Goldfields Water Supply Scheme

The pipeline continues to operate today, supplying water to over 100,000 people in over 33,000 households as well as mines, farms and other enterprises.

During the early 1890s, thousands of settlers had travelled into the barren and dry desert centre of Western Australia seeking gold, but the existing infrastructure for the supply of water was non-existent, and an urgent need arose.

Although supported by Premier Forrest, O'Connor had to deal with widespread criticism and derision from members of the Western Australian Parliament as well as the local press based on a belief that the scope of the engineering task was too great and that it would never work.

Sunday Times editor Frederick Vosper – who was also a politician, ran a personal attack on O'Connor's integrity and ability through the paper.

Timing was critical, Forrest as a supporter had moved into Federal politics,[7] and the new Premier George Leake had long been an opponent of the scheme.

[13][14] The government conducted an inquiry into the scheme[15][16] and found no basis for the press accusations of corruption or misdemeanours on the part of O'Connor.

Mephan Ferguson was awarded the first manufacturing contract and built a fabrication plant at Falkirk (now known as the Perth suburb of Maylands) to produce half of the 60,000 pipes required.

With improved power supplies and modern machinery and automation, the scheme now has more unattended pumping stations operated by fewer people.

James Simpson and Co[26] supplied 3,500 tonnes (7.7 million pounds) of equipment in 5,000 separate boxes for the construction of the pumping sets.

[35] The book River of Steel,[36][37] by Dr Richard G. Hartley, won the Margaret Medcalf award of the State Records Office of Western Australia in 2008.

[41] Note – the material on the scheme is in its entirety a significant collection, and although the Water Authority might hold a comprehensive bibliography, it has not been published.