In March 2011 an extreme rainfall event triggered significant landslides and debris flow across Wilsons Promontory National Park in Victoria.
The highly popular Telegraph Saddle to Sealers Cove walking track was massively damaged by ten separate landslips. Some landslips were as deep as ten metres and others were several hundred metres wide. There was considerable doubt as to whether the walking track could be reopened again. After some initial reconstruction attempts Parks Victoria engaged Track & Trail to take on the task. The landslips were repaired by constructing large dry stone retaining walls, back filled with rubble and surfaced with gravel to recreate the original track alignment. In one location, the popular Fern Glade area, a vertical cliff had been created by a landslip so we constructed a new alignment to bypass this area completely. Due to the steep cross slope and rugged terrain it was not possible to utilise machinery. All work was undertaken using mechanical hand winches to move the large boulders used in retaining wall construction.
