Posted by Tanuki Good research surekill, and I think you are conclusively showing that Lai's map is wrong. I'd assume that the old fire map is correct, the location of the cistern would have been important at the time. And it's placement of the cistern seems quite logical, it places the cistern in an intersection so it could serve four blocks at once, and closer to the person who paid for it. But the fire map doesn't agree with Lai's map. The fire map places the cistern closer to Waddington Alley, and further away from the buildings. According to the fire map the cistern is almost 50 feet from the edge of the buildings. That old stormdrain is much closer, only a few feet beyond the extended basements. Meaning that the cistern must be on the other side of the stormdrain. Lai's drawing has the location of the stormdrain wrong, and the location of the cistern relative to the stormdrain wrong. I've just quickly sketched where the stormdrain is actually located on the fire map, stormdrain in purple.
Anyways, one would think that they removed it, but Victoria does have a tendency to just pave things over and hope they disappear. And then sections of road cave in, and they just pave it over again. So it might still be there. And one day I might be walking along Johnson St and see a truck disappear into a hole in the road.
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