CHAPTER I. 



THE MUKRAY VALLEY. 



The portion of Australia supplied with the largest 

 volume of running water is the Murray Valley. The 

 Murray has its source in the Snowy Mountains, and 

 fed by its tributaries, the Darling, Murrumbidgee, 

 Goulburn, Mitta, Ovens, Compaspe, and Lodden, 

 in normal years brings down large volumes of water, 

 which, with the exception of the comparatively 

 small quantity utilised for irrigation purposes, is 

 discharged into the sea. . 



The greater portion of the country through which 

 the Murray, Darling, and Murrumbidgee flow has 

 an average annual rainfall of about 10 inches, which 

 renders the growing of crops without irrigation a 

 somewhat hazardous operation. 



Owing to the fact of large volumes of water 

 flowing through dry, but, on the whole, fertile 

 country, the Murray Valley is, in the natural course 

 of events destined to become -to a far greater extent 

 than it already is the seat of the chief irrigation 

 districts of the Commonwealth. 



For their suitability to fruit culture the irrigation 

 settlements of Mildura, Merebein, Eenmark, Berri, 

 and Waikerie, all of which are situated along the 

 banks of the Murray, have long been noted. 



The kinds of fruit chiefly grown consist of various 

 varieties of the grape vine, such as the sultana, zante 

 currant, and Gordo Blanco, different sorts of 

 deciduous trees, like the apricot, peach, and pear, 

 and Washington Navel and mandarin oranges. 



