Avon

The catchment and Avon Dam

Avon is a locality spanning parts of Wingecarribee and the Illawarra, within a wider water-catchment landscape. Heritage NSW records Avon Dam at Avon in Wingecarribee Shire. The locality, the river, the dam and the much larger catchment are related but are not interchangeable boundaries; check maps when placing a historical record.^[4][8]

Avon Dam was built between 1921 and 1927 as part of the Upper Nepean water supply scheme. Heritage NSW credits the Public Works Department and engineer E. M. de Burgh. The curved wall was built of large sandstone blocks set in concrete, and its gateways use Egyptian-inspired details. WaterNSW notes that the dam now principally supplies the Illawarra, while the larger scheme also supports Sydney’s supply.^[4][5]

WaterNSW’s historical booklet says returned First World War veterans at a nearby rehabilitation camp built the original access road in the early 1920s. It also notes that materials for Avon were carried by road from Bargo. The dam’s landscaped recreation area later became a popular place to visit; WaterNSW provides current opening and access information because the surrounding catchment is protected.^[6]

Heritage NSW records the handover to the Water Board on 20 January 1928.^[4]

A construction community

A construction community grew near the work. Heritage NSW records barracks for single workers and temporary housing built with assistance for married workers and their families. A sawmill processed timber from the area to be inundated; some was used for buildings and construction forms. The Department of Education records Avon Dam Public School from July 1920 to July 1927, a lead for tracing children and workers’ families associated with the project.^[4][7]

The construction settlement had a social life as well as work and schooling. A newspaper account of September 1924 reported the second annual Avon Dam ball for Berrima District Hospital, estimating attendance at 320 from the dam, nearby towns and Sydney. The report names organisers, musicians and hospital representatives, offering leads for the history of families and community ties around the works.^[9]