The Beginning: The McCourt family moved into the Woakwine area in 1880's & soon realised that without richer land to compliment the rocky high country, living on the land would be difficult.
In 1957 Mr Murray McCourt decided to "have a go" @ constructing a channel from the swamp through the range to Lake George.
The South Eastern Drainage board assisted in designing & planning the proposed channel, however, these palns were not adopted as Mr McCourt believed the process to be too costly.
Instead, he decided to take the risk by having almost perpendicular walls. This type of development had never been seen in Australia before & there were obvious risks associated with the plans such as slipping on the steep walls. However, Mr McCourt along with the assistance of one of his workman, Mr Dick Mcintyre set out to prove that it could be done
The result: Length of the cutting: 50 chains - 1 kilometre
Width at bottom: 10 feet - 3 metres
Depth deepest point: 93 feet - 28.34 metres
Material moved: 361.109 cubic yards - 276,000 cubic metres
Time taken on construction: work started May 1957 - completed May 1960
Two men = 3 years work
This is the result of draining the swamp - fertile paddocks
Machinery used to make the cutting. The cutting was a huge engineering feat for its time, is a remarkable example of how the land has been drained, ploughed, cultivated & sown for pasture, making the area efficient & agriculturally sustainable.
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