Friday, April 4, 2008

The Whispering Wall

This dam wall has unique acoustical properties; you can stand and speak softly on one side of the 143 metre long wall and be clearly heard on the other side.

This is the Barossa Reservoir dam near the town of Williamstown, just north of Adelaide. Building started in 1899 and was completed in 1903. When it was built it was the largest dam in Australia and radical in its design.

9 comments:

Donna said...

That sounds like it could be Fun!!!lolol...hughugs

alicesg said...

Beautiful photo. I love the reflection of the subjects in the water.

alicesg said...

I had a quiz in my blog few days ago, you might like to guess too. :)

Anonymous said...

Any chance you can explain the physics behind the projected whispers?

I read you play sax with a community band. Loved the blue shirts by the way. I play in three: clarinet in two, sax in another, flute in church.

I'm sure I'll return. I like your "views."

alice said...

Happy to see you have some spare water in Adelaide!

Gordon said...

Alice - sorry. I should have mentioned that the photo was from my archives; taken during the winter of 2003. Ufortunately I fear the water level would be a lot lower than this.

Gordon said...

Leazwell - the explanation I have found is:
"The perfect curve of the dam wall doesn’t absorb the soundwaves, rather the parabolic effect simply “pushes” them along."

Apparently it was not planned, but the phenomena once discovered has made it one of SA's popular tourist destinations. I remember visiting it as a child, and marvelling at the 'magic' of it.

Jilly said...

How amazing to know this.

Rhys said...

Interesting new Website here with some connected links and info.....