IRRIGATION IN AUSTRALIA.* 



BY J. L. THOMPSON, Traveling Agricultural Instructor. 



VICTORIA. 



Great enthusiasm was displayed in Victoria, about the year 1886, 

 when an Irrigation Act was passed. A Royal Commission had pre- 

 viously visited America, owing to the persistent efforts of the late 

 Mr. Hugh McColl, M L. A. for Mandurang, who preached irrigation 

 for many years in and out of season. The Irrigation Act of 1886 em- 

 powered the government to borrow for irrigation works in Victoria 

 3,500,000. The first important feature of this act is that all waters 

 of the colony, including rivers, creeks, lakes, etc., are declared 

 to be the property of the state, and to be held and worked by the 

 state, or by Trusts appointed by the state for the benefit of the peo- 

 ple. Thus, what is known as "riparian rights" (the great stumbling 

 block to irrigation in New South Wales) are entirely swept away for- 

 ever. Provision was made for National Works and Trust Works. 



National works means those works which, in the opinion of the 

 Minister and Parliament, are of such magnitude 1 that they should be 

 constructed by and retained under the control of the state. 



Trust works means work undertaken by a Trust appointed by the 

 Minister controlling the Department of Water Supply. There are 

 gigantic national works on the Goulburn river, in the shape of a sub- 

 stantial weir, with a channel on the east side of the river 31 miles 

 long, and another on the west side 24 miles long, capable of convey- 

 ing 20,000 and 100,000 cubic feet of water respectively per minute. 

 Other works of a national character are being constructed at Kow 

 Swamp, Campaspe, Broken River, Loddon River, and elsewhere. 

 Over thirty Trusts have been formed. The Trusts have power to bor- 

 row money and control the water supply. Some splendid returns 

 have been obtained, the results of irrigation. I have seen some fields 

 of wheat under irrigation which yielded ten bags per acre, and where 

 the crop was not irrigated only one bag was obtained. This was on 

 the border near Swan Hill, and we have thousands of acres of the 

 same kind of land in this colony. Mr. Leitch, Kerang, was among 

 the first to demonstrate the value of irrigation for general farm crops. 

 He produced six bags of wheat per acre on irrigated land in a very 

 dry season, while on land not irrigated only two bags of a much in- 

 ferior sample were harvested. He produced also 35 bushels of oats 

 per acre, while on the unirrigated land the yield was nil. Mr. Leitch 



* Being porlion of a lecture delivered by Mr. Thompson at Tumut in February last. 



