In the early 1940's, Tom Bartlett built this reservoir to supply water to his homestead, one of the first houses in the area.
Before it was built, the cliff acted as a shower for the locals who knew it as "the fernery shower" and left their soap on one of the rock ledges.
It was then pumped up to two 1000 gallon(4546 litre)storage tanks. One of the lines from the storage tanks ran to his dairy and farm where he grew bananas, pineapples and passionfruit which he sold.
The other line ran to the camping ground above Bartlett's Reserve (the current site of the Bonny Hills Caravan Park), and continued to the Surf Club Pavilion. There were several taps placed along the way for the public to use.
The crystal clear spring water wasn't to last forever though. With progress and the development in the 1970's, the residents were required to install septic tanks. Many tanks failed to get emptied and the inevitable happened every time it rained.
In the mid 1970's a Mr Alex Sharkey, a regular Bonny Hills holidayer and council employee, was directed to blow up the reservoir using gelignite. It didn't collapse, to his delight, and after many attemps he had to resign to the small hole in the bottom for drainage, which is still there today.
RESERVOIR TECHNICAL INFORMATION-
The reservoir is 2.4m in height.
It held 40,000 gallons, or 181,400 litres.
It is 900mm thick at the bottom and 450mm thick at the top.
The reinforcement is discarded wire from a punt that used to trade between Dunbogan and Laurieton. It is so thick and heavy that it was cut by hand using a cold chisel and hammer by Bartlett. It was then carried on the back of his car to the site. It can still be seen.
The aggregate for the concrete was sourced right off the beach and contains all manner of seashells, many of which can be seen making an appearance now, due to erosion of the mortar mix.