Canning Contour Channel (fmr)

Statement of Significance

Architectural accomplishment: The Contour Channel is a unique engineering scheme which uses the contours of the Darling Ranges to transport water to Perth’s water supplies.
Historical Interest: The Contour Channel is part of the history of Roleystone, the Depression and the Water Board.
Social Interest: The Contour Channel is a monument to the Depression Workers of the 1930s who shared a common work during hard times when employment was hard to find.

Physical Description

The channel followed the contours of the land through thick bush and was cut into the sides of the hills and traversed steep-sided valleys and gulleys making access very difficult. Pipe syphons were laid across the deeper valleys.

History

Assessment 1995
In 1935 – 37, just after the Great Depression, the 16 kilometre concrete-lined Contour Channel was constructed to convey water from Canning Dam down the Canning Valley to a point in the foothills above Gosnells. The project was used as a primary means of supplementing Perth’s service reservoirs from the Canning Dam storage. Until the Channel’s completion, water from the Canning was conveyed through a 30 inch (750mm) pipeline.
Evacuation and construction of the channel required considerable ingenuity and was carried out almost entirely by hand. The backbreaking task provided work for 250 men, the majority of whom where unskilled workers receiving sustenance payments. This meant that over a siz week cycle a man would be employed for 3 ½ weeks only (for a single man)varying up to about 5 ½ weeks for married man with a large family. Those with the largest number of dependants were entitled to the most work and were stood down the least, if necessary. The men were paid only for the days they worked and had to make the payment last over any lean periods which intervened.
The Channel was operational for nearly 40 years until 1975 when it was made redundant.
The Channel has served as a useful walking trail for some local residents. In 1991 the WAWA requested the council commence rezoning the land from the Public Purpose Reserve to residential RF5, the zoning of the land adjacent to the reserve.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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.