Dry dam strikes a chord with viral singer

HER sombre tune blew up the internet but this Inglewood girl reveals the reality behind the music.

SONG HITS THE SPOT: Courtney Markey’s viral video was a tribute to those affected by the low levels in the Coolmunda dam.

EVERY time Courtney Markey returns home, her heart breaks a little more.

The university student only gets the chance to return to her family’s lucerne farm in Inglewood on holidays, but her latest visit left her completely shocked at how dry it was.

“Every time it seems to get even worse,” she said.

“We have family friends and I pop around and see what they’re going through, and they have two dams and seven rain tanks and they’re completely out of water,” she said.

DRIED UP: Drone photos Courtney’s dad took of Coolmunda Dam this month.

Inglewood’s Coolmunda Dam, which is responsible for irrigating the majority of farm land in the town, is at 2.7 per cent capacity, meaning Courtney’s family hasn’t been able to grow since January.

That’s why, sitting on the cracked Coolmunda Dam floor, she gave a voice to her town’s plight.

A video of her singing in the dam soon become a hit, with 3300 shares across Facebook and countless outreaches of love.

While Courtney had never done anything like it before and she was even nervous to post the video, she knew music would be her only way to get Inglewood’s pain across.

“I think it’s a really powerful way to convey a message,” she said. “It’s why people have liked it so much, because everything I wrote about is true.”

Originally published as