The construction of a soil-bentonite (SB) barrier wall in 2004 to confine a landfill at Tempe Tip adjacent to Sydney Airport was the first of its kind in Australia. This paper reviews briefly the circumstances under which the remediation strategy for the site was implemented and how it was decided to use the SB method for the hydraulic barrier wall. The SB methodology is then described with an emphasis on key aspects of the Tempe case study. Finally, the results of piezometers monitoring before and after construction are reviewed to assess the wall performance.