LONELY AUSTRALIA: THE UNIQUE CONTINENT 



545 



total of food exports from the Common- 

 wealth. Along the country roads rabbits 

 may be seen hung on the fences awaiting 

 the passage of the rabbit carts which con- 

 vey them to the packing-houses to be 

 prepared for shipment as frozen meat 

 and hides. Practically all are exported 

 (the Australian does not eat "vermin"), 

 and during 191 3 frozen rabbit and hare 

 to the value of $1,400,000 and skins to 

 the value of $3,000,000 were sent from 

 Commonwealth ports. 



SAVING A SCANTY RAINFALL 



On the assumption that a temperate 

 climate and 20 inches of rain be required 

 for Australian agriculture, there is avail- 

 able for crops only 480,000 square miles, 

 307,000,000 acres, or 16 per cent of the 

 continent. As thus viewed, Australia for 

 the farmer is somewhat larger than Ger- 

 many and Austria-Hungary and equal to 

 the combined areas of Louisiana, Texas, 

 Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and South 

 Dakota (see also page 537). 



There remain, however, within the tem- 

 perate zone 347,000 square miles, or 860,- 

 000,000 acres, with rainfall less than 20 

 inches. How may this enormous area in 

 the temperate zone of good soil and fa- 

 vorable temperature be reclaimed for 

 farming, or at least made available for 

 grazing? As might be expected from the 

 spirit of the Australian people, this pro- 

 digious task is being vigorously attacked. 

 Much is being done with dry farming 

 and by the selection of drought-resisting 

 plants ; but the hopes of reclaiming des- 

 ert lands to agriculture are based, as in 

 the United States, on irrigation. 



The problems which confront the Aus- 

 tralian reclamation engineer are exceed- 

 ingly difficult. Of mountain ranges suit- 

 able for collection of water there is one — 

 a plateau-like affair, 2,000 to 4,000 feet 

 high, with knobs here and there reaching 

 above 6,000 feet, but without important 

 accumulations of snow. The range is so 

 near the Pacific coast that no large belts 

 of agricultural land are found on its well- 

 watered eastern slopes. The task before 

 the Australian is comparable with that in- 

 volved in irrigating Arizona and New 

 Mexico after the Rio Grande, the San 

 Juan, the Colorado, and the Gila had 



been eliminated and the mountains now 

 furrowed by living streams reduced to 

 ridge-dotted plains. 



One of the world's great irrigation 

 schemes, and the most ambitious yet un- 

 dertaken by Australia, is the impounding 

 of the waters of the Murrumbidgee, one 

 of the chief tributaries of the Murray. 

 This project, which is rapidly nearing 

 completion, involves the construction of 

 the great Burrinjuck dam — 240 feet high, 

 780 feet long, with a width of 18 feet at 

 the crest. Though its dimensions are less, 

 it is a fair rival of the Roosevelt dam of 

 Arizona, which it resembles in structure 

 and setting. The artificial lake formed 

 at Burrinjuck is 41 miles long. 



From the dam the water is to be led 

 down the channel of the Murrumbidgee 

 200 miles to Berembed, where it will be 

 diverted among 250,000 acres of choice 

 farm lands which are now awaiting set- 

 tlement. 



Unlike the American system, which 

 limits governmental control of irrigation 

 projects to the selling of water and land, 

 the government of New South Wales be- 

 comes the parent of an irrigation colony. 

 It plans and builds villages, lays out and 

 controls race-courses and athletic fields, 

 builds houses and fences, sells trees and 

 seed and lumber, loans money, stock, and 

 agricultural implements, grants reduced 

 freight and passenger charges on rail- 

 ways, builds and operates butter fac- 

 tories, cheese factories, and canneries, 

 and provides scholarships at the univer- 

 sity. 



THL LARGEST ARTESIAN BASIN 



Beyond the reach of streams from the 

 coastal mountains, the land stretches 

 westward for nearly 2,000 miles without 

 encountering water sufficient for irriga- 

 tion. Part of this vast area is available 

 for dry farming if domestic and stock 

 supplies can be obtained, and large areas 

 are suitable for cattle and sheep if only 

 water can be found. 



Drilling for water in arid regions has 

 revealed the largest artesian basin in the 

 world, covering 499,000 square miles. 

 From this basin New South Wales has 

 obtained 468 flowing wells, ranging in 

 depth from 46 feet to 4,338 feet at the 



