The Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp was a large freshwater swamp located to the south east of
Melbourne, Victoria
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
. It drained an area of
West Gippsland, with several waterways including
Cardinia Creek
The Cardinia Creek is a freshwater stream southeast of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, that flows from the Cardinia Reservoir in the Dandenong Ranges into the Western Port Bay between Tooradin and Koo Wee Rup. The creek forms majority of the ...
and the
Bunyip River.
'A Brief Description of the Land Use in the Koo-Wee-Rup and Cranbourne Regions' Victorian Resources On-line
/ref>
The Koo-Wee-Rup swamp originally covered more than 40,000 hectares of dense swamp paperbark ( Melaleuca ericifolia), with some open grasslands, reed beds (Phragmites
''Phragmites'' () is a genus of four species of large perennial plant, perennial reed (plant), reed Poaceae, grasses found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world.
Taxonomy
The World Checklist of Selected Plant Famili ...
australis) and bullrushes (Typha
''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrushStreeter D, Hart-Davies C, Hardcastle A, Cole F, Harper L. 2009. ' ...
spp). Known as ''The Great Swamp'', it was an impassable barrier for travellers between Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
and Gippsland
Gippsland () is a rural region in the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains south of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers an elongated area of east of th ...
. Although the fringes of the swamp had been settled by the mid-19th century, farming was not possible on much of the land because of frequent flooding, and the rapid re-growth of paperbark and other swamp vegetation.
However, in the 1870s, efforts were made by the Victorian Department of Lands to drain the swamp and open up the area for agriculture. A Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Drainage Committee was formed by local landowners and, in February 1876, excavation of the main channel was commenced, to take water from Cardinia Creek
The Cardinia Creek is a freshwater stream southeast of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, that flows from the Cardinia Reservoir in the Dandenong Ranges into the Western Port Bay between Tooradin and Koo Wee Rup. The creek forms majority of the ...
. That channel, leading into Western Port
Western Port, ( Boonwurrung: ''Warn Marin'') commonly but unofficially known as Western Port Bay, is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia, opening into Bass Strait. It is the second largest bay in the state. Geographically, it ...
at Moody's Inlet, was 8 km long and 1.2 m deep. Other drains were also dug, including those for Toomuc Creek and the Bunyip River.
See also
* Strzelecki railway line
External links
45 photos in the State Library Victoria
Channels and channel excavation in the Lang Lang (Koo-wee-rup) district
Map of Strzelecki railway line, around 1925
Drains of Koo-Wee-Rup Flood Protection District, 1951
References
Bodies of water of Victoria (state)
Swamps of Australia
{{VictoriaAU-geo-stub