Sydney’s most devastating flood, the Great Flood of 1867, remembered
- Residents fears realised when South Creek broke its banks
- Heroic rescue ends sadly for much-loved therapy racehorse Buddy
- Council given $100,000 to plan ahead for CBD flooding
IN JUNE 1867, 150 years ago, the “Great Flood” as it was known, inundated more than 16,000 homes, killed at least 13 people, and caused damage in the order of $1.4 billion in the Nepean region.
But the railway bridge — which we now call Victoria Bridge, on the banks of the Nepean River — didn’t give way.
“That’s the fantastic thing,” Penrith historian Lorraine Stacker said.
The bridge had been designed to be six feet above the highest flood level then known and had it given way, it would have been a “national calamity”, Sydney newspapers reported at the time.
In the three days from June 22, the Nepean River had risen “within five feet of the floor of the railway bridge”, papers wrote on June 24, reaching 63.8 feet at its peak or 19.45m.
Reports described the entire country as in flood and “an almost unbroken lake of many miles” from South Creek to Penrith railway station, where the roofs of huts could be seen peaking through water.
High St in Penrith was flooded up to the road leading to Penrith Railway Station, and nearly all the houses in Camden were submerged except Argyle St.
In Llandillo nearly all the houses were underwater after South Creek suddenly overflowed its banks.
The creek is a major tributary of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River flowing to Windsor which was covered with water, as far as the eye could see.
“(A) family of nine were rescued from (Castlereagh) ... two of the children were ill from measles and in this family also there was an infant only three months old,” a Sydney paper reported on June 24.
“They had been on the roof of their hut for some 24 hours exposed to the pelting of the pitiless storm, drenched to the skin and without food.”
People sheltered on roof tops waiting to be rescued from “a watery grave” by boatmen, including John Harris of Shanes Park, who “laboured hard to save life and property”.
Some of the stranded children had measles.
Additional boats were sent from Sydney on a special train.
“In journeying up to Penrith, the first flooded portion of the country passed is South Creek,” reporters noted at the time.
Ms Stacker said people would have sought refuge at places such as Penrith Police Station and St Stephens Anglican Church.
“Everywhere across NSW pretty much had their biggest flood in their recorded history in the 1860s,” she said.
A display commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Great Flood is on show at Penrith Library.
PERILOUS TO FORGET POWER OF NATURE
THE NSW State Emergency Service says there is only about a one-in-280 chance of a flood such as the 1867 Great Flood occurring in any given year.
“It could happen on average about once every 100,000 years, but it could occur at any time,” the service states on its website.
“A (probable maximum flood) would occur if an average of 770mm of rain fell in three days over the entire Warragamba catchment of more than 9000 sqm.”
Recognising the region’s proclivity to flooding, the NSW government has awarded Penrith Council numerous floodplain management grants, including to develop a plan to improve its management of flood problems in Penrith’s central business district.
Experts say a one-in-100 year flooding could cause above-floor flooding in about 230 CBD buildings and at least $1.5 million damage.
Penrith historian Lorraine Stacker said it was important to remember, “that it is possible to have a flood that big ... and that the Nepean River has the potential for destruction”.
The mark of the 1867 flood level was used as part of the investigation for the design of the present Warragamba Dam spillway.
The NSW Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission used the mark of the 1867 flood level as part of its investigation for the design of the present Warragamba Dam spillway.
The flood mark was 47.174 metres at Wallacia, Sydney Water Board’s The Report on the 1867 Flood said.
RAILWAY BRIDGE OPENING CELEBRATION
Nepean District Historical Society will celebrate the 150 anniversary of the official opening of the railway bridge at its next open day.
“When the railway reached Penrith, there wasn’t a bridge; the previous two have been washed away and no money to build another one,” Rosemary Weaver, the society’s senior vice-president, said.
“NSW engineer in chief of the Railways, John Whitton, had discussions with Penrith Bridge Company and they accepted his idea of a road/rail bridge which, after a few problems, was opened 150 years ago in 1867.
“We have a display up in the inn which explains how Whitton got the railway up the Blue Mountains.”
The celebration will be held on Sunday, July 16, from 9am to 3pm, at the Arms of Australia Inn Museum, Emu Plains.
Custom HTML Preview
Was that global warming too?
Probably climate change