1949

SIXTEENTH CONFERENCE

149

THE SOZ_TrTII&IAR(~OCE-'I'V*
SWAMP DRAINAGE
SCHEME

Introduction.
The co-operative effort or; belialf of -t'i'i~civec:lnegrowers on the
sorstlr I ~ a i ~ofk tlle Maroochy River, referred to as th(: South Maroochy
Drainage Sriic~ne,is of particular ini:eresi in th:at explosives (obtaiilcd
from ilrmqr Tlisposalsj 1aa.v~been rased tcr blow cbnnnels through the
W&, partly tidal, swany, soils.
The scbenlc was bluepaliated t.werrty-ox~c-:
years ago by the 1rP"igation
d'ornmissionr, b a t wa.5 a.b;tndolletf dui: t o ono r%issc?ntingI;zi~illiolder. A
ch;ixlge of tenure in 1!3-&7 I->ro~~;;ht
ivttercstctl p:lrties -iogt:l:lrcr :].gain and
an app-o;a(-h was made to the: loc-3.1 Shirc Cv~racil and thc:
.. brrigatioaa
anti Water Supply Commission concernirrg the proyos:tl. l i~csc: l~otbies
were unahlc: t o commit tl~enrselves,so a ss;nriical:e of twelve canegrc,\.vers
was for-mecl to launch the scllilerne and bear the 1,rrr~cterrof costs a.nd
la.bour. I t was registered as the Sonth M;irooctly Swamp 1)r;linage
Synclicate.
'The area. directly a l'i'ected is B ,BtiO amcs m:~irtly of pca.ta/ and clay
lortrns. When drairrcd, tlre are2 will be quite saitabie for the growth
of most ecoiiomic crops t
trd wcrnld srrpport ckiiry herds and assuciatetk
livestock. Tt is sitir;ttt:d i r r a I~erltiof the M:iroochy I{.iver, :i,n<?lis fed
clreek;: rrnrrling from tire horse-.shoe sl.ray)eii Hli IZli J-Xeights, an
by
;~pj>~jxionate
area. of 3,500 acres. Thc basic icle:~of thr project. is to
confirre rill the run-08 wa.tc.r iron1 this arca. to one channel, arid i:lilbs
elimial;lt:e the prescnt. i3lmost pcremiai watcrlog:ging. Thc task call 11e
inl:i,giliec"aI~en it is reaIisotl that following +.hi:lowest levels t o the river
a fall of one foot in 4,000 is ail ihab is ei~cour~tereti.111 tinncs c)f hea.vy
r:ki-n tlre hack pi-essr-rre from the 1-iver anti the C o d u ~ nCreek 0x1 the?
o~qxs"i.ebank causes ;L tktarlming, ;rnd wnl:er. up to four fcct deep remains
over $lie swaxnp for weeks 0x1 i:nct. D~ar-in[;the dry pcriod of the: year,
a b o ~ i tSepterriher, U0 i.o $Mper cent. of eFre area. is frcrl of surface water.
B y sunnir~ga cilaszarci not. lec;~than 30 feet wide throllgll the lowest
level it was felt that. E~cnekitswoultl be iinmedia.te arid l;iskirkg. As1
arltlil:ioalal rxrecessary p;wt of the project wonltb he the constnrction of
hanlcs rrlralring a t right arxgles t o tkrc main chnxlnel a.nd y)kr.ced at 1:lae
lower erad of thc area. lllese ba.ni;s, in cor*jnnction wit11 flootll gatcs,
wo~altishrd- out the tide and errsirrt: that the savamy rcrxl-olf be kept
;it tile desired level.

Xn November, 194'7, the l-jnlltlozing of the upper par1 of the area

was commencc~d,using Catesyi1l;tr D.4 d~ld11.6 ~machiiles,arlcl l ~ ythe
limc the rains came in Ileccrteber silt). chains ot utam drairr, 40 f ~ t > L

150

SIXTEENTH CONFERENCE

1949

wide by two feet six Inches deep, had bem completed. Following on
this effort a further 1514 chains of main drain and 140 1 chains of feeders
were constnicted by bu1ldoaer and hand labo~trin 191s. Figvim 1 shows
a bulldozpr at work.
12s thc madlines progressed i t I~cramcrrident that a length of
53 chains at the lo\vest end of the proj~ctwas irnpo~sibleto work with.
any class nf animal or machine, and tI~cbulldozer contractor obtained
from tlrc Co-nrdinator General's Dcprtrnent n snpplv of anti-tank mines
ant1 a ~ i ~ m o n afor
l cxpcrimrntal '>blon-s." \\'rrrk was I~ampercd by
plagues of rnnqquitnrq, and t h e necessity to rnrry a 30 113. load t h r w g h
18 c h a ~ n sof linee-deep sltislr slowctl prn,qrcs ron~i(lerahly.

Fig. I-Showing

a bulldorer at work in h e swamp.

From the remits of many test shots it was found that T.N.T. in
thr fnrm of nlincq \irxf: ~ i n ~ t ~ i t ; l ~l di rn,r ct h c hk-h drtonntion ratc [;-8,Wfi
nlrtrr~per scl*nnd) r.auqrtl a largc a m o n i ~ tr ~ tl l ~ rq)orl t o l ~ rt l~rrrwn
upwnrd5 instraatl of ontwarrls, ancl in t l i r - arc;ts of hlrw mutl 13 Iiori,orl,
t11cfr~rr+r
of tile rspln~ionrvas cu5hionrtl. The amrnonal hrinq a rlorvrr
burncr (5-3,0(111nlct~rsper scrantlj gave hcttcr results and when plarcd
jn l i n ~in l w t h I > I I ~ Crnllcl tirl;il ;Irr;l< anrl salt flat.; wa; lo~rntlto Ile
60 pcr rent. more effectiv~for t l ~ i st v p c c)f work. .\nothcr important
pnint (*on(-rrnrtl ~ h po+ition
r
nf c h a r y c ~in rclation to the facc of crratest
resi<tant-p. I t ~ ; 1 . ; in11nd tlrnt tllr 1;1!.ing o f c:Iini-qrc nn nnc Il:~nkof
an ruiqtinq drain, no rnnttrr how sm:i11, xrlii~vrrl? I I ~ - T ~ S S + TIICrh~rges,
cnnsistinq of 95 11,. cans of aninlnnal, spncrtl :tt 10 fcct ancl :{ fi-et (i~ n c h e s
deep In the ~ c r ~ i njrrl r r firrtl hv Prim;lc-nrcl " (.?,20ll mrtrrs per sccnnri)
ant1 C .E. prlmrrq. 'rl'nrkin~on prrvinns knowlrtl~pi t trr;1~tnuntl that,
wit-h 33 111. vhnrgcs of ammonal at 10 f c ~ intrrvalq
t
Isre Fig. 2 ) , a total
1cnetl-t of from 2.5 to 7 r-hains in one IIIOIV gavr <;~ti<factor!. reqults.
I t was noted, howevcr, t h a t a bump of puffcd up mud at the site of
"

7 949

SIXTEENTH CONFERENCE

15 1

each individual charge made a qeries of islands in the middle of the

channr! (srr Fig. R ) . Since ~ E I P S ~ mounds wcrc fluffy, it apprar4 likely
that the flow of water in the channel will gratlually Icxtrl them out.
'The channel formcd 1n~:~wrecl
up tn 38 fcct in trridth by 3 feet
6 inchcs ~lcep, with t t ~ c~poil thrown clear. I n such circumstances
clcaring of tirnt~rrfor a diqtance of 40 fret from t l ~ rcrl~t*of thr drain
was found nrcessary, since thcrc waq the likelfhnorl nf t h r rhannel being
f o ~ ~ l eh\.
t l loqs ton Iirx~yto I>c movccl IIY the blast. Features of the
work are illtiqtraterl in T;iqq, 4 , 5 , ant1 I?.

Fig. %Showing

the charpes Isid.

Economids of the Scheme.

To date @,"iOn
has bern paid for earthwnrk?, espFosives and contingencies. As many subsidiaries have alrearly been' led into the
s e c o n d a ~hranchcs of thr lirnin channel a further {ltiW woilld cowr
private lnnrlholrlrrs.
the amount to he h r n e
The earthworks cost from 6d. to l l9 p ~ rcuhic yard when the
for tht D.4.
hourly rate for the machines was L5 for t l ~ cD.G 2nd

SIXTEENTH CONFiRENCr

152

Fig, 3-Showing

Fig, &Photograph

the mounds of mud in mid-channel.

of expfosion showing arymrnetw o f blast due to location

of charges: against a bank.

The diffcrcnce in price per c~il>iryard is dur t u thr wet conditions

c C h lRCS
\Y?TC
encountered in the lntcr stages of ol)errltion, when the m?
*
wnrking at one-thirrl loadinq.

Of the ninc tons of csplosives purchased for L32.5, the dearest

item was the primacord at 3:d. ppr loot, \vl~il;t the cost of the amrnanal
approximated L28 per ton.

SlXTEENTH CONFERENCE

1949

Fig. 5-A

l53

view' of the channel fotmed by blasting.

Fig. &Another

view o f the channel.

.At present there is no firm understandinq concerning tipkecp of

the rlrainq under control of the Syndicate, alzhotigh it is fdt that prop r t i o n a t c rating based on acreage benefited would bc equitable.

151

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-- CONFERENCE
---."p

p-"-"-

-"

1943
"
"
P

Acknowledgments.
Acknowlcclgmenli, are ,~ctorilrtl t o thr members 01 tlie Sotitb
Marnotliy Sw;tnlp I)r<rinagc Sylrtlicate ior iheir a~iist~irlre
anti thcir
consent to the pnblication of thji pal'cr.

b\'hcre firr-n c:liough, h~llltioz~r!;(l).(i ;111(1 11.4) Inay . h e worlted

sai,isfactorily iri the c,?eal-ing of vcgcl;il.ion ; ~ n dco~lstrrri:t:ion o-F clitclles
in ica-ircc sur;rrlq)cor~rltr.?-. ,\rnrllon:ll or snhstitrrlt! :~xnrnonalw;rs folmci
t o he rr~ostsalisfac-tofy ior ihr li,lowitlg of birrc rrlnil 1-3 lilo~izon soil.;.
Irr the CitlnI lrilr~ti:;;trlci ~)ca;lt\~
oom
por~nd of cxplosivt: rernovecl
a b o t ~ two
t
c111>icyards (25 11). c-!t~:~~-ed
an art::^ of 10 f t . X :3 ft. 6 in. X 38 ft..).
Most s~lcc-csswas ~ a i n r : t i by j,lacii.~g (cl~ar-;jt:son ifre edge of a n existing
drain. 'l'irrrbcr- rrlust l ~ clcirl-ctl
r
for 40 fcci horn vacii cdge c ~ ftlic clrain
beforc I~lowirrg. Yllc ~ l i a x i m ~ i lnirrlll)t:r
rl
of cllarges sllclulcl be 1:1111 at.
on(:(: a s single sllot.; itlrc,\v &spoil iritc! prc:~ior~s1)lon.s. 11-1 this bad.
a-roscp.t'it.o conrrtry ;ill pos.;il)li. pi.i.par;itro-ils silo~iitlbe riladc to c:ili~rgc.s
befor-c: entering t kit: a]-(-a.