A copy of the plans submitted to government in 1838 by H E Clark for the Egg Island canal. It was built over 45 weeks, costing £294 .

Egg Island canal has been something of a secret for decades, not known even by many Franklin residents. It was constructed in 1838 after an earlier attempt and was a very useful structure aiding the development of the eastern shore of the Huon River - the infant communities of Cradoc and Woodstock. It was dredged four times, the last occurring in 1912. It cuts through south Egg Island and is a beautiful channel through a special and quiet place.

It has to be remembered that this area was then an incredible and remote wilderness though rapidly succumbing to colonisation and clearing of the magnificent stands of forest that stood right down to the water’s edge. Water transport was the only means available and Franklin was one of the busier and larger communities in Tasmania, being at the navigable head of the Huon River. Once roads were pushed through the dense forest and the wet, boggy gullies were forded, corded and finally bridged the decline of Franklin began. The building of the bridge at Huonville was the final stage in this process and Franklin became a quiet and curious bystander to the development that has happened since.

Most recently that development has included a plan to pipe water from the Huon River to the communities of Cradoc and Cygnet as well as to Geeveston. This was part of the Rudd Government’s stimulus package and $25 million has been allocated to this plan, half coming from the Federal Government.

Unfortunately the Huon Valley Council who applied for the funds chose not to include the community in their vision and it was not until well after Southern Water was created as an entity that the plans were made public. This plan included building a pump station right outside the Palais Theatre next to the War Memorial and this fact together with the fact that this plan had not been mentioned at a public forum held by Huon Valley Council (HVC) some two weeks earlier created uproar in Franklin (despite assurances by the new HVC General Manager that he would preside over a new era of transparent and open government).

The second part of the plan that concerns Franklin residents is the plan to drop the pipeline in the Egg island canal. The initial plan for this was to anchor the pipeline with large concrete blocks (1.2 x 0.8 x 0.6 metres) every 3.5 metres along the 300 mm plastic pipe.

The Living Boat Trust expressed its concerns to Huon Valley Council and although this was ignored, Southern Water representatives came through the canal with us and agreed that the concrete blocks would cause a navigation hazard. They proposed a plan which would anchor the pipe with a series of stakes every 3.5 metres, half of which would be cut off at low water level. These representatives stated that their preference would be to bury the pipeline across Egg Island but feared that the approval process involved would take many months and this expected delay would jeopardise the funding for the project.

Since that time much has happened. Several residents and the Tasmanian Land Conservancy have appealed the planning application approval and the appeal process is now in progress. The LBT has been asked to and has joined the appeal process on the basis that the continued navigability of the canal is in jeopardy. This is especially important to us as we are the greatest users of the canal and have built an enterprise, our boat hire business, around it and have talked about creating another business, Egg Island Tours, using the Capricornia. We are concerned that placing a pipeline in the canal will prevent any future dredging which may be necessary at some time in order to maintain its continued navigability. In addition having steel spikes in the canal will provide a hazard to people rowing through the canal and will risk damage to boats and or people and may also contribute to the increased silting of the canal. These stakes will trap branches and debris which in turn will allow silt to build up.

Since this furore erupted late last year we have found out much more about the canal and now realise what a jewel we have here. Much of this work is due to Ruth and John Young as well as others in the community. We did not know that it is indeed the oldest canal in Australia in continuous use and it has given us a marvellous insight into the early history of Franklin and the subsequent development of Cradoc and Woodstock on the other side of the river.

We know all too well the spell that the canal puts on people, having taken many, many people, especially groups of schoolchildren. We are familiar with the quiet that descends on people as they travel through in serenity, and only a few hundred metres from a township and busy highway.

It is truly absurd to consider jeopardising this precious asset and the irony is that all parties would prefer to place the pipeline elsewhere (namely bury it in the island) and no-one disagrees with the project as it stands. There is no argument with increasing the availability of water to other communities though there are still questions as to whether this is the most efficient or desirable way to do so.

To see an aerial view go to our map