Physiography of Werribee Area. ;iO'> 



noticeable Avheii travelling in these localities more remote from the 

 basalt supplies. 



(b) Water Conservation. — This has already been fully dealt with 

 in the opening sections. The main irrigation areas of Bacchus 

 Marsh and Werribee are shaded in Plate XL, and the two chief 

 storage reservoirs for those areas, at Pyke's Creek and Exford, 

 are also indicated. Good catchment areas on the uplifted blocks 

 still await the construction of "storage dams, especially along the 

 Lerderderg, whilst some large areas of level, low-lying alluvial 

 country are yet without irrigation schemes. Rainfall, evaporation, 

 etc., are fully discussed in Section. V. (a). The recognition of the 

 ''dry belt" there referred to has an important bearing on land 

 values on the lower Werribee plains. 



(c) Population and Occiqjations. — The total population of the 

 Werribee area is somewhat under 10,000. Of these the greater 

 number are congregated about three centres which lie on the Wer- 

 ribee River itself — (See Plate XL) — Werribee (about seven miles 

 from the river mouth), Bacchus Marsh (in the centre of the area), 

 a,nd Ballan (about the centre of the Ballan sunkland). 



Tavo once-important gold fields exist in the area, Blackwood in 

 the centre of tlie Ordovician block A, and Steiglitz in the heart of 

 the Ordovician block C. Both places are at present under eclipse. 

 Other villages and townships occur, and all will be dealt with 

 below, aceording to the geographical reasons for their locations, in 

 the following order : — 



(i). The lower Plains, 

 (ii.) Bacchusi Marsh and Vicinity, 

 (iii.) The Ballan Sunkland. 

 (iv.) Blackwood and Lerderderg Ranges, 

 (v.) Brisbane Ranges, 

 (vi.) The Divides. 

 (i.) The Lower Plains. — The towns and villages of these wide 

 basaltic plains are wholly centres of various agricultural activities, 

 but enormous stretches of these plains are still used for grazing 

 only. The rainfall is Ioav, and irrigation is availed of to some 

 extent; markets are handy, and transport easy. A number of 

 villages in this list are not really in the Werribee basin, bub are in- 

 cluded since their localities have been dealt with in the paper : — 

 Werribee (Wyndham). — Twenty miles frotn MeUx>urne, on railway 

 and main road. Farming and grazing. It is the second centre of 

 importance in the Werribee basin. Two large establishments, th€ 

 Metropolitan Farm and the Government Research Farm, are 



