A dam in the River Torrens, at Kangaroo Creek, (between Castambul and Cudlee Creek) was first proposed in 1916, however this weir was never constructed despite the Gorge Road plan being realigned to allow for it. The Gorge Road construction began in 1912 - 1914 when the section from the Gorge Weir(near Athelstone) to Castambul was completed, however the section Castambul to the Gumeracha Bridge was not completed until 1924.

In 1962 a submission was made to the Public Works Committee for a much larger dam(Capacity: 24,400 megalitres)to be built at Kangaroo Creek which required a deviation of the Gorge Road to be built and the construction of two new bridges (Playford Bridge near Castambul and the New Prairie Bridge near Torrens Hill).
Construction of the Kangaroo Creek dam began in 1966 and was completed in 1969.
The Reservoir was a 24,400 megalitre artificial water storage facility in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. It was built by damming the River Torrens west of Cudlee Creek, near its junction with Kangaroo Creek (hence its name) .
The dam consists of a 131m long, 65m high concrete clad, rock filled dam wall and the stored water is used to maintain the Hope Valley Reservoir's level by discharging water into the River Torrens, which then flows into Hope Valley Reservoir via a pipeline beginning at the Gorge weir, Athelstone.
The water level of Kangaroo Creek Dam can be topped up by water from the River Murray which is discharged from the Millbrook Reservoir into the River Torrens at Cudlee Creek.
The Kangaroo Creek reservoir was opened by The Hon. R. Steel Hall, M.P., Premier of South Australia, on Friday 5^th December 1969.

In 1982, following the River Torrens Flood Mitigation Study(EWS, 1980) report the dam wall and spillway were modified to pass a flood with a return period of 50,000 years. The modifications involved raising the height of the dam and the top of the spillway by 2.75 metres and inserting into the wall of the spillway two outlet ducts each 4 metres wide by 3 metres high.
Although the height of the dam and spillway were raised, the ducts give a lower overflow level, and storage of the reservoir was reduced from 24,400 Ml to 19,160 Ml and the overflow frequency increased.

The purpose of Kangaroo Creek reservoir was to increase the storage capacity for River Torrens from 4,500 million gallons to approx. 10,500 million gallons. The reservoir area controls 112 sq miles of the River Torrens catchment(which also feeds the Millbrook Reservoir)and the area of water spread equals 103 hectares.

The Kangaroo Creek Dam submerged 3 Bridges on the old Gorge Road,:-
Batchelor's Bridge (located just behind the dam wall),
Crouch's Bridge (located further east, between the dam wall and Torrens Hill),
and Prairie Bridge (located still further east, just below Torrens Hill).

Kangaroo Creek Dam Upgrade

During 2015-2019 SA Water upgraded the Kangaroo Creek Dam.
Kangaroo Creek Dam is a concrete face rockfill dam with a side channel spillway; it is located on the River Torrens (near Castambul) about 22km north east of Adelaide, South Australia, and was originally constructed between 1966-69 to provide additional storage for Adelaide’s metropolitan water supply.
The upgrade ensured that the dam complied with ANCOLD (Australian National Committee on Large Dams) standards.


Construction began in late 2015, and was completed by November 2019.
The work widened the spillway, raised the wall and strengthened the wall embankment.
The upgrades will also help manage major floods and increase the dam's ability to withstand earthquakes. However it does not increase the dam’s capacity, as the spillway height remains unchanged.

SA Water plans minor revegetation for the site in April 2020, which will include hydroseeding of the location of the construction site compound.

Contractor Bardavcol Pty Ltd
Contract Value $78,513,994
Completion Date September 2018
Project Description
Major safety upgrade to the existing concrete lined rock fill dam to meet ANCOLD requirements
Excavation of 300,000m3 of rock to widen the spillway by up to 40m
Extension of the outlet tunnel and pipe work by approximately 50m
Buttressing of the existing rock fill embankment (200,000m3)
Raising of the embankment crest including extension of the concrete face slab using slip form techniques
Significant concrete works (32,000m3) to line the spillway including temperature sensitive mass pours and ogee crest construction
Construction of post tensioned anchors to the existing ogee crest
Electrical, SCADA and security works

The final cost of the upgrade was $94 million. Source SA Water

Kangaroo Creek Dam Photos 02/11/2022

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Kangaroo Creek Dam Spillway - Discharge into River Torrens

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Kangaroo Creek Dam Spillway - Discharge into River Torrens

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Kangaroo Creek Dam Spillway - Discharge into River Torrens

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Kangaroo Creek Dam Spillway - Discharge into River Torrens

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Kangaroo Creek Dam Spillway - Discharge into River Torrens

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Kangaroo Creek Dam Spillway - Discharge into River Torrens