Rejuvenation of the Imperial Lakes, Broken Hill
by Maureen Hirschausen
Assistance was needed to support the local community in the rejuvenation of the Broken Hill Imperial Lakes that had been closed to the public for more than 20 years.
Broken Hill is in the far west of NSW, 1190 km west of Sydney.
The Imperial
Lakes is a man-made lake system originally used by a local mining company to
supply boring and drilling water as well as a recreational area (swimming,
boating and fishing) for the locals.
On Saturday, 10 February 2001, the Broken Hill Periodic Detention Centre commenced work at the site to clear away 20 years of natural growth which had reclaimed the roads, facilities, beach area, lawns and facilities such as walking trails and BBQ area.
The detainees’ first task was to reclaim the beach area that had been taken over by a dense growth of river reeds. This was very labour-intensive, digging out river reeds and removing and saving reclaimed beach sand. This task was completed over two weekends.
Other tasks carried out by the detainees were:
- marking a walking trail using local bluestone rocks that was approximately 400 metres long.
- assisted in laying approximately 45000m2 of rolled lawn in two sections of the lakes area and
another section which was planted with seed lawn.
- clearing levy banks.
- digging up approximately 1000m of water pipes and repairing where necessary and then relaying
pipes.
- concreting the boat ramp and concreting safety posts.
- preparing garden beds for planting and planting approximately 300 Australian native trees and
shrubs.
- installing and fixing upright sprinklers, drip and pop-up irrigation systems.
- painting shut off valve covers, posts and signs.
- clearing vegetation from areas that were too sensitive for loaders to clear.
The Broken Hill Periodic Detention Centre completed their work on this project on 29 July 2001.