Planned for construction 60 km upstream from Renmark, the dam was to be built on a narrow, 5 km-wide floodplain. Promoted in the 1960s as the solution to South Australia’s water security challenges, the project was ultimately abandoned by 1971. The tramway was dismantled, and Victoria’s Dartmouth Dam took precedence. This was a pivotal era in South Australian history when salinity, water security, and economic survival dominated the political landscape.
Drawing on her PhD research and her award-winning Wakefield Press Essay, Barossa Regional University Campus (BRUC) student Amanda Wells was invited to speak as part of a panel organised by the Renmark Irrigation Trust. This was one of many events that formed part of the South Australian History Festival 2025. Amanda gave an overview of the rise and fall of the Chowilla Dam plan. Her talk covered the political and scientific wrangling that occurred over the life of the project while providing the relevant national historical context.
Watch the video here
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