While we continue to be delighted with our ‘new’ water, my attention was drawn by councillor John Searl to the story behind the earlier water supply to Dalton.
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Ralph Stone and his brother the late Graham Stone were in partnership and decided to sink a bore at the back of the shearing shed on their property in Dalton, a few hundred metres from where the Stone family home still stands on Gunning Road, Dalton. This was about 1956, based on the fact that it occurred shortly after Pat and Graham married in 1955.
Ralph recounted that a water diviner complete with willow canes, was engaged to find a likely spot for the bore and that this spot was also confirmed by a geologist. An elderly Polish gentleman with old fashioned drilling equipment was hired to sink the bore. This was a pretty expensive operation and so when at 87 feet a solid layer of rock was encountered with only modest water flow, a crucial decision was needed on whether to go further in the hope of hitting a more generous aquifer.
The Stone brothers decided to press on and were rewarded at 90 feet with good water. The Polish driller had the means to measure a flow up to 1000 gallons per hour and said that this was well surpassed by the flow from the new bore. He ventured to say that there could be enough to supply the whole town! How prophetic that opinion turned out to be.
Council resumption
The so called ‘Stone’ bore was resumed by Council with a view to supplying the township of Dalton. The then NSW Minister for Public Works, L. J. (Jack) Ferguson needed to be convinced that the project was viable before committing funds. The conditions he imposed were that there had to be a back up bore sunk and that there was evidence of sufficient flow from the existing bore.
Only then did Jack Ferguson agree to a grant from the NSW Government. Accordingly on February 22, 1980 the NSW Minister for Public Works formally opened the Dalton Water Supply attended by then mayor Jack Shaw, shire engineer Jeff Bliss and shire clerk Albert Stringer and the proud citizens of Dalton.
The Stone legacy
Ralph served for some 25 years on the Gunning Council and was Shire President from 1970 to 1974 with Graham Stone the Shire President from 1985 to 1987. Ralph and Graham followed in their father’s footsteps as James Ewart Stone was Shire President from 1938 to 1942. Ralph and his wife Merle left the Dalton district on his retirement and moved to Gosford and later to Benalla in Victoria.
Ralph said that he is looking forward to a guided tour of the new Water Treatment Plant when next he comes to Gunning. I’m sure that can be arranged! In the meantime, perhaps someone can point me in the right direction for the history of the previous Gunning Water Supply.
Ralph told me that his wife Merle was for a period of time the correspondent to local papers on the news from Gunning and Dalton. Merle has not forsaken her reporting role as she now writes for the ‘Village Voice’ at Cooinda Village.
Ralph was born in the Maternity Hospital, Collector Road (known then as Templeton) owned and run by Nurse Beatrice Maud Caldwell.
Ralph arrived early on a freezing morning of July 7, 1928 so Happy 86th Birthday for last Monday Ralph!
Sunday: String Contingent is performing at 2pm at the Gunning Courtroom. Call 0417 663 045.
Wednesday July 16: The Annual Mission Lunch is on at 12pm at St Edmunds. Cost is $10 per person. Call 6236 8114.
Sunday July 27: Wood Auction, Oolong BFB is on at 12pm at the Telegraph. Call 0419 498 468.