealed with string lead with a blunt ended instrument and hammer to belt it in all around the pipe until it was sealed. They used to keep a man on the job with a horse and sulky to keep the pipes sealed as there used to be a lot of leaks."
On page 13 Mr Fitzgerald goes on to talk about the Neening Water Reserve: "Around the year 1929, the Neening Water Reserve where the dam was thrown open for selection. My mother applied for the area. It was 305 acres and also a 100 acre cleared block once held by A.C.McCorry, which adjoined the top end of the 305 acre reserve. The 100 acre was known as Neening Tank. It was granted Conditional Purchase. The land had to be cleared and fenced. We fenced and cleared the land and built a 4 room galvanised iron house on it.
"As the rabbits were starting to get bad, I fenced the dams in and water holes..."
On page 16, reference is made to the present concrete tank at Neening: "1937. The Water Supply decided to build a 500 thousand gallon cement tank on top of the rock at Neening and I took a job on it. It was all steel laced and the concrete poured in moulds around the steel lacing, and it was roofed with galvanised iron."
Reserve number 21834 was set aside as a tanksite and pipeline reserve on 1st April, 1938.
On 10.9.1975 the spelling of the rock was amended from Nocaning to Nokaning, to agree with the spelling of the siding.
The present concrete tank is currently not in use.

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Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.