BY FRED. TURNER. 33 



leroy^ have an area of about ten million acres. They lie between 

 the Liverpool and Peel Ranges, and are supposed to have been at 

 one time the bed of an immense lake. Surveyor-General Oxley 

 discovered these plains in 1818 and named them after Lord 

 Liverpool, who was then Prime Minister of England. There are 

 immense plains east of the meridian 149° E., and nearly the 

 whole of the country west of that to the meridian 147° E., the 

 boundary of the north-west, is practically level. Some of those 

 plains are composed of black soil, others of red loam, while con- 

 siderable areas are of a sandy nature. Much of the land border- 

 ing the rivers and creeks is rich alluvial deposits. Those are the 

 principal soils of the north-west, but there are others of an 

 intermediate character. Over a large part of this area the soil 

 is of great depth and very fertile, and where cultivation is carried 

 on abundant crops of excellent grain and other produce are 

 raised in ordinary seasons. 



Climate. 



Temperature at Narrahri. 



Mean temperature .. ... ... ... .., 67 0° F. 



Mean Summer temperature ... ... ... ... 81-1° 



Mean Winter temperature .. ... ... ... 52-3° 



Highest temperature (shade)... ... ... ... 118*9° 



Lowest temperature (shade) ... ... ... ... 18-4° 



The temperature will range from a few degrees higher in the 

 extreme north and west to a few degrees lower in the extreme 

 east and south, but those mentioned will give a good idea of the 

 climate of north-western New South Wales. 



Rainfall. 



The average annual rainfall at Narrabri is 27 J inches, but it 

 ranges from 19^ inches in the extreme west to 28 1 inches in the 

 extreme east. 



Water. 



Nearly the whole of the eastern watershed of the Darling 

 River is situated in the north-west. That section of New South. 

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