Irrigation Farming in Australia. 17 



the two upper river States.. The South Australian irrigation settle- 

 ments are not so big as those in the upper river States, but are more 

 numerous, and are dotted along the banks of the river from the State 

 boundary to the ocean. 



To a certain small extent land is irrigated by gravitation in 

 South Australia that is, on reclaimed flats in the lower reaches, 

 where the water is shut out by means of levees. Between Lake 

 Alexandrina (into which the Murray discharges) and Mannum 

 (46 miles above) there are 25,000 acres of swamp flats which can be, 

 and are being, reclaimed and used in this way. The soil has proved 

 very rich and fertile. There is at present 1924 acres (117 blocks) 

 of this reclaimed land under cultivation. At Mypolonga, near 

 Murray Bridge, the reclamation of 1883 acres is nearing completion, 

 and a pumping plant is being erected for supplying the high land 

 also with water for irrigation. This area, comprising 1270 acres, 

 will be subdivided and allotted with the adjoining reclaimed lands. 

 Included in other fertile swamps now being reclaimed are : Pom- 

 poota, 563 acres; Wall, 466 acres; and Swanport, 116 acres. 



But in the main irrigation by gravitation is not possible in 

 South Australia, and the water has to be pumped from the river 

 to the gardens on the banks. This entails a heavier water rate per 

 acre, owing to the cost and maintenance of pumping machinery. 

 But results are not much different, and the science of irrigation 

 farming is spreading quite as rapidly in South Australia as in New 

 South Wales and Victoria. 



The outstanding evidence of its fertility which the Murray 

 valley shows in this State is the irrigation settlement of Renmark. 

 Renmark, as has already been said, was founded by the Chaffeys 



VINEYARD, RIVER MURRAY IRRIGATION. 



as one of the two earliest irrigation settlements in Australia. It is 

 worth noting that Renmark was settled almost entirely by colonists 

 -direct from England, and that only in recent years was there any 



