Editing C. Y. O'Connor (section)

==Goldfields Water Supply Scheme==
[[Image:Goldfields-Pipeline 2005.jpg|thumbnail|right|250px|[[Goldfields Water Supply Scheme|Goldfields Pipeline]] along [[Great Eastern Highway]]]]
[[Image:Lake O'Connor SMC.jpg|250px|thumbnail|right|Lake O'Connor, [[Mundaring Weir]]]]
O'Connor is best known for his work on the [[Goldfields Water Supply Scheme]], also known as the ''Goldfields Pipeline''. The pipeline carries water {{convert|330|mi}} from [[Perth]] to [[Kalgoorlie]]. A succession of [[gold rush]]es at [[Southern Cross, Western Australia|Southern Cross]] in 1887, at [[Coolgardie, Western Australia|Coolgardie]] in 1892, and at Kalgoorlie in 1893 caused a population explosion in the barren and dry desert centre of Western Australia, exemplified by towns like [[Cunderdin, Western Australia|Cunderdin]] and [[Merredin, Western Australia|Merredin]]. On 16 July 1896, [[John Forrest]] introduced to [[Parliament of Western Australia|Western Australian Parliament]] a [[Bill (law)|bill]] to authorise the raising of a loan of £2.5 million to construct the scheme: the pipeline would pump {{convert|5|e6impgal|m3}} of water per day to the Goldfields from a [[dam]] on the [[Helena River]] near [[Mundaring Weir]] in Perth, pumped in eight successive stages through 330 miles of {{convert|30|in|mm|adj=mid|-diameter}} pipe to the Mount Charlotte Reservoir in Kalgoorlie. The water is then reticulated to various mining centres in the Goldfields.

The lake created by [[Mundaring Weir]] is now known as ''Lake O'Connor'', and still provides drinking water for the towns along the pipeline to Kalgoorlie.