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I August 2021
Well, well, well...liquid gold in Cooroy
By AL E X PU R C E L L THE lid has been lifted on a decades old Cooroy mystery with ‘ ’liquid gold’’ discovered under a sewerage cap in the heart of town. F or years, long-time local and owner of Cooroy Hire Service, Max Arbuthnot, has been telling anyone who’d listen that the mouldy concrete tank in Apex Park with ‘ ’SANSEW’’ stamped on the heavy metal lid is not waste, rather the ‘ ’best tasting water ever’’. “ Well, one day a few years ago, a guy was in the park testing the water and I told him about the well and he said after he d finished that he’d lift the lid,’’ Max told the C ooroy R ag. “ F or 40 years everyone has thought it was sewage but he lifted that lid and it was liquid gold. I drank a bottle of it and it was the best tasting water I’ve ever had.” Max said he was told the well was capped with a sewerage tank storage lid because there were no water lids available at that time. But now the C ooroy R ag has established a century-old link, which confirms
the concrete tank is in fact a well, which supplied water to the old Butter F actory. The Butter F actory well was first sunk in by the Wide Bay Co Butter F actory and used during its years of operation from to . Alan Kenzler moved to Cooroy in and worked at the Cooroy Butter F actory from to . e told the C ooroy R ag it is indeed the well from which they used to pump water to the factory to wash the butter. “ There was only one well in my time and that was the one in Apex Park,’’ he said. ‘ ’We had two-inch galvanised piping that ran under the road to the Butter F actory in order to pump the water up to the holding tanks at the side of the factory. “ We used the water from the well to wash the butter and make ice in summer for the people of Cooroy. The water was very good quality, quite soft. F or our use, we had to chlorinate it.” Cooroy-raised man, Rob Je ffs, remembers the day that the well was capped, sealing a chapter of Cooroy’s dairy production past with it. “ It was probably a year af-
A trio with a well of local knowledge: Alan Kenzler, Max Arbuthnot and Rob Je ffs. Photo: Travis Macfarlane.
ter the Butter F actory closed and I remember council had a crane in to put on the lid,” he told the C ooroy R ag. A spokesperson for Noosa Council said they are “ convinced” the tank is part of local sewerage infrastructure and could not shed any light on its historical connection to the town. A search of UnityWater’s mapping shows the infrastructure is neither connected to the sewerage or reticulated mains and a spokesperson confirmed it is “ not on their infrastructure map” nor associated with UnityWater’s sampling tap
at Apex Park. UnityWater said they were unable to investigate any further, because their crews were “ currently limiting any interactions with the public due to Q ueensland Health’s C - advice . A sample water test by a local company for the R ag confirmed the pex Park water is clear with a good pH and no traces of chlorine. But the ultimate ‘ ’test’’ was left to Alan, Max and Rob as they lifted the lid on a piece of local history. “ Yes, that’s the well, alright,” Alan said, looking in.
“ Originally, a water diviner picked the spot and they sunk the well down but they abandoned it for a while because it wasn’t making enough water. n ,a r Munroe sank a bore down in the base of that well to get a better stream and they got beautiful water.” Holding up a glass of crystal clear water, Alan said: “ Look at this beautiful water.” “ No sewage in that,” Max said. Cooroy is renowned for its subterranean water with a spring at the foot of Cooroy Mountain that supplies wa-
ter for thousands of bottles each year as the sought-after Cooroy Mountain Spring Water. That water has been described as so pure that it needs almost no processing before it is bottled at the source. Natural springs are formed when an aquifer - an underground layer of permeable rock or loose materials such as gravel - transmits water to the surface. * Tell us what you think. What should be done with the old Butter F actory well? Email the Rag editorial@ cooroyrag.com.au
Cooroy Rag, August 2021 - Page
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