Waterworks Reserve Pipeline Track extension
Work on a new, family friendly track taking visitors from Waterworks Reserve past Gentle Annie Falls and on to the Pipeline Track starts in January 2025 and is expected to be completed in May.
The wide track will be a continuation of the Pipeline Track, suitable for young families, kids on bikes, and parents with prams and will create a much-needed connection between Waterworks Reserve and Wellington Park.
The Gentle Annie Falls Access Trail will be decommissioned during the works. There will be an ongoing closure of Gentle Annie Falls Track and the lower section of Pipeline Track while works are occurring in the vicinity, but most other tracks in the reserve will remain open.
McDermotts Fire Trail, popular with mountain bike riders, will also remain open.
There may be some reduction in the number of parking spaces available during this project but there will be no impact on booking the barbecue sites.
Walking into the past
The new 2.3 kilometre track will wind its way gently uphill, taking visitors first to the popular Gentle Annie Falls heritage site and then below beautiful sandstone bluffs.
It will also expose an important piece of local architectural history that had been obscured by surrounding bushland.
A sandstone pipe-head well, once a key part of the historic mountain water supply system and built in 1883, will be a key feature of the new route, with plans to build a viewing platform over the newly-rediscovered stonework.
The pipe-head well was originally fed by an open channel running down from Gentle Annie Falls and screened water before it was fed by gravity down to the Receiving House below.
This project is funded by the City of Hobart and the Tasmanian Government's Open Spaces Grants Program facilitated by the Local Government Association of Tasmania.