4 Irrigation Farming in Australia. 



Victorian tributaries, the Mitta and the Ovens, are nearly equal to 

 the Darling. 



The importance of the extended reach of the Murray system 

 attaches not so much to irrigation as to another use of the Murray 

 waters namely, in the direction of navigation. For the purposes 

 of this present survey, which confines its attention to irrigation 

 development, the area will have to be ' restricted to the Murray 

 valley proper, and especially the rich Riverina country embraced 

 by the Murrumbidgee, Goulburn, and Loddon valleys. One glance 

 at the map will show how the circle could be drawn. It would take 

 in the whole of the northern area of Victoria, the south-western 

 corner of New South Wales, and the strip along the Murray in 

 South Australia. 



HAPPY TILLERS OF THE SOIL. 



The main watershed of the system is the Great Dividing Range, 

 which winds from the south of Victoria around and up the greater 

 part of the eastern coast of Australia.. The Murray itself begins 

 with the snow-water from the highest points of the Australian Alps. 

 The source of the Murrumbidgee is in the same locality. The 

 Darling is fed entirely by the irregular and torrential rains of the 

 hotter latitudes of the north. 



The Murray, especially in its lower course, follows an exceed- 

 ingly tortuous channel, and its flow is very sluggish. This is a 

 distinct advantage to the farming areas in its valleys; the water 

 they want is not whirled past them to waste at the rapid rate of 

 other of the world's great rivers. The greater part of the Murray 

 Valley lies at an elevation of less than 500 ft. above sea level. The 

 geologists have an explanation of the formation of the Riverina and 

 lower Murray plains, which at once makes an interesting story, and 

 explains the famous fertility of the soil there. Formerly the sea 



