Cochrane Park Dog Off Leash Area (Koo Wee Rup)

The dog park is a big grassy area located at the back of the reserve west of the tennis courts.

The north side is bordered by thick tea tree. A path runs around the area with an unshaded seat beside the path. Items of interest in the park include a helipad and a dragline. There is a bin near the helipad.

Note: In the future the dog park will be upgraded when funds become available.

Information about Draglines

Draglines and Draining the Swamp
Draglines were used extensively across the former Koo Wee Rup Swamp to construct and maintain the vast network of drains. They were originally steam driven, then diesel and were the precursors of the modern diesel hydraulic excavator. Draglines were used in the Swamp from the 1900s until the 1970s. Early models ran on railway lines which were leap frogged around the machine as it moved along the drain. Later models such as the one on display used metal caterpillar tracks.

The dragline displayed here is a Ruston-Bucyrus 22RB, the most common machine of its type and was manufactured during the 1960s. This machine came in several variations including a face shovel, crane and the dragline version that you see in front of you. The machines were operated by a system of levers that required considerable practice and skill to use efficiently and accurately. The arrangement of the cables allowed an experienced operator to very accurately excavate the drains. The hoist rope is used to raise and lower the bucket and the drag rope is used to drag the bucket across the surface and scoop up the material. An experienced operator could throw the bucket up to half the length of the jib further away by releasing the clutch on the drag cable which would cause the bucket to swing like a pendulum. When the bucket passed the vertical the hoist rope would be released resulting in the bucket being thrown away from the machine.

The Koo Wee Rup Swamp was once an impassable barrier for traders and settlers travelling from Melbourne to Gippsland. It was recognised that if the water could be drained from the swamp it would release large tracts of highly fertile soil. The Great Swamp was first visited by a European in 1826 when William Hovell made two unsuccessful attempts to cross it. William Lyall cut the first drain in 1857 to drain water from Yallock Station into Yallock Creek. Lyall was instrumental in getting the first bridges built across the inlets. In 1876 work commenced to extend Cardinia Creek to Westernport at Moody's Inlet.

Larger scale works commenced in the 1880s, when the Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department, William Thwaites, surveyed the swamp and oversaw the construction of the Bunyip Main Drain from where the Bunyip River entered the swamp in the north through to Westernport. Carlo Catani, also a Public Works Department engineer, was appointed to oversee construction of the drainage scheme in 1893. Under his management, the Village Settlement Scheme was implemented which saw workers accept a 20 acre block of land in return for spending two weeks of the month improving their blocks and maintaining adjacent drains and the other two weeks working on the drains for wages. His original drainage work was completed by 1897. Further works continued after this to widen the Main Drain and construct additional feeder drains.

After the devastating flood of December 1934, a Royal Commission was held into the operation of the State Rivers & Water Supply Commission regarding its administration of the Koo Wee Rup Flood Protection district. The Commission's findings resulted in the construction of the Yallock outfall and, later, the spillway at Cora Lynn. In 1962 the Koo Wee Rup Flood Protection District was formed. This District has 490 kilometres of drains and associated infrastructure - 400 clear span bridges and 230 culverts, plus 142 other structures such as flood gates, tide gates and drainage inlets. The area is now controlled by Melbourne Water.

Photos:

Location

255 Rossiter Road, Koo Wee Rup 3981 Map