Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Cooks River dam

Dam

Dam constructed by convict labour at Tempe using quarried stone from the nearby cliffs. It allowed a road link to the city but quickly caused problems of pollution and flooding.

-33.928663347963, 151.15692798937

Milestone
Constructed
1839 - 1841
Destroyed
1896 - 1899
Type

Damming the Cooks River

CC BY-SA 2.0
,
2013

Once considered 'the greatest boon ever conferred upon the town', the Cooks River dam became an endless source of environmental blight and misery to Sydneysiders and by the turn of the century was demolished