Art. XVII. — Floods on the River Barwon. 

 By W. W. Culcheth, M. Inst. C. E. 



[Read 8th December, 1881.] 

 (With Diagram.) 



1. It may make this paper more clear to many to state 

 at the outset that the Barwon floods formed the subject of 

 a trial lately at Geelong, where damage was said to have been 

 caused to certain mills by reason of the construction of the 

 railway across the river having raised the level of the flood 

 which occurred in September, 1880. The verdict of the 

 jury was to the effect that negligence, in a legal sense, had 

 been shown in the construction of the railway, and that the 

 flood had been raised, at the mills in question, one foot 

 above the level of a former flood which occurred in 1852. 

 The matter having been so far settled, this paper has been 

 written to elucidate the points of scientific interest in a way 

 that was not possible in a court of justice, where, of course, 

 all technicalities were, as far as possible, avoided in laying 

 the matter before the jury. Some of the evidence sworn to 

 by witnesses in court is evidently incompatible with other 

 evidence, and has had to be rejected by the author ; but in 

 doing so, he does not wish to cast the slightest reflection on any 

 witness, as he fully believes each one was actuated with a 

 desire to testify to facts. Mistakes have undoubtedly been 

 made, and this is not surprising, especially in the case of the 

 flood of 1852, which took place twenty-nine years ago. In 

 many cases, perhaps, a little extra information would have 

 served to explain differences ; but in others, doubtless, mis- 

 takes have been made which render the information useless. 

 2. Widely different opinions were expressed by profes- 

 sional witnesses on various points. The author is of opinion 

 that some conclusions were drawn after merely a superficial 

 inquiry into a very difficult subject, which many engineers 

 may not have had opportunities of studying. From several 

 years' experience in hydraulic engineering, the author has 

 found that the facts which first attract attention are often mis- 

 leading, and it is not till an almost exhaustive inquiry has 



