Goulburn to Gong

We spent yesterday again in Goulburn. This time we headed out to Rocky Hill, where the War Memorial Museum is. Unfortunately; the tower was closed for refurbishment.

The museum was interesting and hosted a large exhibit on the Vietnam war .

The Aussie icon, the Slouch hat

This is called a Giggle hat… of course I took a pic

Rick read more than I did.

We then headed into town, and enjoyed the Belmore park

The Bunya pine in the background…

The water fountain

We then headed over to the Hibo (as the locals call it) for lunch.

We got back to our airbnb just in time, as the sky’s opened, and it rained! Hard.

The next day, today, we awoke and packed up and headed to the Steam Waterworks, which was not open yesterday.

The waterworks

The green views!

The sky!

The building, the left is a later addition.

The newer steam engine

The newest electric engines

The coal boilers

Close up

The fascinating thing, the water was pumped up the hill, to a settling pond, then through a sand filter, and then through gravity feed back to town, to the Belmore Park; where we were yesterday. To two taps, when the town folks would fill their buckets to get drinking water.

From their website:

Goulburn Historic Steam Waterworks

Built between 1883 and 1885, the steam operated pumping facility provided Goulburn’s first reticulated water supply. The pumphouse still contains the original Appleby Bros. Beam Engine pump and Galloway Boilers.

This rare facility is the only complete, steam powered municipal water supply left in its original location, in the Southern Hemisphere. The buildings and engine are of national significance and are now protected by a permanent conservation order. The Waterworks is listed on the State Heritage and National Trust Registers.

We also are fortunate to also have a horizontal engine built by Hick, Hargreaves & Co, England in 1866. While not original to the site it demonstrates an earlier type and different style of a stationary steam engine.

As we exited the steam works, we passed a couple, who were the garden caretakers… and it was a lovely garden’