Bicentennial Goldfields Pipeline TrekPrint Page

The memorial commemorates the arrival of the trekkers of the Bicentennial Goldfields Pipeline Trek in Coolgardie in October 1988.

The ‘Bicentennial Goldfield Pipeline Trek’ was a project to commemorate the Bicentenary of Australia in 1988 and is a tribute to the engineer C. Y. O’Connor which started from the forestry area of Mundaring Weir on September 24th 1988, then proceeded as a two week trip following the Mundaring to Kalgoorlie water pipeline finishing in Kalgoorlie on 6th October, with participants on horse, walking, bicycles and horse drawn wagons and buggies. 

Exhausted and weather beaten, but triumphant, the 104-strong Goldfields Trek contingent marched into Kalgoorlie yesterday to complete its 552 km journey.  The trek, a tribute to the Mundaring-Kalgoorlie pipeline engineer CY O’Connor, began on September 22 with 14 harness entries, 72 horseback riders and eight runners and cyclists.

People aged from 13 to 73, of both sexes and from a wide cross section of the community, trundled along at their own pace exchanging greetings to each other as they went. Less than a dozen dropped out along the way as the trekkers reproduced the pioneering spirit of their forefathers.

The 13^th and final day of the trek began from Coolgardie at 8am as horses were saddled and buggies rigged up for the last 38kms.  At precisely 3pm, the trekkers were greeted in front of the Kalgoorlie Town Hall by a crowd of about 250, who watched as Mundaring Shire Council President Dr Russell Waugh presented a scroll to Kalgoorlie Mayor Ray Finlayson.

The group then continued on to the Mt Charlotte Reservoir where a wheelbarrow full of water from Mundaring was symbolically poured after a greeting from Boulder Shire President Ted Winner.  This gesture ended what most of the participants described as a “once in a lifetime journey.”   

Along the way, the group endured rugged hills, pouring rain, heat and dust and the threat of having their animals vetted out of the event.  Stringent checks on the horses were made daily by veterinary students from Murdoch University.  Most horses were rested at some stage of the trek and only a quarter followed the pipeline every day.
Kalgoorlie Miner, October 7, 1988

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