The Cross Australian Canal is a is a series of 2 canals and one man-made lake located in Australia. Originally owned and planned by TCAC Company (known before as ARUP Group) the Cross Australian Canal was made in an attempt to make the outback green again. (Whether it failed or succeeded is a topic of discussion.)
History[]
a australian Boeing B-52 Stratofortress testing bombs in the canal
The canal was proposed by John Curtin in 1945. The first canal started construction in 1948, With the contractor chosen to build the canal was the ARUP Group. (later known as TCAC Company after the merger.)
The ARUP Group also managed all shipments in and out of the canal. The first canal was built between 1948 and 1953 its purpose was to fill up a man-made artificial lake, which would be called "Artificial Lake" (sic) meanwhile in 1951 the construction of the second canal would start the construction of both canals during the Vietnam war. The Royal Australian Air Force needed a place to test bombs, and at the same time, the canal needed tons of dynamite. So they allowed the RAAF to use experimental (non-nuclear) bombs on zones of the canal that needed demolition, and as a training ground for B-52 pilots to test their accuracy. By 1963 artificial lake was considered complete, So the ARUP Group started planting trees near the canal to make an artificial forest, Which then would turn into a rainforest. However aboriginal Australians did not like the possibility of Uluru being green, or under the water. Most environmentalists didn't want the canal, of the possibility of certain endemic species going extinct (mostly kangaroos) So, in 1965, in the streets of Sydney the Environmentalists and Aboriginals against the canal went out to protest. However, the 20 century puck Magazine posted an issue talking about how this works as a practice for terraforming deserted areas and even mentions of terraforming Mars (However, this article has been discredited.)
When the second canal was opened in 1973, it was opened for commercial ships. it was also opened as along the "Canal Opera House" (OTL equivalent would be the Sidney Opera House) also built by ARUP group when the canal was open proposed to be a "Canal Zone" (In this timeline, neither Panama or Egypt own the Suez canal or the Panama canal, but instead is terra nullius due to their strategic importance its owned by the UN, and the money goes to them. those zones are called Canal Zones.) but however due not having any strategic importance it did not became a canal zone and is owned by TCAC Company (ARUP Group) by the end of the 70's crossing the canal through watercraft became a popular activity through either cruise ship travels organized by the own company Houseboat or by a canoe just as astronaut ken henderson did you can also travel by road as the canal has a highway near its shores or by railway as the famous train known as The Ghan modified its route and tracks to go through the canal (including 3 bridges) and some of the now famous attractions there was also a giant gdp boost due to now there being a lake the size of poland where there used to be desert making tourism prosper in the now green outback also the 1976 alice springs olympic games watersports took place on Artificial Lake