Most of Walcha’s early buildings were roofed with timber shingles and, in the absence of suitable guttering, down pipes and tanks, this was not a useful source of water.
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Most of the town’s water was drawn from wells, supplemented when necessary by water bucketed from the Apsley River.
Bill Scott, who was mayor of Walcha in the 1890s, said the well water was of good quality, was used untreated for all purposes, and could be found throughout the town at a depth of 16 feet.
It cannot last much longer, the lining is rotten...
His smithy had two wells; one where the Walcha Gallery of Art is now and another at the back of the present IGA supermarket.
The town’s early wells were lined with timber and commonly fitted with a windlass, rope and bucket. In 1875, the visiting inspector condemned the well at the public school in Fitzroy Street saying: “It cannot last much longer, the lining is rotten and it is too dangerous to repair.”
The late Brian Burgess recalled a well at the rear of the present-day craft shop that overflowed regularly. Another of the old wells was at the side of L.P. Cross & Co’s Fitzroy Street premises. It had been filled in but made an unwelcome re-appearance as a large hole after a prolonged wet period that caused the filling to collapse.
The wet crossing in Apsley Street was a popular place for drawing water and, in later years, for car washing. Some people carried buckets of water home by hand while others used wheelbarrows.
The late Colin “Charlie” Cross recalled the family collecting water at the wet crossing. They bucketed water into a couple of open top 44-gallon drums on the back of their utility and then tied bags over the top of the drums to stop the water from splashing out while on the drive home.
The Walcha News of March 7, 1952, reported on a bore put down at Col Erratt’s home in Apsley Street.
It was sunk by Bill Rutherford of Inverell and fitted out by the late Frank Salter. It produced a flow rate of 140 gallons per hour at 58 feet and 300 gallons per hour at 61 feet. Frank said it was the first put down in the town and was perhaps the first in the district.
