Avon Dam

Work on Avon Dam began in 1921. A curved dam with Egyptian style gateways at each end of the crest, Avon is larger than the Cataract and Cordeaux dams combined. The dam's spillway is a concrete serpentine weir with a concrete lined channel situated 400 metres from the left abutment.

All materials were hauled by truck from Bargo on a specially built road. For the first time, electric powered cranes were also used in the construction.

Avon Dam was completed in 1928 and cost about $6.3 million. It was strengthened in 1971 ($3.8m) by buttressing its downstream face with a rockfill embankment.

  • Height: 72 metres
  • Length: 223 metres
  • Capacity: 214,360 megalitres
  • Catchment: 142 square kilometres
  • Lake: 10.5 square kilometres

Did you know?

  • WW1 veterans staying at a nearby rehabilitation camp built the original roadway into the Avon Dam site in the early 1920s.
  • All construction materials for Avon Dam had to be transported in by road whereas the other dams in the Nepean system used rail transport.