102 Williamson, Botanical Motes of a Trip to Mildura. [x^Ji'^'x^x- 



radiating streets here and there to vary the monotony, and 

 lend somewhat to the purposes of tasteful decoration. The one 

 redeeming feature is the system of tree-planting. The streets 

 are splendidly planted. Deakin-avenue, for instance, has a 

 fine double row of trees, including a strip of garden between. 

 Sugar-gums and other eucalypts are in evidence. Some streets 

 are lined with fine rows of pepper-trees, Schimts molle : others 

 are planted with olives, and some with palms. These palms 

 are a feature of Mildura street decoration. Two species are 

 favourites — one being a kind of date palm. Both have 

 immense trunks, and one has leaves fully lo feet long, like 

 long fern fronds. I came across a fine row of these about two 

 miles from the railway station, and there is another splendid 

 row in front of Mr. W. B. Chaffey's residence. The streets 

 are well lighted with electricity. A special water-tower for 

 domestic and street service is filled by a pump from the river, 

 and the whole settlement is supplied during the six months 

 baginning with October with water for irrigation, by means 

 of two large pumping stations on the Murray and several 

 auxiliary distributing stations — Nichol's Point, for instance. 

 I visited one large plant at Merbein, about five miles down the 

 river. Here, powerful pumps send 19,000 gallons a minute 

 to a large outlet, 190 feet above the river. From this outlet 

 it runs in large channels, and is distributed to the holdings on 

 the western part of the settlement. The machiner}/ was being 

 o\erhauled, to be ready to start pumping in a few weeks. 



Afraid that I would miss a good deal of what I went to find, 

 I did not inquire into the social and industrial conditions of 

 the town, although I knew of several residents who would 

 gladly have given me opportunities of doing so. I went straight 

 out to inquire of Nature, and I feel sure that I got reliable 

 answers. 



The river flats at Mildura much resemble in appearance and 

 vegetation those higher up the Murray/— for example, at Echuca 

 and Albury. The chief characteristics are the immense Red 

 Gum trees, Eiicalypfw^ vostrata. and the light-coloured mud 

 which encrusts the earth and logs below high water mark ; 

 but here the banks are higher and a smaller area is periodically 

 flooded. The town is situated at a bend of the river, on a high 

 bank, probably 150 feet above the summer level. Looking 

 from the railway station, one can see up the river for a mile, 

 and by turning a quarter-circle can look down stream for 

 perhaps the same distance. Across the river, on the New 

 South Wales side, the bank is much lower, and in flood-time 

 is covered in for miles ; but the presence of a few houses on 

 that side indicated that there are some areas left high and dry 

 when the water rises. A primitive i)unt, half a mile above the 



