The search for an artesian water source to provide an economical and consistent water supply was the subject of a report to the Victorian Parliament in April 1857, when the Victorian Geological Surveyor, Alfred R.C. Selwyn, presented his report (1) upon the economical adaptability of the system of Artesian Wells to Victoria, and to furnish a particular enumeration of the localities, if any, therein, in which by that system reasonable hope may be entertained of obtaining a plentiful supply of Fresh Water. You can read the report, here. The use of artesian water was dependent upon the extent of the underground supply, the purity of the water and the ease with which it could be obtained.
Mr Selwyn listed a number of areas where suitable conditions might possibly exist -
1. The Indented Heads and Lake Conneware district.
2. The north and north-eastern side of Western Port Bay.
3. Portions of the east side of Port Phillip Bay extending from Brighton to Point Nepean.
4. Portions of the country lying between the east shore of Port Phillip Bay and the Koo-Wee-Rup or Great Swamp.
Many parts of Gippsland, and of the basin of the Murray, would also, I should imagine, be districts in which the requisite conditions might be found to exist.
It was over twenty years before the first artesian well was established in Australia and this was at Sale (2). In March 1879 (3) John Augustus Niemann (4) struck water at a depth of sixty feet, near the Turf Hotel (5). The Turf Hotel was located on the south west corner York and Dawson Streets (6). Mr Neimann also received a tender to sink a well at the intersection of Cunninghame and Raymond Streets (7) and at a comparatively small depth he struck a flow of artesian water and the necessary construction with pipes, stand trough and tanks only cost only £280/10/- (8).
In 1880 the Borough of Sale had Niemann put down a bore near the intersection of Raymond and Macalaister Streets. At a depth of 190' water was struck and rose to 3' above the surface. Drilling continued to a depth of 231', at which point gushed from a pipe 43' in height. The cost of the bore was: for the well 175 pounds; adjusting surface and fence 5 pounds 16 shillings; for stand, horse, trough, four 400 gallon tanks, and pipes for channels and trough, cocks etc, 100 pounds. Total 280 pounds and 10 shillings (9). A good supply of water was thus secured, but in time the pipes corroded, the bores became choked and the wells were eventually closed down (10). Our postcard is of this well, located on the corner of Raymond and Macalister Streets (11). The well was described as played out in an article in The Australasian in March 1912 (12).
Artesian Well in Sale. The building behind the well is the Presbyterian Church, which is on the corner of Raymond and Macaliaster Streets. Both these churches are now demolished and the exisiting building on the site was erected in 1956 (13).
Artesian Well in Sale. Photographer: Frederick Cornell. State Library of Victoria Image H87.16/31
The played out well on the corner of Raymond and Macaliaster Streets
The Australasian March 2, 1912. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/143327643#
When 'The Vagabond', the journalist visited Sale in 1885 he wrote inter alia about the town's abundant supply of artesian water In the gutters there are streams of running water procured from an artesian well sunk by the municipality. Water was struck at a depth of 230ft., and there is now an ample supply. The large tanks in Macalister-street are always filled, from which the citizens can help themselves without stint. Two troughs are also kept brimming over, and the streets thence reticulated (16).
There were issues with artesian water and its use as a household water supply - the smell, the fact that the bores sometimes brought up sand and this clogged up the pipes and the amount of chemicals in the water had a corrosive effect. Thus in 1888 a water tower was constructed in Sale which supplied the town with water from the Thompson River. The water supply system and the water tower was designed by engineer, John Grainger (17). This water tower has recently been restored.
The establishment of the town water supply did not stop the construction of artesian wells and in 1905 another well was sunk in Market Square. This one was not used for a town supply for, although it had a considerable medicinal value, it also carried a strong mineral smell (18). It was reported that this well had a flow of a million gallons per day and the motive for making this fresh search for artesian water was to fill a swamp, which the drainage of the town ran into, and which in dry seasons was a menace to the health of the public as reported by all the medical men (19).
Artesian well in Market Square, Sale.
Pictured: Mr. -Joseph Bowman (Supervisor). Mr. Hugh Jenkinson (Expert), Mr. F. A. Pim (Expert), C. Jacobs, M. Laughlan, Mr. K. Keighley (Expert Government Foreman).
Punch August 17, 1905 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/175412051
A sixth well was sunk in 1906 when the Government was induced by the Council to sink a 238' bore in Victoria Park. To overcome the corrosion problem this bore was lined with Californian red pine. It cost 493 pounds and gave an initial flow of 86, 000 gallons an hour. For generations the overflow of this fountain, to which was attached an iron cup, was directed to the public baths and partly supplied Lake Guthridge (20). The Herald newspaper had a report on Sale - the progressive capital of Gippsland in April 1920 and it had this to say about the Victoria Park well -The present artesian well on the Victoria Park was sunk in April, 1906, by Governmental well experts, assisted by the Mines Department boring plant.... The flow at completion was 80,000 gallons, and after 14 years' running it now discharges 75,000 gallons per day...and is still continuing to flow very freely (21). The well also supplied a swimming baths which had a year round temperature of 62 degrees Fahrenheit (22).
The Victoria Park well, 1912
The Australasian March 23, 1912 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/143328730#
The Victoria Park well also filled the swimming baths. The John Grainger designed water tower can be seen behinds the baths.
The Australasian March 23, 1912 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/143328730#
This is I believe the Victoria Park well. The photo is dated c. 1920.
Photographer: John E. Hoggard. State Library of Victoria Image H98.56/68
There is another aspect to this story of wells in Sale and that is the South African or Boer War Memorial fountain, the foundation stone for which was laid in October 1909 (23) on the south west corner of Macalister and Raymond Streets (24), the same intersection as the well in our post card. It was unveiled by Colonel Foxton on December 4, 1909 and the first drink was given to Mrs Walter Lyons, who had laid the foundation stone (25). By 1912 the Memorial was in a neglected state and was later moved to a new location on the corner of Foster and York Streets (26). There are also accounts of artesian wells in the surrounding area at Clydebank (27) however that is another story.
Before I finish I will show you the reverse of the post card - it was sent to Miss Vera Macfarlan of 223 Fitzroy Street in St Kilda. The short note says - Dear Vera, Coming home tomorrow afternoon train arrives at half past ten. Going to Sorrento Tuesday. Norman is a little better. Yours I.Macfarlan. Vera was born in 1884 to David and Jane (nee Cooper) Macfarlan. She married Peter Francis Smith in 1916, whose wedding notice appears below. She died in 1959. She had a brother Norman, born in 1878, so I presume he is the Norman mentioned on the postcard (28). I haven't worked out who I. Macfarlan, who sent the card is.
Vera's wedding announcement to Peter Smith
The Argus February 12, 1916. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2109546
Trove book list
I have created a book list on Trove of articles relating to Artesian wells in Sale, access it here.
Notes
(1) I found out about the Selwyn report in Daley, Charles The Story of Gipplsand (Whitcombe and Tombs, 1960) He writes about it on page 116. Read the Selwyn report, here.
(2) First Artesian Well in Australia - this is reported in The Argus, January 3 1903 in an article by Professor Gregory Artesian Water in Victoria, see here. Professor Gregory say the bore was sunk in 1880. The 1928 Australian Year Book also uses this date. I believe the 1879 date is correct, see note (3).
Artesian Bores around Sale from Year Book Australia, No. 21, 1928, p. 854.
There is quite a lengthy article on Artesian water in Australia. Access it here
(3) Green, O.S Sale: the early years and later (Southern Newspapers, 1976); p. 42. Mr Green cites the March 1879 date.
(4) John Augustus Niemann. Niemann was the son of John Heinrich Niemann and Margaret Osterman. John snr died in Bendigo at the age of 87 in 1886. The family arrived in Adelaide in 1846 from Germany. They moved to Victoria around 1851, where they operated a boarding house in Maldon and then moved to Bendigo in 1859. They had three sons and one daughter, Lucy. Lucy married Thomas Devine in 1858. Information from the Bendigo Advertiser of June 24, 1886, see here. In 1881, John Augustus Niemann went to South Australia to find sources of artesian water, see here.
(5) Green, op. cit p. 43
(6) Green op. cit., p. 147. The Turf Hotel was demolished in the demolished in the early 1950s.
(7) Green, op. cit p. 43
(8) Daley, Charles The Story of Gipplsand (Whitcombe and Tombs, 1960), p. 116
(9) Green, op. cit., pp 42, 43.
(10) Daley, op. cit p. 116
(11) I established that well pictured on the postcard was located on the corner of Raymond and Macalister Streets from this photo from the State Library of Victoria. It is the same well. The building in the background is the Sale Hotel, which was located on the corner of Raymond and Macalister Streets (see Sale Licencing Court hearing from 1884, here)
Artesian Well, Sale. It was located on the corner of Raymond and Macalister Streets.
State Library of Victoria Image a11411
(12) The Australasian March 2, 1912, see here. This article also has the Frederick Cornell photo and the postcard photo. The article calls it the first artesian well in Sale, I believe it was the second or third one, but that's neither here nor there.
The Australasian March 2, 1912 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article143327643
(13) You can see a photo of the Presbyterian Church in the booklet In pastures green: the story of the Presbyterian Church, Sale, Gippsland, Victoria by Robert Ingpen. It was published in 1954 and the Sate Library has digitised it, read it here. The photo of the church is on page 29 of the PDF. The information about the 1956 church comes from Mr Green on page 87.
(14) Green, op. cit p. 43
(15) Green, op. cit p. 43
(16) The Australasian December 19, 1885, see here. Mr Green quotes 'The Vagabond' on page 43, that's how I found out the visit to Sale.
(17) Sale Water tower - the involvement of John Grainger was listed here. Information on John Grainger can be found here on Culture Victoria. Information and a photo of the restored Sale Water Tower is here.
(18) Green, op. cit p. 43
(19) Punch August 17, 1905, see here.
(20) Green, op. cit p. 45
(21) The Herald April 21, 1920, see here.
(22) The Australasian, March 23 1912, see here. 62 degrees Fahrenheit is about 16 degrees Celsius.
(23) Green, op. cit p. 45. Also - Schmitt, David Remembering and Forgetting the Boer War: the campaign to erect a Boer War Memorial in Sale published in Gippsland Heritage Journal, No. 27, 2008 (Kapana Press).
(24) Green, op. cit p. 45
(25) Green, op. cit p. 45 and the Morwell Advertiser, December 10 1909, see here. Mrs Walter Lyon was the wife of the Mayor and she was responsible for raising the funds for the Memorial - thanks to David Schmitt's article for this information. Mrs Lyon (nee Elizabeth Ritchie) died in 1921 at the age of 61. You can read her obituary in the Gippsland Times of November 24, 1921, see here. She was an interesting woman.
(26) Schmitt, David Remembering and Forgetting the Boer War: the campaign to erect a Boer War Memorial in Sale published in Gippsland Heritage Journal, No. 27, 2008 (Kapana Press).
(27) Gippsland Times, March 14 1935 see here.
(28) Information from the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages Index and the Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.
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