John T. Newman, Tom Keating, Alf Love and Peter Moree were some of the many workers who came and camped in their tents and huts in the paddock behind the drilling site, for the four years it took to complete the project. A steam engine was used to generate the power to work the drill boring the hole, connected by massive cable ropes. In the middle of proceedings, a drill broke and fell back down the shaft. A year was lost while every possible means was tried to retrieve the drilling bit.
It was feared a new bore might be needed, but this one had already been partly cased and it seemed worthwhile to recover the bit. In desperation a magnet was brought out from America, so after a very long wait it arrived, lifting the drill successfully, and the construction was in full operation once again.
It was carnival time on Thursday 28 May, 1903 when the Parliamentary party visited Boomi to make the official viewing of the flow from the artesian bore head. The children had the day away from school and everyone had a memorable time.
The bore drain flows west for half a mile to where the drain branches. At the mouth of the two flows it is governed by a regulator. Boards cover the floor of the drain at this part and as the water is still very warm it has always been a popular bathing place and natural spa.
Where the northern line of the drain flows on another half a mile, the water is piped along an open viaduct or trough over about fifty feet of low swamp. This is called the Fluming. The water is cool enough for the stock to drink approximately a mile from the bore head, then as the two flows move separately westward, it feeds ninety miles of bore drain, petering out at Booreeyamma.
In the early sixties, a company was in the area drilling for oil and a hole was put down on the Barnato-Kilenna boundary and in doing so, struck water. The bore was cased and cemented. Their big motorised engines were a far cry from the humble steam engines that did the same job so many years before. Twenty years later, the Council acquired the casement and piped the water supply to the residents of Boomi. This extra supply requires a hot water system because of the distance travelled, not as before, when the water came from the Boomi Bore and the bath was run in the afternoon to be cool for bathtime.
The Allen family had a bore dug at the house at Corenda and on striking water it proved to be more salty than the sea. Boomi must be sitting on an internal reservoir.
All historical information and B & W Pictures contained in this site are from the book UP ON THE BORDER BOOMI by Ellen Allen, published in 1988, and used with permission.
Kunopia - The Township | Village of Boomi | The Artesian Bore | Boomi Post Office |
Royal Hotel | Pioneer Hotel | Police Station | Boomi Public School |