77-649: The Cataract Dam is a heritage-listed dam in Cataract (formerly Appin ), New South Wales , Australia, provides water to the Macarthur and Illawarra regions, the Wollondilly Shire , and metropolitan Sydney. It is one of four dams and weirs in the catchment of the Upper Nepean Scheme . Completed in 1907 under the supervision of Ernest Macartney de Burgh , the dam is currently owned by Water NSW, an agency of
154-517: A friendly rivalry of verse with Lawson about the allure of bush life. Paterson became a war correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age during the Second Boer War , sailing for South Africa in October 1899. There he met fellow war correspondents Winston Churchill and Rudyard Kipling as well as British army leaders Kitchener , Roberts and Haig . His graphic accounts of
231-523: A governess , but when he was able to ride a pony, he was taught at the bush school at Binalong . In 1874 Paterson was sent to Sydney Grammar School , performing well both as a student and a sportsman. During this time, he lived in a cottage called Rockend, in the suburb of Gladesville . The cottage is now listed on the Register of the National Estate and New South Wales State Heritage Register . He left
308-580: A correspondent covering the fighting in Flanders, but did become an ambulance driver with the Australian Voluntary Hospital , Wimereux , France. He returned to Australia early in 1915 and, as an honorary vet, travelled on three voyages with horses to Africa, China and Egypt. He was commissioned in the 2nd Remount Unit, Australian Imperial Force on 18 October 1915, serving initially in France where he
385-632: A flood and was forced to sell up. When Paterson's uncle John Paterson died, his family took over John Paterson's farm in Illalong, near Yass , close to the main route between Melbourne and Sydney. Bullock teams , Cobb and Co coaches and drovers were familiar sights to him. He also saw horsemen from the Murrumbidgee River area and Snowy Mountains country take part in picnic races and polo matches, which led to his fondness of horses and inspired his writings. Paterson's early education came from
462-479: A full investigation, recommended that the dam be built to its full height and capacity. The work proceeded on this basis and was completed toward the end of 1907 for a total cost of $ 658,272 and was transferred to the Board on 10 June 1908. The reservoir was filled to capacity for the first time on 13 January 1911, at which time it became obvious that the spillway should be widened to avoid any risk of flood waters overtopping
539-402: A grant between what is now Ingham enterprises and John Anderson's property that he named Ousedale, the creek that ran through it still bearing this name. A number of the small grants were brought together by purchase and the well-known property of Windmill Hill came into being, owned by William Larkin. This name was given to it because Larkin built a timber windmill on the highest part of it (about
616-590: A major source of water supply for the Sydney area. Additionally, the Cataract Dam is a handsome, well proportioned structure with strong Tudor style architectural character which complements the monumental nature of the structure and its attractive natural surroundings. Cataract Dam includes a range of ancillary structures which form components of the overall site, including a set of handsome sandstone masonry residential cottages for operational staff (which appear to date from
693-469: A measure of economy, directed that the dam wall be reduced in height by 1.2 metres (4 ft) thereby reducing the storage capacity from 83,000 to 94,000 megalitres; 22 to 25 billion US gallons (83,000 to 94,000 ML). The Board however, acting on advice of its President, urged the Minister to have the dam built to its original dimensions. This request was then forwarded to a Royal Commission which, after
770-454: A number of heritage-listed sites, including: Banjo Paterson Andrew Barton " Banjo " Paterson , CBE (17 February 1864 – 5 February 1941) was an Australian bush poet , journalist and author, widely considered one of the greatest writers of Australia's colonial period. Born in rural New South Wales , Paterson worked as a lawyer before transitioning into literature, where he quickly gained recognition for capturing
847-508: A race at Warrnambool in Victoria. She had heard a band playing a tune there, which became stuck in her head and replayed it for Paterson on the autoharp . The melody also resonated with him and propelled him to write " Waltzing Matilda " While there has been much debate about what inspired the words, the song became one of his most widely known and sung ballads. In addition, he wrote the lyrics for songs with piano scores, such as "The Daylight
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#1732890979814924-461: A second grant of 283 hectares (700 acres) made to William Broughton in 1816, which ran as far (west) as the Nepean River. South of this is the property of Elladale, of 506 hectares (1,250 acres) granted to Alexander Riley in 1812, the boundary to Macquarie Dale (of which) is Elladale Creek. This was later greatly reduced in size by subdivisions and sales. By about 1840, when purchased by Rev. Sparling,
1001-555: A separate garage with attached living quarters at the rear of the main building. The public area surrounding the dam is maintained and a large picnic area, shelter sheds , fireplaces and playground area are provided amongst attractive gardens. The site contains many intact elements of the early 20th century landscape design scheme (1910s-1920s?): walling; ornamental gardens (layout and plantings - including Cryptomeria, Stenocarpus, Cupressus, Pinus, Podocarpus, Liquidambar, Jacaranda and Phoenix); structures, especially those echoing aspects of
1078-673: A severe drought caused the water in Prospect Reservoir to fall below gravitational flow to the Lower Canal, resulting in a serious water shortage for Sydney's 523,000 inhabitants. The seriousness of the position led the NSW Government , in March 1902, to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into and report upon the Sydney water supply system. The main recommendation of the Commission was that
1155-488: A slate clad, hipped roof featuring ridgecap finials and with parapet gable ends on the north and south sides and segmental arched parapets on the east and west sides. Specifications for Cataract Dam: The water from Cataract Dam is discharged as required into the Cataract River downstream to Broughton's Pass. There it is diverted by another weir into Cataract Tunnel, 2 miles (3.2 km) long, (the first structure of
1232-547: A storage dam be constructed at a point below the junction of Cataract Creek with the Cataract River. The site was selected as a result of a joint investigation and survey by the staff of the Public Works Department and the Water Board. The survey reports proposed the construction of a dam capable of impounding approximately 7000 million gallons of water, with the option of raising the walls at some future time to allow for
1309-403: Is Dying" and Last Week . These were also published by Angus & Robertson between the years 1895 to 1899. In 1905, the same publishers released Old Bush Songs , a collection of bush ballads Paterson had been assembling since 1895. Although for most of his adult life, Paterson lived and worked in Sydney, his poems mostly presented a highly romantic view of the bush and the iconic figure of
1386-524: Is also a fine quality building dating from the 1960s. The Dam surrounds include remnants of its early 20th century gardens, evidence of a high level of landscape design awareness through its planning and detailing, and extensive areas of bushland. Individual components of its remnant gardens, such as its main (upper level) grotto shelter and ornamental follies, are rare in NSW on account of their imaginative conception and quality of craftsmanship. The extensive scale of
1463-685: Is in the Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium , Sydney. The publication of The Man from Snowy River and five other ballads in The Bulletin made "The Banjo" a household name. In 1895, Angus & Robertson published these poems as a collection of Australian verse. The book sold 5000 copies in the first four months of publication. In 1895, Paterson headed north to Dagworth station near Winton, Queensland . Travelling with fiancée, Sarah Riley, they met with her old school friend, Christina Macpherson , who had recently attended
1540-501: Is open to the public for holiday rental. The gardens around the house are landscaped lawns with garden beds edged with sandstone. Also made of sandstone is a detached garage, refurbished and converted to a conference hall. There are two amenity blocks, also of sandstone masonry featuring castellated parapets and a tennis court stands at the rear of the lawn. Surrounding the garden is a castellated sandstone fence with decorative entrance posts. A further three sandstone cottages are located to
1617-567: The Gold Coast, Australia , is named after Paterson. The A. B. "Banjo" Paterson Library at Sydney Grammar School was named after Paterson. The Festival of Arts in Orange, New South Wales , presents a biennial Banjo Paterson Award for poetry and one-act plays and there is also an annual National Book Council Banjo Award. Orange also has an annual Banjo Paterson Poetry Festival. A privately owned 47-year-old Wooden Diesel vessel from Carrum, Victoria,
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#17328909798141694-536: The Government of New South Wales . The dam was listed on the NSW State Heritage Register on 18 November 1999. A gravity dam with an unlined side spillway extending from the left abutment, it is 56 metres (184 ft) tall; 247 metres (810 ft) long; and it holds 94,300 megalitres (20.7 × 10 ^ imp gal; 24.9 × 10 ^ US gal) of water. Cataract Dam was the first dam built in
1771-740: The Prospect Reservoir . The design and construction of Cataract Dam was undertaken by the Water Supply and Sewerage Branch and Harbour and Rivers Branch of the New South Wales Public Works Department . The construction of the dam necessitated the knowledge and experience of a number of engineers employed in the branches at the time including Cecil Darley (NSW Inspecting Engineer in London), Leslie Wade (Principal Engineer, Water Supply and Sewerage Branch), Henry Dare and Ernest M. de Burgh (Supervising Engineers). The successful completion of
1848-685: The relief of Kimberley , surrender of Bloemfontein (the first correspondent to ride in) and the capture of Pretoria attracted the attention of the press in Britain. An untouched box of chocolates, created by the British company Cadburys for Queen Victoria as a 1900 New Year's gift for troops serving in South Africa, was discovered in Paterson's papers at the National Library of Australia in 2020. He also
1925-540: The 1982 film adaptation of "The Man from Snowy River". While having no connection to the movie, an Australian television series of the same name was broadcast in the 1990s. Media reports in August 2008 stated that a previously unknown poem had been found in a war diary written during the Boer War. Banjo Paterson's image appears on the $ 10 note , along with an illustration inspired by "The Man From Snowy River" and, as part of
2002-690: The Nepean and Georges Rivers . There had been no identification of the land which ran as far south as the Cataract River and was bounded on the west by the Nepean River and on the east by the Georges River. On completion of his survey, this area reminded him so much of his own (home) district in Scotland that he called it the Airds district. Some time later he named the section south, including Mount Gilead, Appin. One of
2079-580: The Upper Canal) by which it is conveyed to Prospect Reservoir. Associated with the Dam is the Cataract Dam Official Quarters, situated close to the dam wall at the northern end. This single-storey, Federation Queen Anne style house was built in 1910 for the use of Water Board staff during construction of the dam. It is built of ashlar sandstone masonry quarried on the site and features a verandah at
2156-627: The Upper Nepean Catchment Area to supply water was fully developed through the construction of four major dams between 1903 and 1936. Cataract Dam is the first of these dams to have been completed. The Upper Nepean Catchment Area continues to supply the regions of Sydney and the Illawarra , with Cataract Dam providing a supply to the Sydney Region. Cataract Dam was the first of the major water supply dams constructed in NSW. The completion of
2233-595: The Upper Nepean Scheme. It was also first dam in Australia to use pre-cast moulded concrete blocks for the upstream face of the dam. The downstream face is of mass poured basalt concrete, with a basalt facing. A readily accessible source of suitable rock was located at Sherbrooke, situated near the top of Bulli Pass . To transport the basalt from the quarry to the dam construction site, a 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge steam tramway, 8.8 kilometres (5.5 mi) long,
2310-516: The big poultry farm conducted by Ingham enterprises are all on the western side of the Appin Road . Opposite the last property is one known as Kildare, one of the pioneer homes of the Irish Dwyer family. Further west was Lesson's Green, an 32-hectare (80-acre) grant to William Crowe, the northern boundary of which joined a 40-hectare (100-acre) grant to John Dwyer , which in turn joined Macquarie Dale,
2387-420: The bushman. Influenced by the work of another Australian poet, John Farrell , his representation of the bushman as a tough, independent and heroic underdog became the ideal qualities underpinning the national character. His work is often compared to the prose of Henry Lawson, particularly the seminal work, "The Drover's Wife", which presented a considerably less romantic view of the harshness of rural existence of
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2464-421: The catchment of up to 83,000 megalitres; 22 billion US gallons (83,000 ML). The Act authorising the construction of the dam was passed in 1902 and provided for a wall of 49 metres (160 ft) with a storage capacity of 83 gigalitres; 22 billion US gallons (83,000 ML). By June 1903, much of the area to be submerged had been cleared of timber, with excavations for the foundations having begun by
2541-470: The colony (here). This was carried out very thoroughly and with great expense. He was generous with the water conserved and allowed his neighbours to water their stock in very dry times. He applied to the Governor for some reimbursement, but was refused. This dam was built in 1824. In 1836 Rose built the huge stone windmill, one of the largest of its kind which gave great service for many years grinding wheat of
2618-606: The colony in 1810. At the time, Government House was in Parramatta and one of Macquarie's first intentions was to travel into the nearby country to discover the best land from which the colony could be provided with food. It was already known that the most productive area for that purpose was the Hawkesbury River country, but these districts had proven precarious because of severe flooding which caused great losses in crops and stock. The land Macquarie intended to study lay between
2695-457: The construction of the dam). They are representative of their age and type. The Official Quarters is a particularly fine example of a Federation Queen Anne Bungalow, with matching outbuildings and landscaped gardens and is associated with the accommodation of both the senior engineers of the Public Works Department and the Governor of NSW at the opening of the Dam. The Residential Engineers Cottage
2772-496: The copy-protection microprint, the text of the poem itself. Artist Violet Bowring painted a portrait of her one-time neighbour Banjo Paterson, now hanging in Sydney’s Australian Club , and used as the cover illustration of a book The Best of Banjo Paterson , compiled by Walter Stone, published in 1977. In 1981 he was honoured on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post . A.B. Paterson College , at Arundel on
2849-455: The dam and discharged water into the river. The flow is now controlled by an AGE Ring Faulkner valve. There is also a Ring Faulkner Gate Valve and a Fixed Crane Dispersion Valve. The dam wall was given a decorative finish. The upstream parapet was castellated with sandstone blocks, whilst the top of the downstream wall was corbelled in concrete. Near the centre of the dam wall stands the valve house, finished in sandstone ashlar masonry. It has
2926-591: The dam and its continuation of use as a water supply dam are a lasting testament to the professional capabilities of the late Victorian/Edwardian era generation of engineers of the Public Works Department. The association of Thomas Keele with the initial dam proposal, and the subsequent problems associated with the cost and the ongoing Royal Commissions into the project was immortalised through Banjo Paterson 's satirical ballad The Dam that Keele Built . Appin town's name came about, despite that most local settlers came from Irish stock, due to Governor Macquarie 's arrival in
3003-463: The dam and its continuation of use as a water supply dam are lasting testament to the professional capabilities of the late Victorian/Edwardian era generation of engineers in the Public Works Department. The association of Thomas W. Keele with the initial dam proposal, and the subsequent problems associated with the cost and the ongoing Royal Commissions into the project was immortalised through Banjo Patterson's poem "The Dam that Keele Built". The Manor
3080-455: The dam necessitated the introduction of methods of construction hitherto unseen in NSW in regard to dam engineering. The practices of construction developed at Cataract Dam set the pattern for the completion of all subsequent dams in NSW up to the late 1940s. Up until the completion of Cordeaux Dam in 1926, the impounded water of Cataract Dam provided the main reserve source of water for domestic and industrial consumption in metropolitan Sydney,
3157-482: The dam wall parapet construction (e.g. castellated walling elsewhere on site and gate piers ); various residences & associated gardens; garden structures such as the cement faux-log bridge near the dam wall; various sculpted cement grottoes; and propagation structures doubling as bush-houses and/or greenhouses. In the broader landscape context, the visual catchment associated with the site is extensive and scenically impressive. The Conservation Management Plan outlines
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3234-635: The earliest buildings in the town, still standing, is the Anglican school, where the first generation of children born in Appin received their education. This was erected about 1815. Macquarie gave many grants of land in order to develop the land. The first was 405 hectares (1,000 acres) granted to Sydney magistrate and acting commissary-general, William Broughton . There were several other grants of smaller amounts, made on condition that after five years, unless sufficient progress had been made in cropping and stocking,
3311-480: The east of the Dam. These staff cottages were built to identical designs with minor detail differences and have corrugated-iron clad, multi-gabled roofs. There is a substantial brick house dating from the 1950s/60s located between the cottages and the Official Quarters, which is single-storied with a terracotta tiled hipped and gabled roof. It is a simple bungalow form with timber casement and sash windows and has
3388-425: The end of the year. The contract for the work was let to Messrs Lane and Peters and, by 1905, was well underway with a completion date expected within two years. The contract was for a dam 46 metres (150 ft) high from the natural flow of the river, which would store up to 97,340 gigalitres; 25,714 billion US gallons (21,411 × 10 ^ imp gal). During construction, the Minister for Public Works, in
3465-459: The first incumbent at St. Mark's Anglican Church in Appin, it had shrunk to 243 hectares (600 acres). On its southern boundary, it was joined by Broughton's 405-hectare (1,000-acre) Lachlan Vale (the first land grant in the area). That property in turn joined John Kennedy's original 162 hectares (400 acres) grant, that he named Teston. In later years, different owners added to it, growing the property to over 405 hectares (1,000 acres). This acreage on
3542-420: The front with elaborate timber posts with curved quadrant brackets , a vertical slatted balustrade and pediment gable over the main entrance way. When built, the house contained a board room, offices, four bedrooms and a kitchen. Over the years, it has provided accommodation for inspecting officers and important visitors. It is still used by SCA and can now provide sleeping accommodation for twelve people. It
3619-475: The key elements and their individual significance assessments. As at 21 January 2009, the condition of the dam is good. The Cataract Dam has a very high level of integrity, with most of its original staff residential cottages and the Official Residence. Many elements of the original landscaping of the site are still apparent however the richness and detail of the original garden plantings have been lost over
3696-477: The land would revert to the Crown. The district became a great supplier of wheat, corn and barley, carried to Sydney by wagons pulled by teams of bullocks or horses. The northern boundary of the Appin district is the property known as Mount Gilead, which was granted to Reuben Uther. Some years later it was purchased by a Sydney businessman, Thomas Rose, who was credited with building the first dam for water conservation in
3773-472: The largest city in NSW. In providing water for metropolitan Sydney during this era the dam, in ensuring security of supply, contributed to the extensive residential, commercial and industrial development of Sydney during the first decades of the twentieth century. The place has a strong or special association with a person, or group of persons, of importance of cultural or natural history of New South Wales's history. The design and construction of Cataract Dam
3850-682: The last few decades. Cataract Dam is located in Wollondilly and Wollongong LGAs. As at 21 January 2009, Cataract Dam was the first of the four water supply dams built as part of the development of the Upper Nepean Water Supply Scheme, one of the most important engineering works and items of public infrastructure in Australia. Cataract Dam was designed by engineers of the Public Works Department under direction of two of Australia's leading water supply engineers, L.A.B. Wade, Chief Engineer for Water Supply and Sewerage and E.M. De Burgh, who
3927-509: The late 19th century. Paterson authored two novels; In No Man's Land (later titled An Outback Marriage ) (1900) and The Shearer's Colt (1936), wrote many short stories; Three Elephant Power and Other Stories (1917), and wrote a book based on his experiences as a war reporter, Happy Dispatches (1934). He also wrote a book for children, The Animals Noah Forgot (1933). Contemporary recordings of many of Paterson's well known poems have been released by Jack Thompson , who played Clancy in
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#17328909798144004-727: The life of the Australian bush. A representative of the Bulletin School of Australian literature, Paterson wrote many of his best known poems for the nationalist journal The Bulletin , including " Clancy of the Overflow " (1889) and " The Man from Snowy River " (1890). His 1895 ballad " Waltzing Matilda " is regarded widely as Australia's unofficial national anthem and, according to the National Film and Sound Archive , has been recorded more than any other Australian song. Andrew Barton Paterson
4081-449: The mid-1840s) and it gave great service for many years. The farm later became the property of the Winton family who ran it as a dairy farm until recent years. Appin has two solidly-built stone churches, St. Bede's Roman Catholic and St. Mark's Anglican. Both were built about the same time, 1840–41 and have stood the test of time. Both are equipped with very good bells. The population of Appin
4158-412: The music for which he then wrote the lyrics of the famous Waltzing Matilda . However, following this collaboration Paterson was suddenly asked to leave the property, leading historians to conclude that he was a womanizer and had engaged in a scandalous romantic liaison with Macpherson. Paterson died of a heart attack in Sydney on 5 February 1941 aged 76. Paterson's grave, along with that of his wife,
4235-611: The president of the former Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage at the time of the dam's construction. The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales. Cataract, New South Wales Cataract is a locality split between the Wollondilly Shire and the City of Wollongong , both in New South Wales , Australia. Cataract has
4312-542: The prestigious school at 16 after failing an examination for a scholarship to the University of Sydney . Paterson was a law clerk with a Sydney-based firm headed by Herbert Salwey, and was admitted as a solicitor in 1886. In the years he practised as a solicitor, he also started writing. From 1885, he began submitting and having poetry published in The Bulletin , a literary journal with a nationalist focus. His earliest work
4389-436: The remnant area of public parklands is notable and that they continue to attract regular visitation since their opening indicates that the place is highly regarded. The immediate environment around the dam wall - including the key engineering structures and associated architecture, the upstream body of water, the downstream gorge and surrounding vegetation - forms a localised cultural landscape of scenic distinction. Cataract Dam
4466-417: The river. There were a number of small 20-hectare (50-acre) grants on the way back to Appin such as those of John Firth, Edward McGee, John Trotter, Nicholas Bryan and Matthew Pearce (40 hectares (100 acres)) and several others. Laurence D'Arcy was also granted 77 hectares (190 acres) joining Jordan's and named it Spring Valley. Other grantees were James Byrne (121 hectares (300 acres)) and Andrew Byrne who had
4543-423: The site and bedded in a cement mortar. The vertical joints were filled with basalt or sandstone concrete. The upstream face consisted of basalt concrete moulded blocks set in a cement mortar. The downstream face was of basalt concrete, 2 metres (6 ft) thick in the lower section and 1 metre (3 ft) thick in the upper levels. There were two lines of 122-centimetre (48 in) diameter pipes which passed through
4620-414: The south side joined the area known as Mount Brittain of 73 hectares (180 acres), a grant to William Sykes. With further grants it became over 121 hectares (300 acres). Further south, Mount Brittain joined a 20-hectare (50-acre) grant to James Jordan, the southern boundary being the Cataract River and here was the place known as Jordan's Crossing, where the road from Mount Keira (now Picton Road ) crossed
4697-468: The spillway was widened in 1915. E. M. de Burgh was the supervising engineer for the project from 1904. The Upper Nepean Scheme was commenced in 1880 after it was realised that the Botany Swamps scheme was insufficient to meet Sydney's water supply needs. The Nepean project consisted of the construction of a weir across the Nepean River to divert of the rivers Cataract , Cordeaux , Avon and Nepean, to
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#17328909798144774-528: The surrounding areas. In those early years, in a good season, yields in some areas were as high as 45 bushels to the acre. The windmill is still standing; that is the four-storey tower which has long been converted to a water tank; but the top hammer and sails have long-since disappeared. On the southern side, Mount Gilead was joined by the Hume (family) properties, Beulan and Meadowvale (formerly Rockwood). These and others such as Fairview, Blossom Lodge, Mount Carlon and
4851-502: The wall. This work was completed in 1915. In December 2016 the state government gave approval for the controversial South 32 Dendrobium coal mine, in the Metropolitan Special Area, created to protect the waters of Cataract, Cordeaux, Avon and Nepean Reservoirs. The Cataract Dam is built of cyclopean masonry composed of sandstone blocks, weighing from 1.8 to 4.1 tonnes; 1.8 to 4.0 long tons (2 to 4.5 short tons), quarried at
4928-486: Was Supervising Engineer. The completion of Cataract Dam was a significant step in the continuing process of providing a reliable water supply for Sydney and surrounding areas and was part of a process of development of the Upper Nepean Scheme which was envisaged when that Scheme was designed in the 1880s. Cataract Dam was the largest dam constructed in NSW at the time and was considered to be a significant work of engineering in its day. It continues to play an important role as
5005-583: Was a correspondent during the Boxer Rebellion , where he met George "Chinese" Morrison and later wrote about his meeting. He was editor of Samuel Bennett 's Evening News from 1903 to 1908, and his Town and Country Journal 1907 to 1908. In 1908 after a trip to the United Kingdom he decided to abandon journalism and writing and moved with his family to a 16,000-hectare (40,000-acre) property near Yass . In World War I , Paterson failed to become
5082-586: Was a poem criticising the British war in the Sudan, which also had Australian participation. Over the next decade, the influential journal provided an important platform for Paterson's work, which appeared under the pseudonym of "The Banjo", the name of his favourite horse. As one of its most popular writers through the 1890s, he formed friendships with other significant writers in Australian literature, such as E.J. Brady , Harry "Breaker" Morant , Will H. Ogilvie , and Henry Lawson . In particular, Paterson became engaged in
5159-424: Was born on 17 February 1864 at the property "Narrambla", near Orange, New South Wales , the eldest son of Andrew Bogle Paterson, a Scottish immigrant from Lanarkshire , and Australian-born Rose Isabella Barton, related to the future first prime minister of Australia, Edmund Barton . Paterson's family lived on the isolated Buckinbah Station near Yeoval NSW until he was five when his father lost his wool clip in
5236-403: Was castellated with sandstone blocks while the top of the downstream wall was corbelled in concrete. In approximately the midsection of the dam stands the valve house. This is finished in quarried sandstone blocks with ashlar coursing. It features a steeply pitched slate-covered pipped roof topped with finials and gables at either side. Dam construction began in 1902 and was completed in 1907, and
5313-409: Was constructed. The dam is built of cyclopean masonry , composed of sandstone blocks weighing from 2 to 4.5 long tons (2.03 to 4.57 t ; 2.24 to 5.04 short tons ). These were quarried at the site and bedded in cement mortar. The vertical joints were filled with basalt or sandstone concrete. The upstream face consisted of basalt concrete moulded blocks set in a cement mortar. The downstream face
5390-596: Was in Queen Street, Woollahra. The Patersons had two children, Grace (born in 1904) and Hugh (born in 1906). Paterson had been previously engaged to Sarah Riley for eight years, but this was abruptly called off in 1895 following a visit to her at Dagworth Station in Queensland where she was visiting the Macpherson family. It was here that Paterson met his fiancée's best friend from school days, Christina Macpherson, who composed
5467-585: Was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 November 1999 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales. Cataract Dam is located within the Upper Nepean Catchment Area which has developed with the completion of the Cataract and Nepean tunnels in 1888 as the fourth source of water supply for Sydney. The potential of
5544-416: Was of basalt concrete, 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) thick in the lower section and 0.9 metres (2 ft 11 in) thick in the upper section. There were two lines of 122-centimetre (48 in) diameter pipes which passed through the dam and discharged water into the Nepean River . The flow is controlled by a Larner Johnson needle valve . The dam wall was given a decorative finish. The upstream parapet
5621-719: Was published and he continued to publish verse, short stories and essays while continuing to write for the weekly Truth . Paterson also wrote on rugby league football in the 1920s for the Sydney Sportsman . In December 1938 Paterson was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE). He died on 5 February 1941. On 8 April 1903, he married Alice Emily Walker, of Tenterfield Station, in St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, in Tenterfield , New South Wales . Their first home
5698-401: Was purpose built in 1910 as the quasi-private domain of the Board members of the Water Board. The building and its grounds have particular associations with past identities of the Board. The island and the inlets of Lake Cataract are associated with past identities of the Water Board through memorialisation of their surnames. A well known example is Keele Island named after Thomas William Keele,
5775-450: Was quite large: in 1825 the number was 562. A large number of farmers were engaged in wheat, barley, corn and vegetable growing for the Sydney market. The Upper Nepean Scheme was commenced in 1880 after it was realised that the Botany scheme was insufficient to meet Sydney's water supply needs. The scheme was estimated to be capable of supplying the needs of a population up to 540,000. In 1902,
5852-624: Was undertaken by the Water Supply and Sewerage Branch and Harbour and Rivers Branch of the NSW Public Works Department. The construction of the dam necessitated the dedication of the knowledge and experience of a number of the engineers employed in the branches at the time including Cecil W. Darley (NSW inspecting engineer in London), Leslie A.B. Wade (principal engineer - Water Supply and Sewerage Branch), Henry H. Dare and Ernest de Burgh (supervising engineers). The successful completion of
5929-600: Was wounded and reported missing in July 1916 and latterly as commanding officer of the unit based in Cairo , Egypt. He was repatriated to Australia and discharged from the army having risen to the rank of major in April 1919. His wife had joined the Red Cross and worked in an ambulance unit near her husband. Just as he returned to Australia, the third collection of his poetry, Saltbush Bill JP ,
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