Mount Crosby pumping station is a heritage-listed pumping station and weir (the Mount Crosby Weir) at Stumers Road, Mount Crosby, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is located on the Brisbane River and extends into Chuwar on the other side of the river. The facility supplies water to Brisbane and nearby cities and towns within the SEQ Water Grid. It was originally designed by Charles H McLay and built from 1891 to 1892. The historic parts of the facility were added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 25 October 2019. It is also listed on the Brisbane Heritage Register, together with numerous associated facilities which were not included in the state heritage listing.
The Mount Crosby pumping station was originally steam-powered. A tramway was originally created for construction purposes, but was later used to transport coal to fire the boilers to create the steam that drove the pumping engines; The facility originally pumped untreated water from the north or eastern bank of the river, but water treatment was added later.
The Mount Crosby pumping station complex has been an important part of Queensland's industrial history since first established in 1892. Several important technological phases in Queensland's history are reflected in the buildings, infrastructure, and industrial remnants. In continuous operation, the station has provided generations of workers with employment and accommodation in the adjacent worker's houses, reflecting the importance of providing accommodation to company workers in remote locations in the late 19th century. The prominent waterworks operation, incorporating daily life as place of employment, residence, and recreation, and the relatively remote location, fostered a close-knit and social community of workers and their families.
Geography The Mount Crosby pumping station complex is located 24 km southwest of Brisbane's CBD. There is a single lane bridge over the Mount Crosby Weir enabling easy access across the Brisbane River; it is a public road.
History Established in 1892 by the Brisbane Board of Waterworks as a means of providing Brisbane residents with a reliable source of clean water, the pumping station is situated alongside the Brisbane River from which the water is taken. The complex consists of the 1892 pumping station and a series of contemporaneously built workers' houses, which provided accommodation for employees. Associated infrastructure and industrial remnants throughout the site represent the pumping station's technological phases. Mount Crosby pumping station continues to provide Brisbane and its surrounds with clean, safe and reliable water.
The Mount Crosby district forms part of the traditional land of the Yuggera Ugarapul people. John Oxley first sailed up the Brisbane River in the early 1820s and named the area now known as Mount Crosby, Belle Vue. It was not until the mid-late 1850s that land at Mount Crosby began to be settled, with small farms emerging, and by the 1870s the majority of the land at Mount Crosby had been selected. Ipswich, the closest regional town, became the centre for supplies and market for the Mount Crosby farmers.
Brisbane's water supply during the convict era came from a reservoir in present-day Tank Street in the Brisbane central business district. There was no pipe network; the water was delivered by water carts to households who stored their water in barrels. The water was described as having "a pea-soup colour and consistency" which required the householders to add wood ashes or alum to their water barrels to precipitate the yellow sediments. On establishment of the Brisbane Municipal Council in 1859, one of their first tasks was to plan a better water supply for the growing town.
The Brisbane Waterworks Act 1863 was introduced to alleviate this problem. The legislation enabled the Brisbane Municipal Council to construct reservoirs, supply water to the town and to charge for services, but allowed the Queensland Government to influence decisions with the establishment of a Board of Waterworks. The Enoggera Dam was completed in 1866 and provided reticulated water to the town, and in 1871 the first of Spring Hill's Service Reservoirs the supply of water to Brisbane residents. Further improvements to the water supply were made with the construction of the Gold Creek Reservoir in the early 1880s.QHR 600174, Service Reservoirs, Department of Environment and Science.
As the population of Brisbane grew and the water supply became increasingly stretched following a series of droughts, the Brisbane Board of Waterworks recognised the necessity for expansion of water infrastructure. In 1880, government hydraulic engineer, JB Henderson, recommended the construction of a pumping station at Mount Crosby, and in 1889 the Board's chief engineer, Alexander Stewart, prepared plans for a new waterworks following the passing of legislation in 1889 (the Brisbane Water Supply Act 1889), when permission was granted to draw fresh water from the Brisbane River at Mount Crosby.
1890–1902 The new works were to be constructed on the site of a former farm, on an elevated portion of land above the river, and at the base of a high hill. A brick pumping station, installed with the latest coal-powered steam engines, would pump the water up the hill to a reservoir, where it could be stored before being gravity-fed through a large pipeline to Brisbane. It was reported in 1891 that "only about twelve months have elapsed since the first workman struck his pick into the side of the hill to form the site for the buildings, and now the completion of the works is close at hand".
The contractor awarded the construction of the pumping station was Chamberlain & Wylie, with work commencing on the 1 August 1890. The Board appointed Joseph Stewart as Chief Engineer of the works; he would serve in this position until his death in 1919. A dedication plaque was erected at the entrance to the engine house at the time of his death commemorating Stewart's service at Mount Crosby. At the commencement of the work, Queensland was experiencing high levels of unemployment and it was estimated that more than 80 men were to be employed in the waterworks' construction. As initial work progressed well, in April 1891 the ceremony of laying the foundation stone was attended by numerous dignitaries, including the Colonial Secretary, Hon. Horace Tozer MLA, and "the stone being ready, and a raised platform having been erected for those present, the stone was laid on the left hand corner at the rear of the building".
Work progressed swiftly, and by December 1892 it was reported that the main brick buildings were complete, including the tall engine house, one-storey boiler house, and a high chimney. All the bricks were locally made. There was also a timber coal shed, an office/operations room, and a timber weighbridge adjacent to the boiler house. The steam-driven pumping machinery installed in the engine house was supplied by British company, Easton and Anderson Ltd., and the boiler house boilers were supplied by JW Sutton & Co., manufactured in their works at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane.
The engine house was a tall building, aligned east/west and approximately long and housed the pumping machinery. Inside the building, five circular concrete-lined wet wells (A, B, C, D and E - west to east), were dug to a depth of into the ground from the ground floor of the engine house, each with a diameter of . Within three of these wells (A, B, and C) the pumping equipment was held, with Wells D and E remaining vacant for future expansion. The pumps were "vertical, compound, tandem, direct-acting, condensing machines", and were believed to take up less floor space than other types, as the machinery was designed to work in a vertical fashion, deep into the ground and high above it in the engine house. To service the equipment within the engine house, a hand-operated traveling crane was installed, running above the wells at a high level on parallel iron rails.
The boiler house was attached to the centre of the north side of the engine house and was aligned north–south. It was a structure. The eastern wall was brick and the western wall featured open arches, which provided access from the detached coal store built at the western side of the boiler house. The design of the boiler house provided space for 13 boilers, although only 8 were installed. When working, the coal-fired boilers produced the steam that powered the pumping machines within the engine house. Water, drawn from the river at an intake constructed below the station, was forced through a pipeline up the steep incline to the reservoir, initially known as the high-level reservoir, where the water was gravity fed down a series of pipelines to Brisbane.The pumping machinery, being of the latest technology, was difficult to correctly install. To assist with this, as per the contract, in 1892 Easton and Anderson sent a company representative, Charles May, to supervise the machinery's installation. May was also responsible for running the machines for six months following the start of operations. The installation of the pumping equipment did not go as smoothly as hoped. Excessive vibrations threatened to damage both the equipment and the pump house. Initially the vibrations were thought to be caused by the machinery itself, but turned out to be caused by the way the machinery had been attached to the engine house walls. Problems with the casting in one of the wells also caused damage to one of the pumps. After initial issues were quickly rectified, in June 1893 it was reported that "those dependent on the water supply at Brisbane will be glad to know that the machinery at Mount Crosby is at length working smoothly, and that a constant and reliable stream of good water is now flowing into the city from that source".
A stable means of coal delivery was crucial for the running of the station. All coal supplies came from the Tivoli coal mines, several kilometres away in North Ipswich. Initially, the coal was delivered by horse-drawn wagons, each capable of holding of coal. The wagons crossed the river at Colleges Crossing, approximately south of the pumping station. In 1893 this bridge became a casualty of the flood. The coal then had to be transported across the river in punts, a costly and inefficient venture. In December 1893 the Board of Waterworks accepted a tender from Chamberlain and Wylie for the construction of a new bridge to be built over the river at the actual station. The bridge was completed in 1894. Two years later, it was washed away by a flood, but rebuilt in 1897, only to be washed away again the following year. In 1899 a third bridge had been completed, which was thought to be flood-proof. Drays continued to deliver the coal to the station across this bridge and it was estimated that between 3000 and 5000 tonnes were taken to the station per year.
The site chosen for the pumping station was relatively remote, with only rudimentary tracks to the station from Ipswich and Brisbane. Employee housing was a major requirement for the Board of Waterworks. When work began on construction, accommodation for up to 80 men was required and tents were erected on the slopes surrounding the construction works. "Dotting the hillside at every eligible spot, lies the calico township of Mount Crosby, in the midst of which the great brick chimney stack...rears its lofty head". Temporary structures were also built for offices and a store.