Victoria Dam (Western Australia)

Old Victoria Dam
The Old and New Victoria Dams
Official name	Victoria Dam
Location	Perth, Australia
Coordinates	32°02′25″S 116°04′00″E / 32.04028°S 116.06667°E / -32.04028; 116.06667
Opening date	1 October 1891
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Arch-gravity dam
Impounds	Munday Brook
Height	23 m (75 ft)
Length	220 m (722 ft)
Reservoir
Creates	Victoria Reservoir
Total capacity	600 ML (21,000,000 cu ft)
Catchment area	37.2 km2 (14.4 sq mi)
Surface area	0.15 km2 (0.06 sq mi)

New Victoria Dam
New Victoria Dam at 30.6% of capacity
Official name	Victoria Dam
Location	Perth, Australia
Coordinates	32°02′33″S 116°04′02″E / 32.04250°S 116.06722°E / -32.04250; 116.06722Coordinates: 32°02′33″S 116°04′02″E / 32.04250°S 116.06722°E / -32.04250; 116.06722
Construction began	23 August 1990
Opening date	22 November 1991
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Munday Brook
Height	52 m (171 ft)
Length	285 m (935 ft)
Reservoir
Creates	Victoria Reservoir
Catchment area	37 km2 (14.3 sq mi)
Surface area	0.77 km2 (0.30 sq mi)

The Victoria Dam is a water supply dam providing water for the city of Perth, Western Australia. It is situated on the Darling Scarp near Lesmurdie, and crosses Munday Brook. Two dams have stood at the present site; the older dam was the first permanent water supply for the colony and also the first dam in Western Australia. It stood for almost 100 years before being replaced with the current dam.

Prior to the constriction of the dam, residents of Perth sourced their drinking water from wells, natural bodies of water and rainwater tanks. With the growth in the population of Perth and Fremantle, concerns about water quality, pollution and adequate sewage disposal became widespread. Decades of proposals for sewage disposal and water supply systems followed, coupled with disagreement between the Town Councils and the Colony Government about responsibility for this area. An extensive water supply scheme was eventually compiled by the civil engineers Henry John Saunders and James Barratt in June 1887.

The scheme designed by Saunders and Barratt contained full designs, site surveys and runoff estimates, despite no guarantee of approval or financial incentive. The plan included reticulation for both Perth and Fremantle. In July and August 1887, a Legislative Council Select Committee appointed to examine the proposal passed the issue back to local government. Fremantle refused to participate in the water supply scheme, so following the departure from the Civil Engineering partnership of Barratt, Saunders removed Fremantle from the plan.

The Colony Government passed enabling legislation, and some privately owned land covering the reservoir was resumed.

Construction was completed in 1891. The scheme, which included pipelines to Kings Park and a reservoir there on Mount Eliza, was constructed and operated by the private City of Perth Waterworks Company. The dam became the first permanent water source for Perth.

The concrete dam wall was built using approximately 1,260 tonnes of cement imported from England. The dam wall was a concrete gravity-arch structure, designed in the plan of a large-radius arch. The volume of the concrete in the finished wall was 16,900 cubic metres.