Wangaratta Water Tower collapse April 1925

On Sunday April 5, 1925 the recently erected Water Tower, in Docker Street, Wangaratta collapsed. The builders were A.A. Hargrave for the Wangaratta Waterworks Trust. There were many reports in various newspapers, all a bit different, but all essentially the same and this is what the Benalla Standard wrote - 
At 7 o'clock on Sunday night the new concrete water tower erected at Wangaratta at a cost of £3800 suddenly collapsed, and fell with a loud crash, portion falling on the verandah of Mr. L. R. M'Donald's house. The tank, which was 104 feet high, and had a capacity of 240,000 gallons in three compartments, had been erected about six months. First the floor of the top chamber gave way; then, amidst tongues of flame and smoke, caused by the fusing of electric wires, two-thirds of the structure fell. Mr. L. R. M'Donald, signalman at the railway station, was standing at his gate, 30 yards away, when he saw the tank falling. He reached the door of his house, and was knocked down by the concussion. His mother was on the verandah, and his wife and child were imprisoned in the diningroom, the doors of which were jammed. Fortunately they escaped injury. The tank, which was about three parts full, had not been taken over by the engineer from the contractor. (1)

Wangaratta water tower one week before it collapsed, March 1925.

Photographer: G. E. Roberts, Wangaratta

Museums Victoria https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/772801

The Age report noted that - The electric lighting system of one section of the town was thrown out of order. The Cathedral, where people had assembled for evening service, was in darkness. In a few minutes 1500 people were on the scene of the collapse. (2)

There were various people reported who were impacted by the collapse - there was Mr L. R. McDonald, his wife Mrs McDonald, who was in the kitchen and was treated for shock; Mr McDonald was reported to have been talking to a W. McDonald; Mr McDonald senior was said to be with the baby in the dining room and Mrs McDonald senior was reported to have been on the verandah and was thrown heavily down, but beyond shock sustained no injuries. (3) L.R. McDonald was Leslie Roy McDonald, the signalman. He was born in 1898 to William and Lily Ann (nee Churchill) McDonald at Mount Egerton. His father was also employed with the Victorian Railways and may have been the man he was talking to when the tower collapsed, which does not explain how he was also in the dining room with the baby. Leslie had enlisted in the  Army, in the Railway Unit, on May 7, 1918 at the age of 19 years and 10 months; his address was Railway Cottage, Whitehorse Road, Deepdene.  Leslie embarked at the end of August, served in England and France and Returned to Australia July 1919.  In 1922 he married Mary Ialean Kirk. Perhaps not surprising, they left Wangaratta soon after the water tower collapsed and in 1926 are listed in the Electoral Roll at Whitehorse Road, Deepdene, presumably living with his parents. Mary sadly died on May 18, 1935, aged only 36 years old, leaving behind their three children, Leslie, Ian and Joan. At the time of her death the family was living at 42 Nungerner Street, Balwyn. Leslie died in 1993, aged 95. (4)

Wangaratta Water Tower collapsed 5.4.25.

Photographer: G. Roberts Studio.

Museums Victoria https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/768014

The Age also reported -

The tank was portion of a scheme to improve the water supply of the west end of the town. Its capacity was 240,000 gallons, and the shell was 8 inches thick. The tank was divided into three equal sections by two floors. When the first floor was being put in, at 33 feet from the ground, the scaffolding gave way, and apparently weakened the wall. For several days there had been some water in the top and bottom sections of the tank, but none in the centre. It was hoped that the defects could have been remedied with the balance of the money held by the trust, but the total collapse puts a new aspect on the matter, and it remains to be settled whether the contractor will have to rebuild the tank or whether the trust will have to incur the additional expense of the whole loss. Already over £8000 has been borrowed for the improved scheme, without benefit to the ratepayers so far, although the works have been in progress for eighteen months. (5)

What went wrong? As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the wall had already been weakened.  The Age later reported -

The reinforced concrete water tank which collapsed on Sunday evening has been inspected by Mr. F. Neville, engineer of the Water Commission; Mr. J. T. Noble Anderson, engineer of Wangaratta Water Works Trust, and A. A. Hargreave, contractor for its construction. Mr. Anderson has notified the contractor that the conditions of contract require him to replace the structure. In a further report to the water works trust Mr. Anderson states that he was misinformed when he reported that there was no water in the second chamber of the tank. He ascertained that it contained 17½ feet of water, weighing 180 tons, and that the floor itself gave way. This floor also fell when under construction. Negotiations were proceeding between the engineer and contractor to have this floor strengthened by a central pillar when the tank collapsed. Mr. Anderson states that he did not know how the water came to be in the second section of the tank. (6)

The Construction and Local Government Journal: the weekly supplement to Building and the Australasian Engineer covered the story in June 1925 and were clearly not impressed with either the construction or the aesthetics of the tower -

This service reservoir was constructed in three sections with two intermediate floors, the latter being carried, without intermediate support, by the outer walls, which also sustained the pressure due to the various superimposed heads of water. By comparison with an ordinary reinforced concrete column with its essential hooping these thin 8-inch walls would appear to be rather inefficient for purposes of weight sustaining, when they have also to resist large secondary stresses. (7)

The residents of Wangaratta will at least have some consolation for the loss of their water tank, in the knowledge that their skyline will look better without it; for surely something less of an eyesore than this 106 feet length, of Brobdignagian (8) stove-pipe could have been devised to serve the same purpose. Much less architectural treatment has been provided than is commonly, given to a chimney stack. (9)

This image shows how close the fallen water tower was to the McDonald's house, and how lucky they were to escape serious injury.

The Australasian, April 11 1925 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140772794

A month later the Construction and Local Government Journal had more to add -

This fallen monstrosity stands - or rather lies - as a warning to those who would trifle with this scientific building material. While it remains to be proved wherein the real responsibility lies, the disaster should deter others from copying this design for a storage reservoir, from structural considerations, even if not from the aesthetic. After completion, one of the floors was found to be weak. The section above was filled by mistake, and the floor giving way under the strain near one side, the falling avalanche of water burst out the wall and a total collapse of the water tower resulted. (10)

So who was to blame? There was protracted negotiations to establish liability and how everyone could move forward. It wasn't until August 1928 that the issue was resolved - 

Finality has been reached in the negotiations in connection the concrete tank which collapsed in April, 1925, the Wangaratta Waterworks Trust has settled its action as against the contractors (Messrs A.A. Hargrave and Co.) Under the settlement the contractors will bear half the loss on the collapsed water tower. The trust with the approval of the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission and its consulting engineers (Messrs B.A. and D.B. Smith), has entered into a contract with Mr. A.A. Hargrave for the construction of a new water tower at a cost of £4000. The new tower will be constructed on the old site and the work of construction will begin immediately, and will be completed within six months. When completed the tower will resemble in appearance the Wodonga water tower. It will be 100ft. high, and will be of 100,000 gallons capacity. (11)

The Water Tower, almost completed.

The Argus, March 9 1929, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3992195/468312

The tower was completed around March 1929, four years after it collapsed. (12)

The 1929 water tower can be seen in the centre of this photograph. The brick water tower on the left is the railway water tower, constructed in 1873, the year the railway arrived in Wangaratta. (13)

Railway Yards, Wangaratta. Photographer: Rose Stereograph Co.

State Library of Victoria image H32492/1289

Trove list - I have created a short list of articles in the collapse of water tower at Wangaratta, access it here.

Footnotes

(1) Benalla Standard, April 7, 1925, see here.

(2) The Age, April 6, 1925, see here.

(3) See my Trove list, here, for the various reports.

(4) Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com; Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages;  Leslie's Attestation papers, National Archives of Australia, see here; Mary's death notice, The Age, May 20, 1935, see here. 

(5) The Age, April 6, 1925, see here.

(6) The Age, April 11, 1925, see here.

(7) Construction and Local Government Journal, June 17, 1925, p. 7, see here.

(8) Brobdignagian - Brobdingnag was the country of  giants in Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels - hence brobdignagian meaning colossal

(9) Construction and Local Government Journal, June 17, 1925, p. 19, see here.

(10) Construction and Local Government Journal, July 1, 1925, see here.

(11) The Argus, August 29, 1928, see here.

(12) The Argus, March 9, 1929, see here.

(13) The rail line from Benalla to Wangaratta opened October 28, 1873; Wangaratta to Wodonga opened November 21, 1873 (Harrigan, Leo J Victorian Railways to '62 (Victorian Railways, 1962), p. 285)

Artesian Wells at Sale

I bought this wonderful postcard of the Artesian Well in Sale. It was posted May 21, 1909 and sent to Miss Vera Macfarlan of 223 Fitzroy Street in St Kilda and there is more about Vera at the end of this post. The postcard shows a woman and a little girl in a rather extravagant hat, with her equally well dressed doll. At first I thought these were two girls, but the one on the right has a ring on her wedding ring finger, so I think she is the mother of the little girl. Sadly, I don't know who these lovely people are but I hope they enjoyed their refreshing and health giving drink.

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#

In Sale, after this first and other successive wells, a fourth well was sunk near the Railway Yards -  During the year a School of Arts was opened in the upper rooms of the State School, the Victoria Park well commenced to gush its strong-smelling waters, and the enterprising Mr Luke had a well sunk opposite the railway station to supply waters to the public baths (14).  I believe this was in 1884 (15).

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.