Busby’s Bore
By the 1820s the water supply was in a dire condition. Fortunately
for Sydney there where a number of swamps capable of providing a
pure supply just south of the settlement. Remnants of these swamps
are now the ornamental lakes in Centennial Park.
In 1827 the governor accepted a proposal from surveyor John Busby
to tunnel through from the Lachlan Swamp to Hyde Park. The tunnel,
which became known as Busby’s Bore, was built by convicts
and took ten years to complete, partly because Busby was not a good
manager of what he called his ‘vicious, drunken and idle’
workforce. As the project limped along year after year wags about
town came to refer to John Busby as the ‘Great Bore’.
Images
Water
on tap?
This sketch map by the City Surveyor shows the layout
of waterpipes in the city in June 1844, not long after
the completion of Busby’s Bore. It was the start
of reticulating water in the city. Only a few houses had
the water laid on, and most collected it from the standpipes
– marked on the sketch map as fountains. The provision
of fire plugs was a bit of wishful thinking. In the early
decades the water pressure fluctuated and often failed
in moments of crisis. (City of Sydney Archives)
Drawers
of water
This unsigned drawing is possibly by Charles Woolcott
who was the Town Clerk of Sydney for thirty years from
1857. It shows the stand pipe at the end of the bore where
it entered Hyde Park, from there water carts could fill
up for delivery around the town. (untitled,
undated, attributed C H Woolcott, Mitchell Library, State
Library of New South Wales)
Busby’s
Bore Fountain
This little fountain has a very long inscription on its
accompanying plaque telling the story of Sydney’s
early water supply. The fountain was turned on by the
Lord Mayor in 1962 and is located near the place where
the original Busby’s Bore entered the City. (Tony
Smith / City of Sydney Archives)
