92 The Water Supply of Sydney. 



Lachlan Swamp is about two square miles, but probably only 

 about half of that area actually drains into the tunnel ; and as 

 no provision is made for retaining storm-waters at the swamp, a 

 great proportion of the rainfall runs down to Botany Bay. The 

 tunnel remains in good order to the present day, and is used to 

 supply the lower parts of "Woolloomooloo and a portion of the 

 city along Darling Harbour, between Bathurst-street and Erskine- 

 street. The termination in Hyde Park is about 104 feet above 

 high water mark. The daily delivery varies much with the state 

 of the weather, but it may be taken at somewhere between 

 300,000 and 400,000 gallons," which at the time the tunnel was 

 opened was a fair supply for the population of 20,000 that then 

 existed in Sydney. This quantity represents less than one-fifth 

 the annual rainfall on the area draining into the tunnel. An im- 

 portant feature of the original sheme was to have a reservoir 

 excavated in Hyde Park capable of holding fifteen million gal- 

 lons, but this unfortunately was never carried out. 



Soon after the opening of the tunnel there commenced a 

 calamitous drought, the severest and most general of which we 

 have any record. Cotemporary accounts represent the colony as 

 reduced to great straits through the destruction of vegetation and 

 live stock. One writer says : — " No words can express the 

 miserable appearance of the country. . . . There is neither 

 food for man nor beast. . . . God knows what will become 

 of us all if some change does not take place very soon." I 

 regret that I can find no record of the rainfall at Sydney, or at 

 any other part of the colony, for the years 1838-9, during which 

 the drought prevailed ; but in Captain Stoke's Voyage of the 

 Beagle there is a distinct assertion of the total absence of rain 

 for a period of perhaps eight or nine months He says : — " For 

 some time previous to our former departure from Sydney, during 

 the whole of our absence, and for several months subsequent to 

 our return, not a drop of rain fell." Now the Beagle left 

 Sydney on the 11th November, 1838, and returned 10th March, 

 1839. The close of the above period must have been Way 29th, 

 for I find this recond in the Herald of May 31st : — "It rained 

 very hard in Sydney on Wednesday night, blowing a perfect gale 

 of wind." It is usually stated, however, that the drought did 

 not break up till October. 



There is evidence that, during this distressing period, the 

 tunnel never altogether stopped running, although the supply be- 

 came scanty. Even so early in the drought as 5th November, 

 1838, I find this statement in the Herald, — " Great distress exists 

 in Sydney, especially at the northern end, in consequence of the 

 scarcity of water. The stream from the pipes on the racecourse 

 is very small — so small that the men cannot fill the water-carts 

 without waiting four or five hours for a turn. Threepence per 



