John D'Alton

John R D'Alton (1829–1904) was an engineer who migrated to Australia from Tipperary, Ireland in 1861 following his brother, William (1833–1907) who migrated in 1855. He worked as a mining surveyor at Ararat, Victoria before moving to Stawell, Victoria. He was the Borough engineer as well as the town valuer, surveyor and designer of several buildings, including the town hall built in 1870. The Stawell water supply After gold was discovered around 1853, Stawell’s population began to grow and in 1866 residents realised they needed a permanent water supply. One of the schemes proposed was to block off the ends of the valley and flood the whole of Hall’s Gap. D’Alton came up with a more viable plan that is still in use. The survey of the scheme was commenced in October 1873 but it was not until February 1875 that the first sod of the tunnel was turned by the then Mayor, Mr HC Purcell. His proposal was to bore a tunnel through the Mt William range, a distance of 1 km, and have the water diverted from Fyan’s Creek by open channels and flumes. It commenced operation in December 1881.