Register of drains

daryl · 19 Sep 2017, 3:16 pm

Hi all,

In my earlier days of draining, I explored quite a bit by myself (or with a few friends), before I knew there was major interest in it. Therefore, I didn't know the names of these places, or how to formally refer to them.
In my BBS days, I came across a text file that listed a heap of Adelaide drains with their names and grid references (which I've since lost).
I've recently explored a few drains in my local area, which aren't massive, and look like they've only been hit by taggers.

I'm wondering what is the best way for people to know the proper names of drains, and whether they've even been found by drainers before?
Of course, the old list with names and grid references was great, -but- I appreciate the reasons not to give the locations away.
I was thinking maybe something that had the name, a photo of the entrance, and maybe some general area (like 10km radius or suburb or something). Just some way for everyone to know exactly what they're talking about, without making it dangerous (or too easy for some

) for those who haven't been there before?
Or maybe some way of formalizing names, without it being renamed because someone else didn't already know?

I'm primarily interested in Adelaide drains, but can see the need to have this Australia-wide.

Any thoughts?

iso · 24 Sep 2017, 9:44 am

The Cave Clan keeps track of this, the list that you remember from the BBS might have been an old text location list (I have one from 1996). Probably the best way to find out about whether drains have been done before or what they're called is to check with them...

Most 'proper' names of drains, in an exploring context, are just the names that the Cave Clan gave to them. The actual names of the drains (i.e. Bumsville Main Drain) are often disclosed upon request by your local water drainage authority, but rarely used by explorers (with a few exceptions).

daryl · 24 Sep 2017, 10:53 am

Hi Iso,

Thanks for your reply. I was talking about naming by explorers (I'm not concerned with commercial naming).

I might notify the CC about some of the smaller ones I've come across in my expanded local area. They're not exciting by any means, but none-the-less should be kept track of.

Heassa · 24 May 2018, 1:17 pm

I did find a map with a lot of locations around Australia to name the drains on my map. You could also use the awesome Adelaide website you can recognise most major drains from the photos.

daryl · 29 May 2019, 6:48 am

Yes, I have a map too, which is great for the ones that I hadn't visited. However most of the ones that I had stumbled across myself aren't listed on the map, so they remain nameless.