Last updated 11Sep22

18 Brindabella Weirs

Here’s a map (show in full screen for best results):

Here’s the gpx file of ACT Weirs.

Photos are available.

1 Sunny Corner weir on Condor Creek

Late to take up bushwalking, I first visited one of the Brindabella weirs in 2008. The walk down Sunny Corner trail from Reids Pinch to the weir on Condor Creek is a popular Wednesday Walk. Not having been able to join them, I was given hints by Peter W from FBI and took a party there on 13 May 2008.

Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map
segment showing
the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Sunny Corner on Condor Creek 13 May 08* UTM 55H 665279-6088269
Cotter Dam 1:25000
2 Lees Creek weir

A private walk on 7 October 2008 included a visit to Lees Creek weir. It’s marked on the Cotter Dam 1;25000 topographic map, a few hundred metres north of the intersection of Blundells Creek Road and Warks Road.

Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map segment showing the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Lees Creek
(Blundells)
16 Dec 17
6 Dec 11
7 Jun 11
16 Nov 10
7 Oct 08*
UTM 55H 667289-6085673
Cotter Dam 1:25000
3 Weir on Condor Creek between Blundells Flat and Shannons Flat

A CBC walk, based on a description in Beyond the Cotter by Allan J Mortlock and Klaus Hueneke ANU Press Canberra 1979, took us to a weir on Condor Creek, between Blundells Flat and Shannons Flat, on 9 June 2009. According to the annotation on Bent J’s Cotter 1:50000 map, this could be a ‘Department of Works’ weir.

Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map
segment showing
the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Weir on Condor Creek
between
Blundells Flat and Shannons Flat
9 Jun 09* UTM 55H 667756-6090737
Cotter Dam 1:25000

Access to Kosciuszko Huts Association Data

In mid-2010 I was fortunate enough to be contacted by Graham S of KHA, who knew of my interest in Namadgi National Park. As well as their immense database of Kosciuszko National Park places of interest, KHA have a substantial holding of NNP locations and they asked if I would ground-truth them. Included were a number of weirs on the eastern flanks of the Brindabella Range:

Weir

Location (MGA94)

My Comment

Easting

Northing

WEIR

665212

6088283

This is Condor Creek weir.

WEIR (Piccadilly)

664812

6085583

WEIR (Ferny)

664812

6084483

WEIR (Warks)

666512

6084483

WEIR (Lees Central)

667312

6085683

This is Lees Creek weir.

WEIR (Bushranger)

664412

6079983

WEIR (Bulls Head)

665012

6083683

WEIR (Pago)

665912

6082983

4 Piccadilly weir, 5 Ferny weir, 6 Bulls Head weir and 7 Warks weir

Having an inveterate desire to tick off lists, this seemed too good an opportunity to miss and a ‘Weir-d day in the Brindabellas’ themed walk was executed on 16 November 2010. It proved to be somewhat successful, with the party finding and recording the locations of Piccadilly weir, Ferny weir, Bulls Head weir and Warks weir. We also visited Lees Creek weir. Ferny weir took a little time to locate, as it was some distance away from the given location. Late 2010 rain has really assisted with the revegetation of the area after the 2003 bushfires and long dry spells, so the creek lines are choked. The weir-hunting method which drew results consisted of walking along Old Mill Road and, at each occasion when the sound of running water increased, a foray into the creek to see what was causing the noise.

The location we had for Pago weir was up on a ridge line, but a search for it down a best guess, nearby creek line to the north proved fruitless.

Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map segment showing the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Piccadilly weir 16 Nov 10* UTM 55H 664890-6085551
Cotter Dam 1:25000
Ferny weir 4 Jan 11
16 Nov 10*
UTM 55H 665089-6084582
Cotter Dam 1:25000
Bulls Head weir 4 Jan 11
16 Nov 10*
UTM 55H 665068-6083627
Cotter Dam 1:25000
Warks weir 16 Dec 17
16 Nov 10
*
UTM 55H 666415-6084472
Cotter Dam 1:25000

The search for Pago weir

Unwilling to give up, a chain of contacts (Peter H and Bill S of Kisters, Ross K and Tony F of ACTEW) led me to Norm M, the Manager of Water Sciences at ALS Laboratory Group. A ‘bingo’, with Norm providing:

‘The Pago site area is indicated as one of 19 water sampling sites in a paper by Talsma, T., and Hallum, P.M., “Stream Water Quality of Forest Catchments in the Cotter Valley, ACT”, The First national Symposium on Forest Hydrology, 1982, Melbourne, 11-13 May.

The paper indicates that instrumented catchments were established between 1964 and 1972 (Division of Forest Research, CSIRO) to assess water quantity and quality impacts (mainly 1974-1977) of fire and forestry management operations in native forests. Of the 19 water sampling sites, 16 were also stream gauging sites.’

Matthew H was interested.

In addition, Norm kindly provided an electronic copy of the paper. A further request from me resulted in the supply of the locations of 15 of the sites.

The CSIRO location for Pago weir was not helpful, so a further search was mounted on 4 Jan 11, visiting rugged creek lines to the south of the area previously covered. Again, no joy. At the end of the walk we ran into the local ranger, Christian W. He had a map, but it also contained locations of sensitive sites and he was not able to share it with me.

In January 2011, Barbara M (whom I’d assisted with site locations after she contacted me via my blog) emailed me material from books by Ian Fraser and Margaret McJannett which mentioned walks on Pago Break. It didn’t help me find Pago weir, but I did contact Margaret and borrow the four books she co-authored. I also managed to buy 3 of them at a second hand bookstore, again thanks to Barbara’s assistance. To complete the quadrella, Barbara found the 4th book for me at the Namadgi Visitors Centre, tucked away in a back room.

In early February 2011, I asked Alex P at ACTPLA if he knew of Pago weir. He didn’t but sent me a map segment from the ACT 1:10000 map series, which shows the area around and below Bulls Head in greater detail.

At about the same time, I contacted Tim the Yowie Man, who authors a 2 page spread in the Panorama magazine of the Canberra Times each Saturday on interesting things. I asked him if he’d ask if anyone knew where Pago weir was, which he did in his Canberra Times Panorama magazine article on 26 Feb 11 – see here. I also put the request on the front page of my blog in the News section, offering either a large box of chocolates or a fine bottle of red to the person who can get me there.

In mid February 2011, Barbara (who is fast turning into my fairy godmother of information supply) was walking on Urambi Hills and got talking to Bent J, who retired from the CSIRO Division of Forestry Research. I called to see Bent and he gave me a 1:50000 map of the area with weirs marked. He also referred me to Peter S, whom I rang. Peter gave me the contact for John B, who was the technical officer responsible for building the weirs.

I rang John and he jumped at the chance to revisit the area and take me there, on 28 Feb 11. Tim the Yowie Man rounded off the search with a report in his 2 page spread in the Panorama magazine of the Canberra Times on Saturday 12 Mar – see here.

8 Pago weir

It took John Burns, the CSIRO project officer responsible for building Pago weir in 1968, to get me to Pago weir.

Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map
segment showing
the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Pago weir 22 Apr 17
18 May 13

6 Dec 11
29 Mar 11
28 Mar 11
28 Feb 11*
UTM 55H 665408-6082421
Tidbinbilla 1:25000
9 Bushranger weir

I organised a private trip to take John Burns to Pago weir. We went on and found Bushranger weir.

Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map
segment showing
the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Bushranger weir 22 Apr 17
18 May 13

29 Mar 11
28 Mar 11*
UTM 55H 664356-6079895
Tidbinbilla 1:25000
10 Blundells (Tinkers Creek) weir

I hadn’t got round to further investigating the locations of the additional CSIRO weirs. But just checking the proposed route for Stan M’s Pig Hill walk on 9 Apr 11, I saw a weir marked on Tinkers Creek on the 1st edition Umburra 1:25000 map (nothing marked on the 2nd edn map). Stan was flexible and kind enough to allow me and some of his party to visit the weir.

Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map
segment showing
the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Blundells (Tinkers Creek) weir 9 Apr 11* UTM 55H 671555-6102227
Umburra 1:25000

More weirs

Poring over Bent J’s map and a schematic from the CSIRO, I took a best guess at locations for Cpt 97, Blue Range, Greens, Uriarra and Marshalls weirs. Combining driving, mountain biking and walking to the several locations on 19 Apr 11, a day when no one else would walk with me, revealed 4 of these 5.

11 Blue Range weir
Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map
segment showing
the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Blue Range weir 5 Apr 16
19 Apr 11
*
UTM 55H 670468-6090796
Cotter Dam 1:25000
12 Greens weir
Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map
segment showing
the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Greens weir 16 Dec 17
19 Apr 11
*
UTM 55H 669825-6087810
Cotter Dam 1:25000
13 Uriarra weir
Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map segment
showing the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Uriarra weir 11 Sep 22
5 Apr 16
30 Mar 13

19 Apr 11*
UTM 55H 672376-6094855
Cotter Dam 1:25000
14 Marshalls weir
Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map segment
showing the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Marshalls weir 13 Sep 16
18 Jun 11
19 Apr 11*
UTM 55H 668602-6090012
Cotter Dam 1:25000

More weirs

So, from the CSIRO paper I have, it seems like the following weirs are still to be hunted: Howells, Cpt 99 and Cpt 97. Use the map supplied by Bent J.

I think I know where Howells weir is and will have a look on 7 Jun 11.

A contact that John B gave me was Ross M. Ross and Jean only had the same Cotter 1:50,000 map, labelled “Watershed Research Instrument 1966 Network”, that Bent had given me.

When all else fails, ring Canberra Connect! They put me in touch with Neil C, the Manager Fire, Forest and Roads, ACT Parks and Conservation Service, who kindly chatted with me and sent me an old forestry map, which shows a site ‘V-notch Weir’ marked (with an X, why not a V (grin)?) on the Cotter River and annotated MGA94 672300 6088085. It also showed forestry compartments which gave me an idea of where to look for Cpt 97 and Cpt 99.

Visited the area on 7 May 11 and found Cpt 99.

15 Forestry Compartment 99 (Cpt 99) weir
Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map
segment showing
the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Cpt 99 weir 7 May 11* UTM 55H 672357-6088089
Cotter Dam 1:25000

More weirs …
Norm M from Actew confirmed that there is no weir on the Cotter River ~2km downstream from Vanitys Crossing, at UTM 55H 672300-6088085 (MGA94) . Go back to look for Cpt 97. Look for Howells. Visited the areas on 21 May 11 – found Cpt 97 weir, but could not find Howells weir.

16 Forestry Compartment 97 (Cpt 97) weir
Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map
segment showing
the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Cpt 97 weir 6 Sep 16
21 May 11
*
UTM 55H 671922-6088341
Cotter Dam 1:25000
17 Howells weir … the last weir
Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map
segment showing
the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Howells weir 13 Sep 16
11 Oct 11
*
UTM 55H 667910-6087155
Cotter Dam 1:25000
18 (… not quite a Brindabella weir, but …) Honeysuckle Creek weir
Weir Visited
(click the link
to access a map
segment showing
the weir’s location)
Location (MGA94) Photo
(click on the thumbnail
for a larger image)
Honeysuckle Creek weir 24 Aug 13* UTM 55H 679171-6060215
Corin Dam 1:25000