Centennial Park Reservoir No. 2

Centennial Park Reservoir No. 2 (75 ML) is the largest and last of the three reservoirs of the Centennial Park Group and began operating in 1925. It was built to accommodate growth in the existing service areas of Centennial Park Reservoir No. 1, including higher areas in Darlinghurst, and to expand the service to Randwick, on the southern side of Centennial Park.

The length is 180m, width 80m and depth is 6.2m. The containing walls are of sandstone concrete and the roof of steel girders with 20cm thick concrete, all moulded on the job, and carried on 646 reinforced concrete columns. It was a design intention that the roof of the new reservoir was to be available for sports and recreation purposes.

During the years of its construction, newspaper articles reveal ongoing disputes between two labour unions – The Builder Labourers Federation (BLF) and the Australian Workers Union (AWU) over the control of labour on the site.

The disputes centred on classification of the job (whether it be ‘water conservation work’ or ‘labouring’) and classification of the workers (as ‘ordinary’ or ‘builders’ labourers’). The BLF appears to have prevailed and subsequently alleged underpayment of workers based on the specific award wages applied to various job classifications.