204 -president's address — section e. 



The work of the Australian pioneer explorer is drawing towards 

 a close, and the problem of utilising and settling the interior becomes 

 of increasing importance. The search for gold has been a great stimu- 

 lant to exploration, and the interior of Western Australia — formerly 

 a terra incognita — is now covered with a close network of travellers' 

 tracks. 



Conservation and utilisation of the limited water supply and 

 economical means of transport are the great essentials for the develop- 

 ment of the interior. Artesian and semi-artesian wells have been most 

 effectual in providing an insurance against drought in parts of Queens- 

 land, New South Wales, and South Australia, and the storages of 

 Barossa and Beetaloo, with their reticulations, must be of great value 

 to those supplied. 



The Barcoo or Cooper's Creek and the Diamentina provide oc- 

 casional supplies for the northern portions of South Australia ; but, 

 as far as I can gather, these streams are too wide and shallow to permit 

 of useful storage being constructed, in view of the enormous evapora- 

 tion. The particulars supplied by travellers as to the Macdonnell 

 Ranges, however, would indicate that in that locality sites suitable 

 for the construction of enormous water storages of considerable depth 

 can be found, and no doubt will be utilised when the country becomes 

 more developed. In this connection the journals of Mr. Tietkens and 

 of the Horn Scientific Expedition, and Mr. Arthur Giles's paper, read 

 before the Victorian Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of 

 Australasia in 1902, are most suggestive. 



In Victoria extensive works for irrigation and water conservation 

 have been projected, and are in part carried out, and these will provide 

 a fairly satisfactory safeguard against future droughts, and in New 

 South Wales similar works are projected. Whilst these works will 

 necessarily be of immense benefit to the areas supplied, I sympathise 

 strongly with the South Australian view — that the interests of the 

 Murray (or as we may term it, the Hume) navigation should not be 

 completely sacrificed to those of irrigation. For its area, the valley 

 of the Hume and its tributaries is the most fertile region of Australia, 

 and whilst the commerce of its more eastern parts can be more eco- 

 nomically dealt with by rail from the adjoining seaboard, the river 

 itself forms the natural outlet for the lower portion. Hence the lock- 

 ing and canalisation of the Hume and its tributaries, the Darling, and 

 possibly also the lower Murrumbidgee, are works in which we as 

 geographers are deeply interested. These works to be successful must 

 be carried out to provide the maximum depth for navigation possible, 

 since to secure economical transport (whether by rail or water) the 

 goods must be handled in large quantities, as otherwise transit ex- 

 penses increase enormously. 



To reap full benefits from the river navigation tne entrance must 

 be thrown open to the shipping of the world, so that vessels of the 

 largest size may pass in and out. The importance of such navigation 

 has been recognised elsewhere, as in the cases of the Danube and the 

 Mississippi, where very large sums of money have been expended to 



