There’s a great exploratory tour ready to be takes under the city, We outfit you in safety hat and boots, take you down a ladder and set out along a 100 meter section of the original route of the Tank Stream.

This is where it all began, when over 200 years ago, Captain Arthur Phillip sailed into what is now known as Sydney Harbor with the first fleet in 1788. He chose the site for settlement beside a small fresh water stream and in doing so, set the location of Sydney for all time.

The stream however became inadequate for the rapidly expanding population and within several years, 3 large tanks were excavated from the sandstone bed of the waterway to collect sufficient water to enable survival through a long and severe drought.

From that time, the colony's lifeline water supply became known as the "Tank Stream".

Environmental protection even then became a major issue when pollution began to overwhelm the tiny Tank Stream and harsh penalties were leveled as anyone found fouling the waterway.

Despite all efforts, the Tank Stream disintegrated into little more than an open sewer and in 1826, if was abandoned as a supply of drinking water.

As Sydney grew, the once beautiful Tank Stream gradually disappeared beneath the buildings of the rapidly expanding city and eventually faded from memory existing only as a little known stormwater channel underneath Australia's first city.

Despite all that has occurred during it's life, the Tank Stream, fed by underground springs, still flows today, symbolic of its great historical and engineering significance.

Imagine the way it used to be a sparkling stream cascading and meandering its way past ferns & vines, over rack shelves, through picturesque bashland lathe blue waters of the harbour

Picture infant colony settling beside this beautifull stream which was once navigable at high tide as high tide as far as Bridge Street.

See the meticulously carved and placed historic standstone arch section (complete with markings by stonemasons of the day) which has been hidden from the busy metropolis above for some 130 years.

View the painstaking work carried out by convicts in chains who toiled using picks to deepen the solid stone floor of the Tank Stream and provide a better flow of drinking water for the colony.

Study maps & sketches of early Sydney, which show how, it really was so long ago.

Learn about the Tank Stream’s vital role to Sydney’s early pioneers and their struggle for survival in this new land.

Note rare examples of 19th century brickwork and unusual pipeline.

Hear tales of corruption amongst the military whose action contributed to the pollution of the stream and eventual abandoning of it as a source of fresh water.

Discover all this and more in a truly great adventure UNDER the city, As a latter day explorer you will be simply fascinated by the wealth of history stored in this unrivalled attraction.

Tank Stream Tours operate every Sunday (except Christmas and New Years Day) and commence in Curtin Place adjacent to Australia Square in the City, just 6 minutes walk from Circular Quay.

· Two tours per hour. First tour commences 9am. Final tour 2.20 p.m.

· Tours take just 30 minutes (including a short video presentation and you will be escorted by our friendly, experienced and informative guides.

· Advance bookings can be made by contacting the Water Board Community Relations Unit. Telephone 269 5063 or you are welcome to join a tour simply by meeting us on site on Sundays.

· Admission: $5.00 per adult

· $2.00 per child (between 5 & 15 years of age)

· $10 per family of 4

· $2.00 per age pensioner

(Admission includes complimentary souvenir brochure and post card) ‘

· Clothing: Casual-jeans, slacks or shorts are recommended. (Gumboots supplied)

· In the event of rain, please call 9241-3625 or 9597-0504 for confirmation of tour operation.

Back to Tunnel Selection Page

Back to Home Page

Last Revised: 28/9/99 at 3:41pm