The Water Supply of Sydney. 91 



reference to it as a source of water ; and, indeed, if you consider 

 its limited drainage area it is remarkable that it should have 

 served Sydney so long. If a person start from the Custom- 

 house, and proceed (by Bridge-street and Macquarie-street) to 

 the middle of Hyde Park, then across to 'Bathurst-street, thence 

 to George-street, and round by the Police-office to York-street, 

 thence to Church-hill, and back to the Custom-house by Bridge- 

 street, he will have enclosed (in a circuit of about two miles) the 

 whole area drained by the Tank Stream, amounting to no more 

 than 178 acres. Part of this area, however, was well fitted for 

 the retention of water ; for I have been informed by an old colo- 

 nist that a spongy swamp once stretched from about the position 

 of King-street back towards Park- street, and laterally towards 

 George and Castlereagh streets, — such a swamp as may still be 

 seen in several places near Sydney, giving rise to streams of a 

 remarkably permanent character. 



The year 1826 began with heavy rain and floods, but soon 

 changed to a prolonged drought, which must have helped mater- 

 ially to bring the question of water supply to a crisis. This 

 year, says Captain Sturt, commenced " one of those fearful 

 droughts to which we have reason to believe the climate of New 

 South Wales is periodically subject. It continued the two fol- 

 lowing years with unabated severity." If we consider further 

 that the population of Sydney now amounted to 10,000, it will 

 be understood that a new and more abundant source of water 

 was imperatively needed. In 1824, Mr. John Busby had arrived 

 in the colony with the appointment of Mineral Surveyor to the 

 Government, and his labours were soon turned by Sir Thomas 

 Brisbane to a search for water. After examining several localities 

 near Sydney, he ultimately reported (in 1826) in favour of the 

 Lachlan Swamp, lying to the south-east of Sydney, in the hollow 

 between Paddington and Eandwick. Mr. Busby's plan was 

 adopted, and the work of driving a tunnel from Hyde Park to the 

 Swamp was commenced in September, 1827. Prom the unman- 

 ageable and unskilful character of the labourers employed (con- 

 victs), and from unforeseen difficulties in the strata that had to 

 be gone through, the undertaking was much more tedious and 

 difficult than had been anticipated, and it was not till June, 1837, 

 that it was brought to a successful termination. The tunnel, 

 however, began to supply Sydney with water as early as lS30, by 

 virtue of dramage from the surrounding rocks. The whole 

 length of the tunnel is 12,000 feet, upwards of 2\ miles — with 

 an average width of four feet, and height five feet. Twenty-eight 

 vertical shafts were sunk from the surface, varying in depth from 

 twenty to eighty feet ; the whole mass of excavation amounted 

 to 255,930 cubic feet, fully nine-tenths being through solid rock ; 

 and the total cost was £24,000, The catchment basin of the 



