It was built with day labour about 40 men strong under the personal supervision of the eminent civil engineer Oscar Schulze.

He advocated improved windmills and waterwheels for heavy industry and campaigned against the use of steam gas and petroleum engines when alternative energy was available.

[1] Junction Reefs Dam and its hydro system gave him the opportunity to demonstrate his theories and apply them to the mining industry.

The race which was left open during construction, being arched over, will serve permanently as an emergency outlet, for which purpose a projection was built out form the main wall with a 5 feet well in it, through which the reservoir can be emptied to the level of the service pipe, into the gorge.

This well is usually kept closed by a wooden lid 12 inches in thickness, which can be raised by means of a hydraulic ram of 50 tons power, worked by a pump placed at the back of the wall.

The service outlet was carried through the main wall by a 24-inch cast- iron pipe, the entrance of which was formed by a tapering and rising brick culvert.

The vertical opening of that culvert, together with that of the emergency outlet and of two 6 inch flushing pipes, is enclosed by a wooden grating built in the shape of a step roof and surrounded by a sediment basin, which was formed by building an earth dam across the river bed above the dam, which, during the construction, served for diverting the river from the work as required.

The comparatively small amount of cement is accounted for by the fact that large boulders were placed in the concrete wherever practicable to the extent of one-fifth to one third of its bulk.

There is potential to establish a viable mining visitor centre in conjunction with picnic grounds changing an entry fee for maintenance works.

[2][1] Industrial archaeology in Australia provides an important record of the occupations and commercial activity of European incomers from the earliest days of settlement to the present.

The Central Western Region was one of the first major inland areas of NSW to be settled and its archaeological sites provide a physical adjunct to the historical record.

Gold rushes had an enormous effect on the landscape, where ever they happened; from the physical appearance of the surrounding environment, to the increase of capital, in terms of both personal and public profit and expenditure on infrastructure and buildings, to the establishment and demise of communities.

The dam forms part of the classic history of development and advancement in mining engineering technology in the area and for all Australia.