Manly Dam Reserve is an area of urban bushland in the Northern Beaches

Northern Beaches (Sydney)

The Northern Beaches is an informal term used to describe the northern coastal suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located near the coast of the Pacific Ocean...

 region of Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is within the suburbs of Allambie Heights

Allambie Heights, New South Wales

Allambie Heights is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Allambie Heights is located 17 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Warringah Council and is part of the Northern Beaches region.- History :Allambie...

 and Manly Vale

Manly Vale, New South Wales

Manly Vale is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Manly Vale is located 17 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Warringah Council, in the Northern Beaches region....

 in Warringah

Warringah Council

Warringah is a local council area in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, Australia. Warringah Council overlaps with a number of suburbs from the Manly Council area to the south and the Pittwater Council area to the north...

.

Area

The Reserve adjoins the south-eastern edge of Garigal National Park

Garigal National Park

Garigal National Park is a national park in New South Wales , 20 km north of central Sydney. The park is somewhat disjointed but covers the following areas:...

, and to the reserve's east lies Wakehurst golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 course.

Dam

The Reserve is centred around a man-made lake officially called 'Manly Reservoir', but it is more widely known as 'Manly Dam' after the dam that created it.

Curl Curl Creek was originally dammed in 1892 to create a deep freshwater lake. It was intended to provide a permanent supply of fresh water for the nearby village of Manly

Manly, New South Wales

Manly is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Manly is located 17 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of Manly Council, in the Northern Beaches region.-History:Manly was named...

. The original dam wall was subsequently raised in 1909 and in 1922 to 35.1 metres (115.2 ft) to provide up to 1.7 gigalitres (373,947,722.1 imp gal) of drinking water. However as the population of the area grew, the dam's capacity became insufficient.

Water supply from Manly Dam was phased out by 1930 when piping began from the Pymble reservoir. Briefly in 1942 after a period of drought, pumps were reinstalled and Manly Dam was brought back into service for nearly 10 months.

In the early 1990s engineers installed a large enclosed powered propeller against the dam wall on the reservoir side to prevent silt

Silt

Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...

 building up against the wall and causing damage to the structure.

War Memorial

On the southern side of the dam there is a war memorial to those who have fallen in all wars.

Tracks

Manly Dam is home to a wide variety of well maintained walking tracks, and a single mountain bike circuit of around 9km. The mountain bike circuit is one of the only legal "Single Tracks" available in Sydney, which makes it a very popular destination for Sydney mountain bike riders.
Due to the popularity of the cycling circuit local park rangers have installed a number of wooden boardwalk

Boardwalk

A boardwalk, in the conventional sense, is a wooden walkway for pedestrians and sometimes vehicles, often found along beaches, but they are also common as paths through wetlands, coastal dunes, and other sensitive environments....

s at various points and ask riders via emails and communication with clubs to stay off the track during and immediately after periods of rain.

In February 2010 Warringah Council

Warringah Council

Warringah is a local council area in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, Australia. Warringah Council overlaps with a number of suburbs from the Manly Council area to the south and the Pittwater Council area to the north...

abruptly closed sections of the cycling track, which caused a major uproar in the Sydney Mountain bike community. Local councillors have publicly stated that the closure was due to a technicality, which was overturned after a strong show of opposition from the Cycling community.

Hydraulics Laboratories

Manly Hydraulics Laboratory (run by the NSW Department of Commerce) and the Water Research Laboratory (run by the University of New South Wales), are at the southern end of the Reserve, just below the actual Dam.

External links

• The Northern Beaches Mountain Biking Group (NoBMoB) have details of trails in Manly Dam Reserve
• Manly Hydraulics Laboratory
• Water Research Laboratory
• "Manly Dam and Surrounds" - Aussie Heritage website