Lake Parramatta, New South Wales

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Lake Parramatta is the name of both the body of water that is the dammed Hunt Creek, and the nature reserve that surrounds it. The catchment area for the Lake is bounded by North Rocks Rd, Pennant Hills Rd and Hunt's Creek. Entry to the reserve is from Lackey Street, North Parramatta. The reserve is a popular recreational site.

The dam wall is 15 metres high and has created a lake holding 485,000 cubic metres of water, approximately equivalent to 9,700 backyard swimming pools, with a surface area of approximately 10 hectares.

[edit] History

In earlier times, this area was extremely important to Aboriginal people because of the abundant fresh water and diverse range of food types.

Aborigines used Lake Parramatta Reserve area, prior to European colonisation of the Parramatta area, extensively on a semi-permanent basis due to the abundance of fresh water and diversity of food types available. Evidence still remains of Aboriginal occupation within the Reserve in the form of remnant shelters, hand stencils, flaking scars and deposits. As far back as 1804 records exist of the Reserve's use as a pleasure ground, specifically around Hunt’s Creek.

By 1840, as Parramatta’s population was growing, and likewise its' demand for fresh water, Hunt's Creek was advocated for damming. In 1855 the foundation stone for the dam was laid with all sandstone used for construction quarried from Hunt's Creek, thereby allowing for completion in the following year.

Completed in 1856 this was the twelfth engineered dam built in the western world, the first in Australia, and the second arch built universally that involved calculations for its construction.

The masonry arch dam wall, designed by Lieutenant Percy Simpson, builder of the Great North Road, and cost of $17,000 pounds. The land had been supplied by James Pye, a local orchardist and owner of the Lamb and Lark Inn at Baulkham Hills at nominal cost.

Water from this dam was not reticulated until 1881 when it was required to augment the then dwindling water supply.

When the water supply became insufficient for the town’s use, it was entrusted with its surrounds in 1909 to Parramatta Council as a recreational area. In the 1920's and 30's the lake was a popular swiming hole with at one point the largest inland freshwater lifesaving club in Australia.

By the late 1980's lack of consistently good water quality led to “No Swimming” signs being erected.

In June 2006 Parramtta City Council voted to reopen the lake to limited swiming. After investigating different options the Counil has for now decided to allow swiming only on special event days. The first of these, called the Freshwater Festival, was held on 3rd December 2006 featuring competative swimming races from 10am till 12pm and public swimming from 1pm till 3pm, supervised by the Royal Life Saving Society Australia.

[edit] Location

Lake Parramatta Reserve is located 2.2 kilometres north of Parramatta’s central business district. The Reserve totals 93.23 hectares in the area, with approximately 10.5 hectares (11.3%) of it being water surface. The main watercourse entering the Reserve, Hunt's Creek, is a tributary of the Parramatta River. The Reserve's boundaries to the west are cut off by suburban development along North Rocks Road, to the north by Hunt's Creek, to the east by the private bushland and playing fields of The King's School, and to the south by James Ruse Drive.

Geologically, the Lake is located on the margins of Wianamatta shale and Hawkesbury sandstone formations, with a resulting variation in vegetation communities. Vegetation communities present at the site include sandstone blue-gum forests, iron bark, Cumberland Plain Woodland vegetation communities and some coastal species such as Banksia serrata.

[edit] References

• Upper Parramatta River Catchment Trust Lake Parramatta Fact Sheet
• Parramatta's Lake Given The All-Clear Sydney Morning Herald 27 June 2006
• 35 year ban on swimming in Lake Parramatta ends on 3rd December from Parammatta City Council website news release 22 November 2006. Retrieved 09 Feb 2007.

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