The Centennial Park Eel

The Centennial Park Eel 

THE CENTENNIAL PARK EEL

In the Ponds Of Centennial Park Lives The Eastern (???? ) Eel. And To The Normal Park Goer They Look Like An Ugly Animal Swimming Around In The Murky Waters Of The Parklands. 

But The Centennial Park Eels Hold A Remarkable Story For Those In The Know. 

Male Eels Mature Around 10- 30 years and Female Eels Mature Around 8 Years. When They Reach Adult Stage & Feel The Need Spawn & AmazingThing Happens.

The eels Hop From Pond To Pond and then crawl Through a drain Underneath Alison Road and into Randwick Racecourse. They then follow the Natural Watercourse Through To The Moore Park Golf Course and then Follow it Through To Botany Bay Coming Out Where The Third Sydney Runway Comes Out at Kingsford Smith Airport.  

While Making This Journey some Amazing Changes Happen To Their Bodies...... 

- their Dorsal Fin Becomes bigger  So They Are Able To Swim Better In Ocean Currents. 

- their  stomach shrinks

- Their Eyes Also Change SizeThat They Can See In The Seawater

- their anus Restricts and Any Orifice To Reduce Water Loss

- Their Gills 

 From Freshwater To Saltwater. They Can Also Out In Fresh Air, And If There Is No Watercourse For Them To Make It To Botany Bay They Can travel Across Land for short distances. 

The Eels Then Make A 3,500 Mile Journey through The Ocean To Somewhere Near New Caledonia, where They Spawn Their Young & Die. 

These Young Eels Then Male Their Way The 3,500 Miles Back To Centennial Park Where They Live In The Ponds Until They Mature 

Busby's Bore - A Tunnel From The Lachlan Swamps To Hyde Park - Sydney - NSW

Busby's Bore - A Tunnel From The Lachlan Swamps To Hyde Park - Sydney - New South Wales

Busby's Bore

Park Street, northern Side, Near Elizabeth Street, outside Women's Amnities Centre 

In March 1823 John Busby Was Engaged In England By Lord Bathurst To Visit Sydey In The Capacity Of Mineral
surveyor & Civil Engineer. 
It Was 1827 When John Busby Began The Tunnel To Convey Water From The Lachlan Swamp (Centennial Park) To Sydney. 


Busby's Bore Was Completed In June 1837. It Continued To Be Sydney Towns Main Water Supply Until 1849. 

John Busby Was Engaged In England By Lord Bathurst. One Suggestion Was To Pump Water From Centennial Park To. Reservoir In Hyde Park Either By Steam
engine, But The Government Preferred The Convict Treadmill Scheme, Until Busby Suggested Buildong. A Tunnel 12,000 Feet Long And 5 Feet High






With His Bore Completed Busby Retired On 30th June 1837. 

Cost of The Bore Was £22,971

The Project Took 10 Years To

complete. 

The runner Stretched 3.6km Underground And Varied From 1.2 Metres To 1.8 Metres. 

By the Early 1800's The Tank Stream Was Nowhere Big Enough or Clean Enough to Sustain The Growing Colony Of Sydney. 

Busby Waa Commissioned to Build A Tunnel From The Start Of The Tank Stream At Hyde Park Through to the Ponds At Centenial Park.  

It Was Also Mentioned In Some Of The Early Journals That Busby's Bore quite Often Got Blocked By Dead Eels Which Swam Through The Tunnel

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