KYNETON MINERAL SPRINGS
Welcome to the Kyneton Mineral Springs Reserve.
Here you will find a large open reserve space catering for both young and older children with various playgraounds and picnic areas to use, There are also BBQ areas, picnic tables and a public toilet. RV's and caravans are permitted to stop in the designated areas for a maximum of 48 Hours. There is also a service station across the road offering fuel, a carwash and other nick nacks.
The main attraction to this reserve is the 2 Mineral Water pumps and a 3rd across the road at the Kyneton Spring Water Bottling Plant.
THE FLOW CHART
1889: The first bore was drilled on the reserve (it's the main spring, beneath the Victorian-style rotunda). Water flowed with the aid of natural pressure. It wasn't until years later that a pump was required. (Two other bores in the south of the reserve were sunk in the 1940s.)
1890: The Shire of Kyneton fenced off the springs and established a public park, the Kyneton Mineral Springs Reserve.
1912: The chief analyst of Victoria's Geological Survey Laboratory reported that water sampled from Kyneton's spring was 'clean and sparkling with a pleasant mineral taste. It is strongly impregnated with gas'.
1913: The reserve's popular rotunda was built and the main spring, coincidentally, suddenly stopped flowing. A drilling expert called in to fix the problem found that by retracting the bore more than 20 metres to a depth of 14.6 metres, water would begin to flow again.
1926: The reserve authorities decided to use pumps to obtain water, rather than rely on natural pressure.
1940s: Two bores were sunk in the southern area of the reserve, where telltale signs indicated the presence of mineral springs, quantities of gas in the riverbed accompanied by iron deposits. A hand-pump stands over one bore, the electric pump over the other services the bottling plant across the road.
1992: Repairs to the bores and beautification of the reserve began. Further work in 2000-01 provided the elegant hand-pumps and attractive landscape that visitors to the reserve enjoy today.