Proposed Water Treatment Plant at Mundaring Weir Forestry Settlement
- Water Corporation (WC) plans to locate a Water Treatment Plant (WTP) at the corner of Allen Rd and Mundaring Weir Rd - see map.
- The WTP will obliterate the Mundaring Weir Forestry Settlement and replace it with 16ha of rock terraces, tanks and other industrial buildings.
- Mundaring Weir Forestry Settlement is adjacent to the Hills Forest Discovery Centre and Fred Jacoby Parks- see map. The settlement is opposite what was a stop on the spurline from Mundaring to the Weir known as "Portagabra".
- The Weir area is one of WA's biggest visitor, tourist and educational attractions. The site the WC selected is part of the small area of cultivated environment near the Weir.
- The Mundaring catchments and forests have been managed from this site since 1922.
We need a Water Treatment Plant, but this solution conflicts with the listing of the site on Mundaring's Municipal Inventory, which identifies places within the Shire that the community feels are worthy of conservation.
Mundaring Weir Forestry Settlement
Brief Historical background
The Mundaring Weir area is synonymous with water supply in WA. Several sites in the Mundaring Weir area are associated with the storage and transport of water. Critical to ensuring the quantity and quality of the water supply is the management of the catchment forests to balance increasing the flow of water into the dams against increasing salinity and turbidity. This balance has been managed, in conjunction with other government organisations, from the Mundaring Weir Forestry Settlement site.
The site was first purchased by Walter Jecks in 1882 just five years after the first sawmill on the scarp had been built. By 1899 the land belonged to Mathieson Jacoby (Member of Parliament) and was probably a vineyard.
In 1903 the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme was completed. In an effort to increase the run off into the Mundaring Weir reservoir (see photo) - the Public Works department ring-barked 5010ha of land surrounding the Mundaring Weir to kill the trees. However, this deforestation led to rising salinity and the importance of catchment management became very apparent.
Around 1909-1913 the government began buying back land in the catchment in order to manage it. The government also set up the Preliminary Working Plan No 1 for the Jarrah working circle Mundaring District (26th September 1921) to manage the forest and grant licenses. This plan was managed and administered by the Forestry Department Mundaring Weir HQ, on a site bought from the Mathieson Jacoby estate in the registered area of Portagabra. (When Mathieson Jacoby, died in 1916, his estate, promoted as ‘Magnificent Home Orchard and Weekend sites’ was auctioned - see auction poster).
The Forestry Department (as it was known then) at Portagabra was responsible for managing the forest catchments between Mundaring in the north and Karragullen in the south.
As the Mundaring Weir Forestry Settlement at Portagabra grew, buildings were added, some of which were relocated from other locations. It is important to realise that the scope of the activities at Portagabra extends from management, administration through to machine maintenance. Today the settlement contains the following timber structures:
The divisional office of the Dept Environment and Conservation which administers the
forest catchment down to
North Dandalup - see photo.
A large workshop, several sheds and buildings that together make up a work
centre - one of three work centres
administered from this divisional
office;
Examples of five types of forestry house
including a rare example of an intact ‘Singleman’s Quarters’
(see photo),
plus a Type 5 house (see
photo), Type 6 house, Type 8 house (see
photo) and Type 8B house.
Several other structures such as a timber inspection ramp (see photo) and timber washdown bay (see photo).
Cultural Heritage
The story of the Mundaring Weir Forestry Settlement at Portagabra, is one of the most interesting and significant of all because it is an essential part of a story of the interdependence of man and nature that has provided drinkable water to the pipeline that opened up the interior of WA to settlement. This site has played a major part in shaping WA.
The Mundaring Shire Municipal Inventory states that the buildings on this site have high significance as a relatively intact residential forestry community and that the buildings should be retained and conserved if possible.
As the population of the Perth region expands, awareness of the importance of the careful management of our environment and water supplies will grow - as will the historical significance of the Mundaring Weir Forestry Settlement site.