Newcastle Downunder

By jensphotos

Tambourine Bay Well

Back to the off leash park at Tambourine Bay on my way back from picking up the bread I left at the Supermarket yesterday.   Lets not go there.  This is a view of the well which is on the start of the bush track.  This is one for freespiral but unfortunately there was no BVM overseeing this well. 

From what I can find out, the well was built in 1883 by Thomas Duckworth to help collect water from a natural spring above.   It was carved into the sandstone below to about one metre deep but today it is covered with fallen leaves and bits and bobs so you can't see the outline.  It was filled in but then uncovered in 1991.  While it may have been a vital water source for the settlers, the Cammeraygal people of the Eora Nation would have lived in this area for thousands of years and I am sure would have known about the water source.  There used to be baths in Tambourine bay and I remember going to swimming lessons there in the Summer when I was a kid and I do remember the rock carvings in the area.   While I have looked for them this week, I must be looking in the wrong direction as I haven't located them.

I also found out (according to Wiki) that Tambourine Bay got it's name from Tambourine Sal who was the wife of an explorer and surveyor William Lawson.  Apparently she would frequently play her tambourine in the streets of Sydney.  Prior to her marriage she must have had a reputation with the law as it was said she would frequently hide out in a hut on the Western Foreshore of Tambourine Bay.  Now the well is towards the western foreshore of the bay so I wonder if the hut would have been near the well.

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.