Construction of the canal commenced in 1920 to drain the wetlands in the area as part of the post-World War I Group Settlement Scheme at the Peel Estate.

[2] The management and cost of the Peel Estate Group Settlement Scheme were eventually the subject of a Royal Commission, which was appointed in December 1923 and presented its report in March 1924, making five recommendations.

[4][5] The Public Works Department of Western Australia, at least in theory, was responsible for the construction activities for the Peel Estate, including the drainage of the land.

Initially, the small sum of £500 was allocated to carry out the surveying for the Peel Main Drain, which was begun by the Water Department rather than Public Works.

Construction of the drainage system was begun without any estimate of the cost as Anketell was forced to employ a large number of otherwise unemployed migrants who had arrived as part of the scheme.

[2] By the time the Royal Commission presented its report in March 1924, £1.25 million had been spend on the Peel Estate settlement scheme, of which £230,000 were expenses for the drainage system.

[2] In an August 1928 statement by the Minister responsible for Group Settlement, Frank Troy, he declared that, of the 492 original holdings in the Peel Estate, 227 had been completely abandoned while another 88 had been merged with others to improve their position.

[6] Annual winter floods contributed to the problem; those of July 1928 had been especially bad, overwhelming the main drain and filling the fields, in the words of a visiting farmer, "with wild ducks and swans".

[11] Water quality monitoring of the drain commenced in July 2006 and is being carried out at a sample station at Karnup Road, approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) before it discharges into the Serpentine River.

The site, which takes its name from the distance of the Baldivis Tramway from its northern starting point, is an accumulation of sand dunes that are the result of extensive excavations for the drainage canal.