474 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Jonx, 1902, 
The following description of the irrigation plant we take from the Bundaberg 
Mail, as it accurately depicts the machinery and its performances :— 
“The irrigation plant proper, which is located about 100 yards from the 
river whence the supply is drawn, consists of two sets of cross compound, 
horizontal, condensing, pumping engines, coupled by gearing to two sets of what 
are known technically as three-throw pumps. These pumps are 22 inches in 
diameter, with a 36-inch stroke, and are constructed on the bucket principle, 
working at a hydraulic pressure of 841b. This is equal to a lift of 200 feet, 
while to the head of the ‘stand’ pipe the lift is 280 feet—a point that has 
been successfully reached, and which is the highest on the estate. The 
high-pressure engines are 16 inches in diameter and the low-pressure 
engines 32 inches, each, however, having a 4-foot stroke. The boiler 
power consists of three Lancashire (double-flued) boilers, 7 feet 6 inches in 
diameter by 26 feet long, and work at a pressure of 150 Ib. to the square inch. 
It is needless to say that the shed accommodation for the foregoing is ample and 
complete, while there is also an air of cleanliness and order about same that 
adds materially to the pleasure of inspecting such giant products of the 
mechanic’s craftsmanship, reflecting the utmost credit upon the engineer-in- 
charge, Mr. Tutin. The water pumps discharge into two 18-inch cast-iron pipes 
which pass up the shaft and under the engines, where they join at a large air 
vessel in the engine-room. The water thus raised from the Burnett then 
passes out through a 30-inch wrought-iron pipe, thence up the hill and 
on to the several dams which have been formed to store it. The necessary 
air for the large air vessel in the engine-room and for the two smaller ones 
located down the shaft is supplied by two Westinghouse air pumps attached to 
an air receiver. The huge water pumps are carried on two massive steel boxed 
girders, each 22 feet long by 29 feet wide. The shaft whence the supply of 
water is drawn is 87 feet deep, with a diameter of 17 feet, while the situation 
of the engine-room is fully 10 feet above the highest known flood level. The 
whole of the plant was manufactured by Walkers Limited, of Maryborough, 
and their contract has been most faithfully performed. However, while the 
plant proper has been most capably turned out by this firm, Bingera mechanical 
skill has contributed no mean share to the perfection of the system, as the 
whole of the water mains have been made by boiler-makers employed on the 
estate, while the Bundaberg Foundry has contributed no small amount of work 
in bringing about the general perfection of the system which confronts the 
visitor. In connection with the pumping station it is worthy of note, as 
showing how an enterprise of this kind brings grist to the mill of divers 
tradesmen, that 144,000 bricks (53,000 -being used in the shaft alone) were 
needed, and 110,000 of these were made on the plantation; the balance, being 
fire bricks, had to be imported from Brisbane. Further, about 700 tons of sand 
was required for the concreting, which was extensive, exhausting 600 casks of 
cement, while the provision of 600 yards of stone also furnished welcome 
employment for carriers and breakers. 
“Again, in feeding the furnaces made hungry by the large amount of 
work expected of them, 90 tons of coal, at a low estimate, is consumed per 
week; while in various other ways the installation of irrigation at Bingera 
means a filip for employment in different callings whose products are needed 
to enable the estate to reap full benefit from the new enterprise entered upon, 
and whose fruits will but go to bind Messrs. Gibson and Howes the closer to 
Bundaberg by inducing them to launch out into other labour-giving avenues of 
investment.” : 
We much regret being unable to illustrate in this issue that portion of the 
Burnett River whence the water supply is drawn. ‘There is a fine stretch of 
water extending from about half-a-mile below the pumping station to 5 miles 
above it, with an average depth of water, despite the abnormally dry season, of 
12 feet, and to this water the enterprising firm has obtained the right for 
irrigation purposes. Before passing into the pumps, the water is filtered 
