History of Groundwater Use

The use of groundwater by people in the Northern Territory began in prehistoric times with the aborigines. A much more intensive use followed the onset of European settlement in the mid 1800's.

Today most towns and communities are dependant on ground water as are industries such as cattle, mining and tourism. Here are some important events in the history of groundwater use.

Aboriginals

Aboriginals largely relied on lagoons, springs and shallow unlined wells for their water supplies. Due to the importance of water to their survival, especially in the inland regions of the NT, they incorporated the locations of many watering points into their Dreamtime stories and associated them with significant events in those stories.

Macassan Fishermen

Macassan Fishermen visited the northern coastline to collect and process trepang (sea slugs). They usually stayed for the duration of the dry season and either used Aboriginal water sources or constructed shallow lined hand dug wells. These visits ceased in the mid 1800's due to restrictions imposed on them by Europeans.

The British Government

The British Government attempted to colonise the northern coastline. Three attempts were made at establishing settlements between 1824 and 1849 at Fort Dundas, Fort Victoria and Fort Wellington. All three obtained their water supplies from springs and wells. These settlements were abandoned primarily due to the prevalence of diseases such as scurvy and malaria. They were unable to supply sufficent water, fresh food, timber or any other tradable commodity to passing ships.

The Overland Telegraph

The Overland Telegraph line from Adelaide to Darwin was completed in 1872, linking up with the underwater cable from Batavia (Jakarta). Repeater stations were built along the route at sites where reliable water supplies were found. The springs (or waterholes as they are known locally) in the MacDonnell Ranges were the first watering points after a 300 kilometre dry stage from the last watering point at Dalhousie. Dalhousie was the most northerly of the Great Artesian Basin mound springs that provided closely spaced watering points from just to the west of Marree to Dalhousie (within 50 km of current SA/NT border). North of the Alice Springs area shallow wells provided water for many of the stations.

Darwin

Darwin was established in the late 1860's. Shallow wells at Doctors Gully and Stokes Hill supplied the early settlement. Later a number of missions were established along the north coastline at locations such as Millingimbi and Bathurst Island. All water for these developments were obtained from springs or shallow wells.

The Pastoral Industry

The Pastoral Industry commenced on the Barkly Tablelands with cattle and sheep being driven across from Queensland in 1868. Water supplies were obtained from waterholes until a drought between 1897 and 1903 spurred owners to seek ground water supplies.

The station owners having come from Queensland were very keen to obtain artesian water supplies. Non artesian supplies had to be pumped with pumping plants powered by boilers. The energy source was the local trees and each bore had to have an attendant who cut the timber and maintained the pumping plant.

The Government Resident lobbied the South Australian Government in 1890 to drill a deep hole in an attempt to locate artesian water. The resulting bore was drilled on Alexandria Pastoral Station in 1892/93 to a depth of 536 metres at a cost of 8026 pounds.

The hydrogeological advice received prior to drilling was vindicated and this bore still produces ample supplies of good quality water from approximately 80 metres from the sub artesian aquifer. Many bores were constructed on the Barkly Tablelands in the following 30 years. This increased the carrying capacity of the land tenfold.

Most of these bores are still operating today. Until 1930 many of these bores were equipped with pumping plants that were driven by wood fuelled boilers. These were then replaced with diesel engines as timber supplies were scarce.

Alice Springs Region

With the establishment of bores and wells along the Overland Telegraph Line new settlers were able to migrate to the north. Kelly Well (south of Tennant Creek) was constructed in 1875 as the first of four stock wells to be established on the Overland Telegraph Line.

During the 1870's a number of cattle stations were also established. These stations were in areas where water supplies could be obtained either from springs in river or creek beds or wells adjacent to them.

The first bores were drilled in 1899 and 1900 at Charlotte Waters and Anacoora. These bores were drilled in the Great Artesian Basin to 450 and 381 metres respectively. Anacoora flowed at a rate of 4 megalitres per day when first constructed.

The Charlotte Waters bore was drilled for the telegraph line while Anacoora was located on a supply route between Oodnadatta and Alice Springs. Until the Second World War virtually all water supplies were obtained from springs or shallow hand dug lined wells.

World War II

WWII saw the non Aboriginal population of the NT increase dramatically. The majority of the troops arrived after Darwin was first bombed in 1942.

Water supplies for the troops were obtained from lined, hand dug wells or springs. After Darwin was bombed, 11 additional airfields were constructed between Darwin and Katherine including an explosives storage facility near Adelaide River Township.

The water supply needs of the thousands of troops could not be met by well and spring sources alone. Between July 1942 and October 1944 approximately 90 bores were constructed primarily by the 2/1 Australian Boring Section of the Royal Australian Engineers to meet these needs.

Bores were normally constructed with six inch steel casing. Depths ranged from 30 to 74 metres and yields were up to 2 litres per second. Eleven different drillers were involved in the work.

Significant Mining Developments

Significant Mining Developments took place after the war. These began with uranium at Rum Jungle in the 1950's and accelerated in the 1960's with bauxite at Nhulunbuy, uranium at Ranger and manganese at Groote Eylandt. All these mines relied on the development of ground water resources for their water supplies.

Land Rights

Land rights were gained by the Aboriginal population in 1976 together with the right to manage their own communities. The responsibility for securing water supplies for the majority of the Aboriginal population was transfered from the missionaries and the pastoralists to State governments.

Commonwealth funded programs supported an enormous increase in investigation work to locate suitable groun dwater resources. Much of todays knowledge of the Territory's ground water resources was acquired from this work which is still continuing.

The Ground Water Section

The Ground water section was established in 1958 as part of the Water Use Branch of the Commonwealth Department of Works. The Control of Water Ordinance 1959 made it compulsory for drillers to be registered and bore returns to be submitted. Data on some 30,000 bores has since been obtained and is available electronically.

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The Water Supplies Development Ordinance

The Water Supplies Development Ordinance commenced in 1961. This was introduced to assist pastoralists to overcome the effects of a severe drought which had affected most of the NT during the 1950's and 1960's.

It gave technical advice and financial assistance to landholders who wished to develop water resources on their property. The scheme operated along the principle that if a hydrogeologist thought there was a reasonable chance of locating water at a chosen site, and the landholder followed this advice, then the Government would pay the cost of the bore if it did not yield the required quantity and quality of water.

The scheme continued to operate until 1992. It was very successful in gaining knowledge on the ground water resources beneath large tracts of land that had not been drilled before and probably would not have been drilled without the scheme.

People and Groundwater