The scene that greets the eye of the visitor today is as tranquil as the one that the Bendigo Advertiser’s correspondent wrote so lyrically about in 1874. It gives us no hint of the drama that played out here 150 years ago. But what was the correspondent referring to with words such as ‘blunder’, ‘anything but “a joy for ever”’, and the government ‘emptying its treasury’?

Malmsbury Reservoir was a major step in the development of a water supply to the gold rushes of Bendigo and Castlemaine. It was supposed to have been built in one year. In fact, it took over seven years.

During this time, the main contractor and three government engineers were sacked. In the spring of 1870, the residents of Malmsbury had to live with the prospect of a flood of water from the partially completed dam that was washing away upstream.

This well-researched and illustrated volume takes the reader back to those dramatic times, using quotations from newspapers of the day, the reports of the government inquiries, and historic images.
Includes bibliographical references (page 76)