Plate II: Close -up of the dam crest from true
right.
Plate III: View of standing steel pipe looking
upstream. |
The exact course of the diversion channel that runs
from the Parapara River to the tunnel could not be relocated. The
tunnel entrance is no longer visible either. Richard Lamb has located
what is likely to have been the route of the channel, or the collapsed
tunnel, based on depressions in the ground that would be consistent
with such a channel. These depressions align with a 10m long water-filled
channel (approximately 2.5m wide and 500mm deep) aligned directly
towards the closest point on the Parapara River. There is also a
shallow remnant channel at the eastern end of the wetland adjacent
to the river on the flat. A point along the channel was recorded
(Site 3), as was the approximate intake point for the diversion
channel (Site 4). This is a small ‘inlet’ in the true
left bank of the Parapara River a short distance upstream from the
dam.
The dam stands at the upper end of a gorge on
the Parapara River (Plates II and III, Site 5). The construction
of the dam is unusual in that the bottom two-thirds of the structure
are concrete and the top third is concrete and large river cobbles.
Water still flows through the two diversion pipes at the base of
the dam described above, but only one of the steel pipes that held
the lifting gear remains standing. One of the pipes is visible lying
in the water behind the dam and it is likely that the last pipe
has also fallen into the river. The dam is in very good condition,
except on the true left side of the river where a section of the
dam crest has broken away. This section is approximately 3m long,
1m wide and 50cm deep. |