The New Plymouth Borough water supply scheme was opened 1883. It consisted of a weir (now removed) on the Waiwhakaiho River at the southern end of Audrey Gale Park/Merrilands Domain. A concrete and earth water race then led 4-500 metres downstream to a pumping station which lifted the water to the circular concrete reservoir on what is now the playing fields of the park. The complex was completed in March 1883 but in April the reservoir was badly cracked in an earth movement and the council refused to take possession until repairs were made - possibly later in the year.
This scheme was replaced in 1906 by a combined hydro generation and water supply complex at Mangorei - now, after many additions and transformations - the Mangorei Power Station and Lake Mangamahoe. The concrete remains of the pumping station at Merrilands were, unfortunately, badly damaged by contractors working in the area in the 1980s.
Formerly known as the Waterworks Reserve or Merrilands Domain, the area was renamed for long-serving City Councillor, Audrey N. Gale (1909-1992), in 1989.
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