Back when I was a student in Newcastle, one of my close friends was studying in the Civil Engineering Department and he chose geotechnical engineering as part of his fourth year studies for his Masters. I remember him telling me about this particular disaster one time, as well as the 1923 Gleno Dam collapse. I got the feeling that these are well-known in civil engineering/geotechnical circles as classic examples of "how NOT to do it" along with the Tacoma Narrows bridge and other famous cock-ups (cocks-up?)
Adrian W