The redemption of Lake Parramatta

For those who don’t know, I administer the National Environmental Law Association’s Twitter account. I recently changed the background photo for that account to one I took recently while on a bushwalk around Lake Parramatta. It’s a nice pic, although as it’s a big one you can’t see too much of it around the business part of the page, but it’s still worth having a look (you might also follow @NELA_Australia while you’re there).

Although I chose the picture because I thought it was pretty, Lake Parramatta has an interesting and somewhat encouraging history which I thought was worth sharing.

Lake Parramatta consists of a lake (funnily enough) and the 73 hectare bushland reserve that goes with it, with the whole shebang located only 2.2 kilometres north of the Parramatta central business district, the sixth largest central business district in Australia.

Before Europeans settled the area, Lake Parramatta was a creek which the local Aborigines relied on due to the abundance of fresh water flowing through it and the accompanying diversity of food.

The Parramatta area was settled and the creek was called Hunts Creek and sure enough the demands of the growing settlement led to calls for this reliable source of fresh water to be dammed.

The foundation stone for the resulting dam was put in place in 1855. That stone, and all the others which eventually followed it, were quarried from Hunts Creek itself, allowing the structure to be completed quickly – by 1856 the job was done. The resulting lake had a volume of over 280 megalitres (approximately 280 Olympic-size swimming pools) and the stone wall which produced it was significant as only the twelfth engineered arch dam built in the western world (the first in Australia), and the second arch built universally that involved calculations for its construction. The wall was designed by Percy Simpson, builder of the Great North Road, and at the time of its construction cost 17,000 pounds.

In 1898, the original 11 metre high wall was raised a further 12 feet, more than doubling the capacity of the dam to 590 megalitres.

In order to protect the quality of the water feeding into this large and essential source of water, extensive portions of land around its perimeter were reserved, conveniently conserving the area’s native vegetation communities.

Just 11 years after the raising of the dam wall, in 1909, the city of Parramatta was connected to the Sydney water supply system and no longer sourced its water from Lake Parramatta. The lake and reserve were entrusted to Parramatta Council and in this era of predominantly horse-drawn transport, the area continued to serve nearby residents as an immensely popular recreation spot for those in an area that would have seemed very far away from any beach. During this time the lake was used for swimming, rowing, water-skiiing and other aquatic activities. It was so popular that a swimming club, clubhouse and, eventually, the largest inland freshwater livesaving club in Australia were set up in the 1930s. In 1936 a kiosk opened to cater to visitor demand.

Swimmers cool off in Lake Parramatta during its heyday (1930s)

By the 1950s, an increase in the use of motor cars saw a decline in patronage of the lake, and encroaching development (along with associated noise complaints from residents and the dumping of building waste) made its own contribution to the area’s decreasing popularity and by the late 1980s, the lack of consistently good quality water produced a total ban on swimming in the lake.

In the 1990s, Parramatta Council began to implement a number of measures to restore the area to at least some of its former glory. As a result of its efforts, the reserve has been cleaned up, water quality has improved to the point where swimming is once again permitted in the lake (although only at certain times) and damage to vegetation (including degradation through the encroachment of invasive species) has been substantially reduced. Surveys undertaken in 1990 and 2001 identified 67 species of native bird, 12 species of reptile, 5 frog species and 13 species of native mammal making the reserve their home. The area is also full of wildflowers – take a walk there in spring and you will find yourself in a bower of flannel flowers.

The reserve is now recognised as one of the most significant and beautiful bushland remnants in Western Sydney. And while, sadly, many of the Aboriginal sites which surrounded the original creek are now under water, some rock shelter caves, hand stencils, stone flaking, tree scars and midden deposits can still be found in an area which is once again popular among its nearest inhabitants and is today the site of bushwalks, mountain biking, canoeing, barbeques and even weddings.