FOR the past 20 years National Trust volunteer Bill Cutler has co-led the annual Pub, Pipes and Pumps event run in conjunction with the Bibbulmun Track Foundation.

Mr Cutler is a true pipeline baby with his parents starting their married life at the No 7 Pumping Station on the Kalgoorlie pipeline, so remote it was known as Siberia.

During the now annual event, which starts and ends at the historic Mundaring Weir Hotel, Mr Cutler is at home sharing his childhood memories and knowledge of the historic Goldfields water supply scheme to an appreciative audience where he leads groups to the site of his childhood home at No 2 Pumping Station, uphill from Mundaring Weir.

It was here he experienced an idyllic childhood and he regales the walkers with personal stories of life there, sharing historic and family photographs of the site.

“I enjoy meeting people from all walks of life who take the walk with me, the interest they take in the CY O’Connor story, and relating my memories of growing up on the pipeline in the 1940s and 1950s,” Mr Cutler said.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed the bond and friendship I have built with Steve Sertis, events manager and lead guide at the Bibbulmun Track Foundation.

“We have done all twenty Pub, Pipes and Pumps events together as a team, hopefully with more to come.”

Mr Cutler recalls starting school at the one teacher school at Mundaring Weir in 1947 where his journey to and from school was by way of walking along the top of the pipeline.

The families of workers at the No 2 Pumping station formed a happy community, but they also regularly mixed socially with families from Mundaring Weir as well as the Forestry Department.

The hall at Mundaring Weir was often the venue for dances and children’s parties, together with social tennis on the courts next to the hall.

“Growing up in this simple and relaxed environment meant the surrounding bush was our natural backyard.

“I recall that my mother’s only rule was be home before the sun goes down,” Mr Cutler said.

It was an exciting time when each year the weir overflowed, drawing hundreds of city dwellers to the Perth Hills for picnics.

In the 1940s the railways ran special Sunday picnic trains from Fremantle and Perth to Mundaring Weir, and by the 1950s the family car became  the norm after the railway line was closed.

“During these peak times my family sold fresh fruit from our orchard along Mundaring Weir Road,” Mr Cutler said.

At the age of 15 he became a career banker lasting 43 years, but upon retirement joined the National Trust as a tour guide at the No 1 Pumping Station to reflect his passion for the feats of engineer CY O’Connor and the pipeline project.

“I now live in East Perth but use any excuse to head for the hills and remember the good old days.

“The well-hidden wooden bench and seating at the No 2 Pumping Station site is a favourite spot for my extended family to meet for picnics to celebrate birthdays, Mother’s Day and other special occasions.

“The Pub, Pipes and Pumps annual walk with the Bibbulmun Track people is something I look forward to, as I enjoy telling the stories from the past perhaps even more than the walking participants do,” Mr Cutler said.

Apart from the 6.5km walk through the scenic landscape, the event, which starts and ends at the historic Mundaring Weir Hotel, includes a private tour of No 1 Pumping Station and a guided walk across the dam wall.

Also included is a morning tea at the National Trust Learning Centre prepared by Diana Frylinck, who like Bill and Steve, has been part of the Pub, Pipes and Pumps team for all 20 of these events and look forward to doing it again next year.