According to Wyatt's History of Goulburn, the water was taken into town by licensed watermen and sold for drinking at 9 pence per barrel, delivered.

In the 1860s, before the railway came to Goulburn, this would have been a straight and unobstructed journey for the carts up into Belmore Park, because the well is parallel to the park.

Wyatt states there were originally two wells on the Eastgrove flats that were sunk by Zachariah Hawkins, who later became a Mayor of Goulburn.

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One of these wells has been uncovered by a bloke who knows a lot about Goulburn's past.

Kevin Shepherd uncovered this well after he was told by a man, who was then in his 90s, that it existed.

"I met Jack Pratt when he was 93. This was in the 1940s. He said it would pay me to go down with a pick and shovel and dig around there, that there was an old well there on the Eastgrove flat," Mr Shepherd said.

"This was confirmed to me by a bloke at the council who used to grade Blackshaw Road.

"He said his blade hit bricks each time he graded the road and he did not know what it was."

When he unearthed it, the well was about 1 foot under the ground and Mr Shepherd dug it out with a pick and exposed it to what it is now.

The brickwork of the old well can be clearly seen.

"I went to the council and suggested they put a railing around it to protect it, which they did," he said.

"Then I brought Mayor Bob Kirk down here to have a look. He loves his history and he agreed that a placard with information about the old well's history would be a good idea."

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The well is back a few metres from the Mulwaree River.

Mr Shepherd said this was because the sand filtered the water naturally.

Cr Kirk was down inspecting the old well with Mr Shepherd last week.

"I think it would be nice to have some information here about it for people walking or riding by on the cycle path - to tell people what it was," Cr Kirk said.

"Goulburn is full of history like this. We need to document it and it is great to get information like this from old-timers like Kevin."

According to Stephen Tazewell's Grand Goulburn, John Blackshaw arrived in NSW on the ship Briton in 1844. He came to Goulburn in 1864.

John Blackshaw had been a brewer in England and this became known to William Bradley, who operated the Goulburn Brewery, which still stands.

Bradley employed him and as a result, he secured land nearby and built a substantial two-storey house called Foston on the Eastgrove flats, near where the current hole number 2 green on the Goulburn Golf Course is today.

After he left Bradley's employment, Blackshaw established his own brewery called the Foston Brewery, about 45m north of his house.

Blackshaw was responsible for the sinking of the wells that bear his name, which Zachariah Hawkins dug.

The great flood of 1864 temporarily ruined him, but he was employed again by Bradleys, until he re-established his brewery in 1872. He died in 1873.

The wells he sunk were in operation at least until the arrival of the railway to Goulburn in 1869.

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