The 133 year old system, crucial to supplying clean water to our historic goldfields town, will be awarded an Engineers Australia Engineering Heritage Marker at two ceremonies this Sunday.

Chair of Engineers Australia's Victorian Heritage Committee Owen Peake said established in 1881 the Stawell Water Supply Scheme is to be recognised by Engineers Australia, as a significant Engineering achievement.

"When gold was discovered in the Stawell area in the 1850s, the need for a reliable water supply became readily apparent. Miners had to carry water over great distances and the water that was available was not clean, meaning typhoid was a major killer in dry climate goldfields like Stawell," he said.

Sections of the scheme, designed by Stawell Borough Engineer, John D'Alton in 1873, are still providing Stawell with a reliable water supply today.

"Engineer John D'Alton proposed what was at the time the most elaborate country water works in Victoria, an ambitious gravity fed system which diverted water from the Grampians-fed Fyans Creek to supply the burgeoning town," Mr Peake said.

"After six years of construction, the system was completed in 1881, and some components of the D'Alton's system are still in operation today.

"Integral to the system was a tunnel which runs for one kilometre under the eastern side of the Grampians mountains - the longest tunnel excavation of its type in Victoria at the time and one of the first tunnels to use dynamite in preference to less stable black powder in the state.

“The tunnel remains in excellent condition and is still in service 130 years after its initial construction, forming part of the modern Stawell Water Supply system.

“A weir at Fyans Creek, 24.2 kilometre of piping and 12 kilometres of wooden fluming was also constructed, the latter of which was eventually replaced with bushfire resistant steel.”

Mr Peake said the recognition of the Stawell Water Supply project is a significant event and will generate Australia wide recognition.

“The Stawell Water Supply represents a significant engineering achievement at a time where modern engineering technologies, such as topographic maps, were unavailable to those designing the system.

“Even today the provision of safe water supplies is problematic in many parts of the world, although we take such systems for granted in Australia.

“The Stawell system’s ability to stand the test of time demonstrates the technical ability of the engineers and workers on the project, without whom the town of Stawell would not have been able to grow as it did.”

More than 50 members of Engineers Australia, particularly Engineering Heritage Victoria (EHV) will be assembling in Halls Gap at the weekend for the recognition program.

It will involve a full briefing on the 1881 Scheme, together with the commissioning of two Heritage Recognition Panels, one at the Borough Huts picnic area at 10am and a second one at Big Hill, Stawell at 12 noon.

Representatives of Parks Victoria, Northern Grampians Shire Council and Grampians Wimmera Mallee (GWM)Water will be participating in some of the weekend’s activities.

● Ceremony one: 10.30am - 11.05am, Picnic Ground, Borough Huts, Grampians National Park.

The Borough Huts picnic and Parks Victoria camping site is located on Grampians Road about five kilometres south of the Bellfield dam, Halls Gap.

● Ceremony two: 12.00pm - 12.30pm, Big Hill, adjacent to the number one reservoir in Stawell.