J. W. BOULTBEE. 



ARTESIAN WATER IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 

 By J. W. Boultbee. 



[Read before the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, June 1, 1898.'] 



That a work is now in progress, perhaps the most important ever 

 undertaken to aid the development of the arid lands of this 

 Colony, no one will I think deny, the possibilities of which, how- 

 ever I fear, are at present far from adequately recognised and con- 

 sidered. The superiority of this means of water supply to pastoral 

 lands, over the precarious and inferior supplies afforded by water 

 conservation in excavations and by well sinking, is beyond dispute. 

 The further possibility of the irrigation of limited areas in the 

 neighbourhood of population centres, and of small close settlement 

 is attracting attention and criticism. The first essay in artesian 

 boring made in 1879, by Mr. David Brown of Kallara Station, in 

 the Western Division — was in the neighbourhood of one of the 

 numerous mound springs which dot this area — which resulted in 

 flowing artesian water, did not then attract the general attention 

 it deserved, and it was not until some years later that the Govern- 

 ment of the colony purchased some boring plants, ineffective 

 compared with those of the later type, and with them had some 

 success, obtaining flowing wells upon the Bourke to Wanaaring 

 Road. It was, however, reserved to a Canadian driller, and some 

 spirited pastoralists, to really exploit the industry by the intro- 

 duction of the Canadian Pole Rig, and the contract system, which 

 was followed by the Government, after a far seeing Crown tenant, 

 Mr. W. Davis of Kerribree Station, near Bourke, had demonstrated 

 its superiority over old existent methods. The work both public 

 and private has progressed rapidly, but there is still an enormous 

 proportion of the 60,000 square miles of artesian water-bearing 

 country untouched and unexplored by the drill. 



The question of the utilization of artesian water for irrigation 

 and cultivation did not enter in any way into the calculations of 



