Presidential Ponderings
President Kelly opened the meeting whilst still recoving from his arduous journey to Wongan Hills!
Guest Speaker - Bill Cutler C Y O'Connor and the Golden Pipeline (Part I)
Bill Cutler was born on the pipeline at No 7 Pumping Station, Gilgai and lived his early life and schooling as a pipeline kid. He is a direct bloodline descendant of two First Fleet convicts who arrived with Captain Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove on January 26th 1788.
Bill is a 43-year career banker serving in Western Australia as well as overseas postings in Fiji, Hong Kong, Singapore and London. He retired in 2002 and amongst other things became a volunteer tour guide with the National Trust, specifically looking after visitors to the Trust’s steam powered No 1 Pumping Station at Mundaring Weir.
Bill thanked the club for the invitation and breakfast, almost as good as the one on a cruise ship last week…. He was 33-year South Perth resident and close neighbour of Rick Sneeuwjagt.
He will give his presentation on CY O’Connor in two parts, returning on 9th May to give the second part. It is the only way to give the story justice.
Today he focussed on:
- Where O’Connor came from as a young man,
- His early years in New Zealand,
- His engineering achievements, and
- The Fremantle Harbour and pipeline
The second part will look more at the things that transpired and led him to take his own life. Myths abound (mostly wrong…) that suggest he committed suicide because the water did not come through. He died three weeks before the first pump started!
Bill posed the question of when Mundaring Weir (built by O’Connor) last overflowed?...1996. It is highly unlikely to ever overflow again as the amount of water taken from it is so much more that it ever was. There is more than 8,000 kilometres of pipes to conduits north and south.
CY O’Connor was born in Ireland in 1843. He was seven years old at the time of the great Potato Famine. At sixteen he became an apprentice at the railways. It served him well, however he went on to become WA’s greatest engineer without attending University or getting an engineering degree. (He was given an Honorary degree).
As a twenty year old O’Connor went to New Zealand, where he spent 26 years. He married and had eight children, although one died as an infant. He started as a junior and before long was the Chief Engineer for the South Island. He designed the Trans-Alpine Railway and the road from Christchurch to Greymouth. He built harbours but was not very well recognised by New Zealanders.
In 1888 he was promoted to a position in Wellington as the Undersecretary to the Minister for Works. However, he preferred being out in the field rather than an office.
That coincided with John Forrest getting Parliament started in Western Australia. Forrest offered him a job, on £1,000 salary, and given the task of building infrastructure in WA. He built harbours (including Freemantle and Point Sampson) and Lighthouses (including at Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste).
He was also given the task of building a railway system in WA. Between 1891 and 1898 he built 2,000 Kilometres of railways. Gold was discovered at Fly Flat (now known as Coolgardie) in 1891. The rapid population growth in the goldfields required much infrastructure work to be done and that was all given to O’Connor.
Many men came from the eastern states and overseas. Many in particular came from Victoria as the goldfields in Bendigo and Ballarat were starting to run down. It was a hard journey over sparse country. These men were known as “T’Othersiders”.
In 1892 Paddy Hannan and Finlayson found gold in Kalgoorlie and that was to change the whole aspect of the Goldfields. By the time the water got to Coolgardie in 1903, it was in the decline. The water under the goldfields is plentiful but highly saline, requiring early condensers to render drinkable. They needed lots of timber to drive the boilers and, before long had cut so many trees down that they ran out of timber.
This is where John Forrest said to O’Connor that he needed to come up with an idea for a pipeline. It was known water had to come from the coast, so Mundaring Weir (on the Darling Range) was eventually chosen as a catchment area.
O’Connor came up with a plan to have plan eight pumping stations operating individually. It was all uphill to Coolgardie, with a physical rise between Mundaring and Coolgardie of 400 meters (thought impossible by engineers around the world).
Bill concluded at this point, to complete the presentation when he returns in May. Host Gerry McGann (tongue in cheek…) presented him with one Mill Point glass and promised the other next time.
A PDF version of Bill’s presentation can be viewed at:
millpointrotaryclub.org.au>members only (password)> this link>Guest Speaker Presentations>CUTLER Bill – CY O’Connor’s Pipeline
Directors' Reports and Member Announcements
Michelle:
- Phil Doyle recovering nicely from his op on Monday, coming home today and needs to rest up for a week.
- Good to see Dietmar back and wishing Anne-Marie a quick recovery.
Brian J:
- Club Service meeting after breakfast.
Jenny:
- 2 boxes of feminine hygiene kits posted to Northern PNG for trial of uni students near Sepic river.
Gorby:
- Trip to Wongan Hill attended by 16 Mill Point Rotarians - thank you! A great night was had by all and the day after visit to Konnongorring to see huge silos and biggest grain storage.
Veronica:
- Reminder re District Conference in Margaret River as per flyer on table. Be good to have RCMP representation.
- Membership committee meeting next week under the Chairmanship of Lew Thomas whilst Veronica is at International Assembly in Orlando.
Kelly:
- The 2025 BNB was discussed at Board level and consensus was that RCMP could not replicate the previous experience this year. Therefore all major beneficiaries have been contacted and invited to participate in a brainstorming session to seek an alternative event. All key stakeholders past and present, have been informed to explore ideas and be involved.
- To date RCMP has raised $515,000 for charities and spent $230,000 in local economies over the last 6 years.
Vocational Training Team (VTT) Visit
A Vocational Training Team (VTT) will visit Perth on Monday 17 March 2025.
- A Rotarian Team leader who is a recently retired senior police officer
- Two serving LAPD Police Officers working in the subject area
- A female victim of sex trafficking, and
- A representative of a not-for-profit organisation working in the subject area.
The venue will be the Willetton Statdium that has a capacity of 210 persons and the ability to cater for dietary requirements. Willetton RC will act as the host club for this event.
Please support this event, bookings on Club Runner will be available and the cost is $35pp. There will be a cash bar for those who would like to take advantage.
And another Fine(s) collection of Funds!
Master-of-Fines Owen took to the podium and doled out fines left, right and centre...
Wayne - didn't forget anything this week after last week's debacle.
Veronica - prefers to undress men rather than dress them but had no choice when it came to Mike Collett in Wongan Hills.
Everyone who changed their address leading up to the election
Veronica - traveling to the USA and being absent for 3 weeks
Anyone under 18 (Rick reckons this is him) and/orregistering to vote for the first time or know someone who had to - including self, kids, grandchildren...
Those with kids or grand-kids going back to school this week.
Kiwi's - it's Waitangi day and of course ANYONE who has been to NZ
All viewers of Spics and Specs on ABC - 20 years on.
All those who are still members after 20 years! Includes the President of 2005 Warren McC, and members present today - Owen F, Joy B, Mike C, Scott D, Dietmar M, Jenny McL, Lyn M, Wayne M, Howard N, John O, Ken P, David R, Marg W, Alison T, Lew T and David T. This makes 21 still going out of the original 50 members of the club. (Absent were Brian A, Phil D, Vic S and John T).
Winner of Heads and Tails
Owen the Tosser produced 3 lots of Heads and Tails, then 2 Heads - but Kelly's Tail won hands down (pardon the pun!)
Attendance - 34 attendees in all, including guest speaker Bill Cutler.
