*Magnify*
    October     ►
SMTWTFS
  
1
2
4
5
6
9
12
17
18
20
22
24
25
26
27
28
30
31
Archive RSS
SPONSORED LINKS
Printed from https://writing.com/main/books/entry_id/1033326-My-town
by Sumojo
Rated: 13+ · Book · Personal · #2186156
The simplicity of my day to day.
#1033326 added June 4, 2022 at 1:36am
Restrictions: None
My town
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/QuirkyTown Written for
Journalistic Intentions  (18+)
This is for the journal keeping types that come to PLAY! New round starts July 1!
#2213121 by Elisa: Stik or Treat


My town could be called quirky if only for the fact of it being sliced in two by a major Highway. Little Mundaring in the hills of Perth Western Australia has an interesting history.

The Great Eastern Highway is the main Highway linking the West to the East of Australia. Everything that come in by road makes its way eventually through our town. People ask “which side do you live on?” Obviously I always answer, “The best side, of course!”

Mundaring wasn’t founded until 1903 when the Mundaring pipe line project was completed. It was built to take water from Mundaring to the goldfields in Kalgoorlie, 700 kilometres away.
The man who came up with this idea was a brilliant engineer name CY O’Connor. His was an amazing but sad story.

This project was deemed impossible at the time and the engineer was subject to prolonged criticism, such as this article from the Western Australian newspaper at the time.

And apart from any distinct charge of corruption this man has exhibited such gross blundering or something worse, in his management of great public works it is no exaggeration to say that he has robbed the taxpayer of this state of many millions of money ... This crocodile imposter has been backed up in all his reckless extravagant juggling with public funds, in all his nefarious machinations behind the scenes by the kindred-souled editor of The West Australian. —(Evans 2001:219)

CY O’Connor rode his horse to the ocean and shot himself in the head just before the water project was proved to be a success, which it was when the first gush of water entered the Goldfields.

His suicide note reads: I feel that my brain is suffering and I am in great fear of what effect all this worry may have upon me — I have lost control of my thoughts."

Robert Drew’s novel, The Drowner, provides a fictional account of this man and the building of the pipeline.





Frog in a Hanging Basket




© Copyright 2022 Sumojo (UN: sumojo at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Sumojo has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
Printed from https://writing.com/main/books/entry_id/1033326-My-town