Notes: also known as the Waterhole, the remains of an early quarry. Part of a publicity series for Blue Mountains City Council.
The pool has local significance as the larger of the two railway quarries of the 1860s near in Faulconbridge. It has also aesthetic significance as a pleasing, if rather damp, reuse of a flooded quarry.
Construction years: 1864-1865
Physical description:The old quarry is roughly circular, some 30 metres in diameter, with higher walls to the east supporting the railway line. These walls continue to the south beside the picnic area, which utilises a flat sandstone shelf and an area of chronically wet grass. Water-lilies flourish in abundance in the quarry-pool along with reeds.
As a result of the widening of the Great Western Highway, the former quarry is now immediately adjacent to the highway. Steel safety fencing has been erected along the western (highway) side of the pool. There is a concrete pipe upright and slab and roof picnic shelter on the southern side.
Water lilies flourish in the quarry-pool along with reeds and contrast in an aesthetically pleasing manner with the sharp, quarried and natural rock sides of the pond on its northern and eastern sides. Naturally twisted trees of a picturesque form grow on the shallow soil on top of the rock on the northern side of the pond. This is a visually tranquil spot beside the very busy highway.
In 1958 BMCC prepared the site and installed a water supply with bubbler and a cement picnic table and seating.
The picnic reserve also contains a memorial plaque to indigenous volunteer bushfire fighter Claude Cooper who died on the 3rd December 1957 while fighting fires in the Blue Mountains.
Format: medium format colour film, identified as taken by Ern McQuillan
Date Range: 1968
Location: GWH Faulconbridge
Licensing: Attribution, share alike, creative commons.
Repository: Blue Mountains City Library
bmcc.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/default/
Part of: Local Studies Collection
Provenance: BMCC Publicity files, Ern McQuillan
Links:
Fb006 : Water Lily Pond -
www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDe...
The Rock Carvings and What They Meant. (1896, October 17). The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), p. 808. Retrieved September 27, 2017, from
nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163784547
Plaque -
monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/tragedy/display/21... 