A description of the Woorabinda lake reserve states:
Woorabinda Lake was originally constructed by the South Australian Railways Department in 1922 to supply water to Aldgate station for use by steam locomotives. The additional water was required when a heavier class of steam locomotive was introduced to the steep Adelaide Hills gradient.

When diesel locomotives began to replace steam trains during the fifties the dam was no longer required by the railways. In 1960 the area adjacent to the railway cottage was converted to a camp site by the then Department of Community Welfare with transportable buildings from the Education Department and labour from the McNally Training Centre.

Does anyone know anything about this, and how the water got to Aldgate station? It seems quite some distance away.
Google map link.

It's about 1.4 kilometres as the crow flies, with a change in elevation of about 50 metres. That makes it a prime situation for the building of a gravity-fed aqueduct/pipeline to run down the hill to meet the railway just north of Heathfield High School and then running alongside the railway past Heathfield and Madurta stations to Aldgate, probably because Aldgate was a more significant station where more trains stopped. Alternatively, it could have headed east from the lake run along the natural channel behind properties on Keroma Dr to meet the railway at Madurta Station.

I wonder if the dam still feeds firefighting reserve tanks to this day?

Thanks for that informative reply.
There was a channel for water to flow out the north eastern corner (near the A marker) but I didn't see any other outlets.

I spent some time hunting on Trove but couldn't see anything about it. I suspect it may have been named differently then.

There was a channel for water to flow out the north eastern corner (near the A marker)

I found a post maker with this diagram, seeming to show the route.

You can read more about Woorabinda Lake Reserve here

"touring" - can you get rid of that irritating pop up that blocks the screen every time I visit your site? It is really turning me off from ever clicking on your articles, even if the subject matter is interesting.

"touring" - can you get rid of that irritating pop up that blocks the screen every time I visit your site? It is really turning me off from ever clicking on your articles, even if the subject matter is interesting.

Thanks for your reply drwaddles. The site is not my own, I simply write free lance articles for it.
I was puzzled by the reference to a pop-up, because no-one else has ever mentioned experiencing one. I've been writing there for six months and have never seen one myself.

I just tested by clicking on the link (rather than right-clicking which is what I normally do) and finally saw it lol. I must admit that would annoy me too.

Presumably clicking "go to website" doesn't stop the pop-up next time?
Have you tried entering a dummy email address to fool it that you are subscribing, eg a@b.com?

Thanks for your reply drwaddles. The site is not my own, I simply write free lance articles for it.
I was puzzled by the reference to a pop-up, because no-one else has ever mentioned experiencing one. I've been writing there for six months and have never seen one myself.

I just tested by clicking on the link (rather than right-clicking which is what I normally do) and finally saw it lol. I must admit that would annoy me too.

Presumably clicking "go to website" doesn't stop the pop-up next time?
Have you tried entering a dummy email address to fool it that you are subscribing, eg a@b.com?

You can get around it with a single click but it is very annoying for users. It's generally considered bad manners to throw pop ups at people visiting your site. I realise it's not yours now but perhaps you could pass on my feedback to the site owners? It's likely to detract from them getting repeat visitors as once-or-twice visitors get put off by it and don't return.

I will pass your comment on, but try the workaround I suggested of a dummy email too.

There was a channel for water to flow out the north eastern corner (near the A marker)

I found a post maker with this diagram, seeming to show the route.

You can read more about Woorabinda Lake Reserve here

Interesting, that diagram could suggest that the natural watercourse (the top end of Aldgate Creek, eventual destination the Onkaparinga at Mylor) was used between there and Aldgate station instead of an aqueduct, kind of like a small-scale version of the way the Onkaparinga is used that way as part of the link between the Murray and Happy Valley Reservoir for the mains supply to most of Adelaide. Good thing we switched to diesels, I can't imagine a solution like that working too well for steam locos these days with the greasy run-off you get now the hills are essentially part of the metropolitan area.

Alternatively, there could have been an aqueduct either following the railway or following the course of Aldgate Creek to Madurta, with that diagram just pointing out the overflow route for when the dam got too full. The outlet for that could well have been buried underneath the embankment forming the western side of the lake above the railway.

If I was in charge of building it today, I would prefer to run a closed pipeline alongside the railway (using the 2-2.2% grade to my advantage) from the nearest point to the lake, to keep it easily accessible for cleaning and maintenance by virtue of being within the land owned by the rail company for the whole distance from the dam to the station. I would also consider setting up a LNWR-style water trough at Aldgate for non-stopping trains as well as a traditional crane for those that stopped.

That weekendnotes page is rather interesting, mentioning the Mackereth Cottage and the Almanda Silver Mine at Scott Creek Recreation Park as being nearby to Woorabinda when they are 14 kilometres away by what can be a rather confusing road network! That's a lot further than many other more interesting spots which aren't mentioned, such as Mark Oliphant Recreation Park which is only 20 minutes' walk away.

Yes, I didn't *see* any other outlet from the lake, but of course there may well be.
And I guess cost may have been an issue in those days, so perhaps they did use the cheap option.

Not being a local I was not aware of closer places that people may consider of interest. I do believe that none of the other suggestions are more than 15 minutes away though
While you are right about Hills roads being a bit of a pain, every article comes with a map and an address which can be entered in the GPS that is *almost* standard equipment now.

If you know of any places that are deserving of an article, there is the option to suggest an article be written. You can request that I do it, or just put in a general suggestion from any page I think.

You might find that the then SAR laid a pipe from it to the station. There would not have been that many buildings etc out that way as there is now so it could well have been done. Pipes have been used in other places, Quorn was one of the top of my head. A pipe from Pinkerton Springs fed the stand pipes at this station from memory.

If they used a gravity feed for this pipe you might not see the outlet to it, it might now be under water or removed.

Yes as you say the area would have been pretty sparse back then. I even loked on Trove for references to Crossfell, the suburb name at the time but zilch.

I'm curious what the concrete (sort of tower) assembly pictured in the lake is too. There is also one in the railway dam on Minno Creek in the Belair National Park.

There presumably was a railway camp of some sort adjacent to the entrance, which was later used to house aboriginal children as a holiday camp. The buildings look pretty dilapidated these days and contain asbestos, but are used by the Green volunteers.

If this is the tower like thing you refer too then that is the outlet for the water pipe. So that confirms that a pipe was used.

http://www.weekendnotes.com/im/005/00/wetlands-ducks-native-fauna-wildlife-australian-tr81.jpg

 

If this is the tower like thing you refer too then that is the outlet for the water pipe. So that confirms that a pipe was used.
http://www.weekendnotes.com/im/005/00/wetlands-ducks-native-fauna-wildlife-australian-tr81.jpg



That would be the pipe's inlet, not an outlet

You used to be able to see a similar structure at Happy Valley Reservoir which was the outlet of the pipe leading up from the Clarendon Weir.

Not being a local I was not aware of closer places that people may consider of interest. I do believe that none of the other suggestions are more than 15 minutes away though
While you are right about Hills roads being a bit of a pain, every article comes with a map and an address which can be entered in the GPS that is *almost* standard equipment now.

If you know of any places that are deserving of an article, there is the option to suggest an article be written. You can request that I do it, or just put in a general suggestion from any page I think.

Just a tip, the most confusing thing about hills roads is when the named road turns at a T-junction and you end up on a different road if you go straight ahead, doubtless the result of a malicious hatred of townies!

Mark Oliphant Recreation Park, Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens, Cleland Conservation Park, Mount George Conservation Park and the Bridgewater Mill are all interesting spots in that general area within about ten minutes' drive of Stirling, and with the exception of the Mark Oliphant Recreation Park (previously known as Loftia Park) all linked by the Heysen Trail. The trail from Waterfall Gully to Mount Lofty (within Cleland Cons. Park) would be a great one to write about, it's a beautiful walk on an extremely well-constructed trail which is getting incremental improvement on a regular basis.

Just another suggestion that comes to mind thanks to what's at the top of the ABC's news feed at the moment (hello to anybody reading in the Port Lincoln area - turn your radio to ABC local on 1485 AM, and good luck) - advise people not to go sight-seeing in the Adelaide Hills on days where the Country Fire Service has declared the fire danger rating to be Extreme or Catastrophic. Apart from the fact that these warnings are not for fun, many parks and trails will be closed on those days and help not available for people who choose to ignore the signs and enter the parks anyway. You could post a link to the CFS website's fire danger/ban page at  http://www.cfs.sa.gov.au/site/fire_restrictions/fire_bans.jsp

Inlet, outlet that is were the water goes into the pipe to the station. This tower stops water and mud from the bottom being drawn into the system. The water is drawn off near the top of this tower to feed what ever it is connected to it. It acts sort of like a primary filter of sorts in that all the debris in the water settles to the bottom and near clean water is drawn off near the top.

I used the term outlet to describe it simply which way it was used, it is indeed the inlet to the pipe but is also an outlet from the dam as well as water goes out of the dam through it.

All large reservoirs have these type of things installed in them some can be seen while others are not.

The other photo in that lot would be the dams concrete  spillway channel to discharge water away from it when it is full, to stop the water from breaking the dam wall and to keep the dam at a set level.

@justapassenger, thanks for the tips on locations. A number of those have been already covered by other writers, but I will double check.
I particularly enjoy writing about locations that have a history component as well, such as Woorabinda and the adjoining Stirling Park which I have now covered.

@David Peters Thanks, that makes a lot more sense now. It hadn't occurred to me that the water level would be so high.