Development of the Canning River as a source of water for Perth was first proposed in a report of the first Metropolitan Water Works Board of Perth in 1896. Investigation of the site began in 1897 when engineer Thomas Hodgson surveyed and proposed the dam's current location as a possible site. However, despite the recommendations of further inquiries, and an extreme shortage of water in some years, government funds were not allocated for the construction of a dam until the Great Depression in the 1930s.