IRRIGATION TRUSTS IN VICTORIA. 



with twenty- four large and a similar num- 

 ber of small, automatic tilting gates 

 arranged alternately. The water is raised 

 by this means about thirty-two feet above 

 summer level. 



Through the body of the structure are 

 four tunnels fitted with valves actuated by 

 screw gear, by means of which the dis- 

 charge is regulated, so that a continuous 

 supply of water is permitted to flow down 

 the bed of the river to the offtakes of the 

 trusts' channels. 



The automatic gates are of cast iron, and 

 are based on the designs of Chaubart, a 



V 



acting in a satisfactory way. Hand gear 

 is provided in case of the gates jamming. 

 The amount of water conserved is 610 

 million cubic feet. This with the ordinary 

 summer flow of the river is sufficient to 

 irrigate 40,000 acres. On this important 

 work 133,000 ($665,000) has been ex- 

 pended. 



KOW SWAMP STORAGE BASIN. 



A natural depression adjacent to the 

 Murray river and supplied by the Gun- 

 bower creek, has been taken advantage of 

 to form a storage basin from which can be 



W . J 



COULBURN RIVER 



WEIR 



SECTION . 



SECTION OF GOULBURN WEIK. 

 (From drawing made especially for THE IRRIGATION AGE.) 



French engineer. They are set back at an 

 angle of 9 with the vertical, are hinged 

 about the center of pressure on a toothed 

 sector carried on concrete pedestals, and 

 are so balanced that when the water is 

 flowing about a foot deep over their top 

 edge, they tilt, thus automatically giving 

 a very largely increased waterway for the 

 discharge of flood waters. The small gates 

 are arranged to open before the larger, so 

 permitting of a gradual increase of water- 

 way. Some trouble was experienced at 

 first from trees, etc., carried down by the 

 floods, fouling the gates. These difficul- 

 ties appear to have been overcome, as the 

 engineer in charge reports that they are 



irrigated a large area of country. On the 

 river Murray a timber head sluice resting 

 on piles has been constructed. This is 

 provided with iron regulating gates and 

 screens, the former being manipulated by 

 hand screw gears. When the river rises a 

 few feet above summer level, water enters 

 the sluice and is thence carried for a dis- 

 tance of seventeen miles, partly in a new 

 channel and partly along the course of the 

 Gunbower creek which has been straight- 

 ened and otherwise made available for the 

 purpose, to the Kow Swamp storage basin. 

 The channel has a bed width of sixty feet, 

 depth of eight feet and a fall of three 

 inches per mile, and it is computed will 



