The Scheme
The Coolgardie Water Scheme (known by many critics as “The Scheme of Madness”), was built over a period of five years when Charles Yearlton O’Connor was asked to produce a practical plan for pumping water to the Goldfields after the discovery of gold in Coolgardie & Kalgoorlie. O’Connor designed a plan that involved storing water in the Darling Ranges, and pump it, through a series of eight pump stations to Coolgardie & then on to Kalgoorlie.
Construction of the pipeline took five years & in March 1902 water began being pumped from the Mundaring Weir, reaching Coolgardie in December 1902 & finally reaching Kalgoorlie in January of 1903. Water had never been lifter so high (390m) or pumped so far (560km) & the critics took their toll on O'Connor who took his own life before seeing the completion of his work.
Charles Yearlton O’Connor
The location for this cache will take you to the Upper Valve House at the Mundaring Weir - although no longer in operation, it was one of two valve houses that regulated the flow of water from the weir.
Dam information
Capacity – 63.6 million kilolitres
Catchment area – 1,470 square kilometres
Length of wall – 308 metres
Height of wall (above river bed) – 42 metres
To maintain a safe water level in the weir, additional water is pumped in from various sources including the desalination plant at Kwinana, groundwater and other dams.
Logging Requirements
1. At the location you will see a plaque with a diagram. What is the figure number (#) at the top of the diagram?
2. Upload a photo of yourself or GPSr at the location. Bonus points will be given for creativity.
We hope you enjoy visiting this historic landmark. The memorial of C Y O’Connor is just to the north of here & is a must see whilst you are in the area.
Gates are open until 5pm in Winter & 6pm in Summer.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020 : This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog