COTTER CATCHMENT ARCHEOLOGY

A little background before the video...

Construction of the Cotter dam (info here) occurred bettween 1912 and 1915 to provide a reservior for the new Australian Federal Capital of Australia, Canberra. The reserviors catchment is predominantly in the Namadgi National Park (info here) which supports 3 dams in a 'chain of ponds' the Corin, Bendora and Cotter.

Image ACTEW library (here)

The ACT's water storage capacity is to increase by constructing a new 76m high dam wall downstream of the existing Cotter Dam, this will cover the existing 26m dam wall. Increased storage - current 4.7GL new capacity 78GL. The expansion process started in 2004

The organising authority, the Australian Capital Territory Electricity & Water (ACTEW) corporation (website here) have a video explaining their efforts to record the history and heritage of the cotter dam and it's Indigenous and European archeology. Several local Aboriginal organisations have ongoing consultation with the ACTEW.

• Buru Ngunawal Aboriginal Corporation

• Consultative Body Aboriginal Corporation

• Little Gudgenby River Tribal Council

• Ngarigu Currawong Clan

European heritage sites include the dam itself, a 1915 tunnel and a 1920 suspension bridge. There is some nice footage of both Aboriginal and European artifacts. I have an article about the Cotter River and Dam and the Cotter River area's history (here).






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