File:Millbrook Reservoir Construction(GN01524).jpg

The Millbrook Reservoir was constructed between January 1914 and 1918 and when completed doubled Adelaide's water storage. The reservoir controlled the flows of the upper reaches of the River Torrens between Gumeracha and Kersbrook. Central to the construction were a conduit 770 feet in length to a supply weir and then a mile long inlet tunnel to the reservoir drilled through solid rock by workmen and machines. The project was completed in July 1918. The pipe track was built in 1915. The Chronicle newspaper reported , 'The pipe track road is well advancd, and will prove a picturesque route to the city, and will be largely used on account of the easy gradient. Market

gardeners and carters generally will hail with delight the opening of this road to the city ... The work of dismantling nature's garb has been successfully carried out by the many axemen engaged on that particular branch of the great water seheme. Many stately gums have been hewn down, and the once beautiful landscape is a scene of desolation. '(Chronicle, 19 June 1915, p11).