RV parking
No idea who came up with the concept of free RV parking areas but they are the best! Think about it. After driving for however long, you can pull into an RV stop for a night or three and it’s centrally located so you can spend your money in town. We commend the shires and town’s that welcome and are well catered for RV – remote vehicles. The result is that we are more than willing to spend our money locally.
Merredin, WA
The free RV stop in Merredin is just out of town at the Merredin Railway Dam. It’s a top stop with lots of trees and another example of a big rock with a water catchment set-up. After finding a flat spot to park we explored a bit.
Washing day
Every now and then we need a caravan park, laundromat or family/friend so we can get our washing done.
So, while in Merredin we stopped for a couple of nights to restock our clean undies – ‘always important to wear clean underwear’, Steve’s Mum said when he was little. Stocked up on food from the IGA and filled water tanks before chuffing off again.
Toapin Weir
Next stop, another off-grid spot just outside Quairading which is just over two hours east of Perth. There is a working toilet and picnic tables and apart from the pesky flies was a great spot for a week.
I really enjoyed walking around the weir, running up the rock slopes and exploring the surrounding bushland all while on the look out for snakes of course.
History of Toapin Weir
In 1912 the need for a reticulated water scheme for nearby towns was identified and Toapin Rock, in Dangin outside Quairading was selected because the rock is ideally shaped to water conservation with two sides and the bottom providing a natural basin. A wall was added across the bottom side to capture 18,000,000 litres of rainwater.
The venture cost £5.000 and the water was supplied to the town, local farmland and for railway purposes.
Dangin is the earliest instance in Western Australia of reticulated scheme water made from a rock catchment, the purpose being in part to water farming properties. The scheme was designed by Mr Parker and carried out by Mr T. C. Hodgson, who years before was the engineer in charge of the Goldfield Water SupplyWorks.
Upgrades at Toapin Weir
In 1936 the retaining wall was strengthened at the base and raised six feet in height, increasing the storage capacity to 27,000,000 litres.
The Quairading town was connected to Toapin Rock Water Scheme and upgrades included the installation of a windmill and pumping engine. Under the scheme, the water gravity fed away from the weir and was then pumped by windmill to a reservoir on a nearby hill that held 675,000 litres. This water was then reticulated through to the township.
At a later date, two wells adjacent to the weir were equipped with windmills to deliver water to the weir to cope with increased water demand in the town. Another source of water was found in the form of an old disused well on the Quairading Golf Course. The well was reconditioned and equipped with pumping gear and engine to add to the water supply.
A roof over Toapin Weir
In 1940, Toapin Weir was completely roofed to prevent excessive water evaporation but was a difficult undertaking. Work was timed to commence at the end of summer so the weir water level was low, making the job easier. The Weir was down to one-third capacity at the time of construction.
The roof design was a series of piles or studs supporting roofing timber. Each pile had a pin inserted into it which was embedded into a hole drilled into the granite base of the weir. There were 365 pins in total, cut from white gum sourced from Talbot Brook, near York.
Believe it or not the work was carried out by Roads Board employees, working below the surface of the water without any diving equipment. Not work safety standards in those days it seems.
The roof is now long gone but you can still find reminants of the structure and imagine what it looked like.
Have you visited Toapin Wier near Quairading?
