Wells
Gilbert Well
Gilbert Well is of considerable heritage significance because it is the only stock well on the North-South route where most of the timber whip posts and railing have survived. It provides a unique example of former stock well technology.
Gilbert Well was drilled to a depth of 92 feet (28 metres) in 1930 and was the last of the timber-lined wells to be sunk on the North-South stock route. A whip system using camels provided power. The remains include the timber whip posts and railing of the pulley system used to raise water, the remains of tank and trough stands, and the collapsed well-head.
Gazetted: January 1995.
Ryan Well Historic Reserve
Ryan Well Historic Reserve is of historic importance. It illustrates a significant part of the NT’s development, particularly the watering systems associated with stock movement along the Overland Telegraph Line. The Reserve contains a well, the storage tank stand and the ruins of Glen Maggie Homestead. The Homestead ruins are associated with the Nicker family and the Central Australian personality "Cloudy" Beale. It also provides evidence of the way of life of pastoral settlers during the early part of the Twentieth Century and shows how local materials were used. The whole well system shows how stock were watered in those early days.
Gazetted: February 1995.
Bonney Well
Bonney Well is of heritage value to the Territory as one of only three remaining stock wells on the North-South Stock Route with intact stone dumps. The well and associated remains are a good representative example of a government built stock well constructed late last century.
The well was dug in 1878-9 by Arthur and Alfred Giles who were overlanding cattle and sheep to Springvale Homestead. It was deepened between 1883 and 1884. A stone dump and whip system were added in 1892. The whip system no longer remains but the stone dump, tank stand and evidence of troughs from this era are still present. The bore, windmill and tank installed in the late 1930s and a later cement tank, provide a good example of that era in the Territory’s industrial heritage when bores replaced wells as the principal means of water supply for stock.
Gazetted: October 1996
Produced: May 1997
