Goulburn Waterworks

01 April 2025 / Story: Rose Smith; Photos: Rose Smith

Goulburn Waterworks

27 March, 2025

Coffee at 'Coffee on the Double', which is a red double decker bus set in a nursery, was a good start to our day. We all had take-away from the top deck of the bus rather than in the seated area outside the bottom deck. With rain looming, all cars kept their roofs closed for the drive up Braidwood Road towards Nerriga. The bridge construction at Nerriga is much closer to completion, but is still one way, controlled by automatic traffic lights. The light change only let three of the six cars through, which gave Rose & Geoff time to put their top down while waiting for the remaining cars. It also gave one person time to sneak into the bush for a comfort stop.

The convoy met its first idiot driver on Oallen Rd. Extreme tailgating, horn honking and dangerous overtaking with finger gestures made us all a little uneasy. It was good to have radios to warn members what was happening. We were all relieved to see the back of that driver and hoped we wouldn't see him further down the road wrapped around a tree or an oncoming car. From here on we travelled leisurely along the newly sealed Windellama Road to KandGz’s in Goulburn for morning tea. The quality was only ok so it’s back to Rose’s Cafe on future runs.

A five-minute drive followed to our main destination for the day, the Historic Waterworks. This provided Goulburn's first reticulated water supply and is the only steam powered municipal water supply left in its original location in the Southern Hemisphere. What a beautiful location. The gardens were well tended, and in flower, and the grounds and buildings were all well maintained. On arrival, the building was locked.. so Rose had a quiet, quick panic before a volunteer worker showed her a buzzer to ring to get someone to open up for us…. panic averted. 

After an introductory talk, we did a self-guided tour of the facility, some of us quicker than others. The well restored steam engines were the 'hit' of the day. The 1883 Beam Engine is still in its original position and it pumped water to Goulburn for about 40 years. The Horizontal Engine powered a gold mine at Araluen. Many members are keen to return on a 'Steaming Day' which will occur when the boiler is repaired. They are hoping to have this done in time for the Steampunk Festival. 

Lunch at the Hibernian Pub was a good way to finish our day. They offer a large range of lunch specials that are well priced as well as having daily specials. The meals here are large and are great quality. It’s well worth the visit.