238 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ocr.; 1902. 
AN OASIS IN THE WILDERNESS 
There is a township on the Central Railway line, 361 miles from Rock- 
hampton, called Barcaldine. In this portion of the State there are several 
bores, from one of which several farms are irrigated and the township itself is 
plentifully supplied with water; consequently most of the houses have pretty 
gardens, and vegetables are plentiful and cheap. 
Twelve miles from Barcaldine is a property of 1,280 acres of now so-called 
desert country owned by Mr. W. Hannay. This gentleman has a private bore 
from which he irrigates a large area of land. ‘The name of the property is 
Geera. Here there are 150 acres of wheat which, early in August last, was 
4 inches over ground and looking very healthy, giving promise of a good crop. 
This is all irrigated by a main drain ‘half-a-mile long and 4 or 5 feet deep, 
from which lateral drains branch off 1 chain apart. ‘The bore water is run into 
these till the soil is thoroughly saturated. When watered, this soil, which, when 
dry, looks like pure sand, changes its appearance to that of arich loam. Couch 
grass springs up spontaneously. At the time of our informant’s visit, Geera 
was the only green spot in the dried-up, desert-looking country between Alpha 
and Longreach. { 
Mr. Hannay has filled a lagoon covering 54 acres from the bore, and 
proposes to put down a second bore and to irrigate a much larger area of land. 
This goes to show that with irrigation, large areas of land can be successfully 
cultivated, the drought notwithstanding. 
QUEENSLAND NATIONAL ASSOCIATION’S SHOW. 
EXHIBITS. 
Owing to the long-continued and disheartening drought, only four districts 
competed at the Bowen Park Exhibition, viz.:—Moreton, Logan, Ipswich, and 
Warwick. These, however, made such an excellent display of the most varied 
products—aericultural, mmeral, and mechanical, of forest and scrub timbers, 
and of manufactured goods—that a stranger would, on paying the courts a 
visit, have hesitated to believe that nearly twelye months had elapsed since the 
last useful rains on the coast and a far longer period more inland. he various 
Queensland journals have so fully and ably described the exhibits that there is 
no need here to enumerate them. Suffice it to say that the districts represented 
deserve the greatest credit for the energy they threw into the work of collecting . 
exhibits and for so well upholding the credit of the agricultural districts of 
Queensland. The judging was by points, and the probable result was not 
announced until the work was completed. The awards were as follow :— 
Moreton ... x: ae on ... 56 points 
Ipswich ... at ae ih, ae a e 
Warwick... 28 Bn oe een) aaa 
Logan... ATE eT 
The actual points awarded to each district in each section were thus 
scheduled by the judges :— 
— street | Moreton. | Ipswich. | Warwick. Logan. 
a ot Ne ae * | 
} | 
Dairy produce a ue ae ay 10 6 | 7 6 4 
Foods (fresh and preserved) ne 4 10 | 6 | 8 4 6 
Fruits, vegetables, roots. | 10 By 3 3 6 
Grains and their products ... ve Feet || 10 | 3 4 8 4 
Manufactures... oer, on 9 an 10 | 6 i i) 4 7 
Minerals and building materials ... Ai. 5 | 3 | 4 3 1 
rnpicallprod ucts game ann en 10° | Gh 3 0 6 
Wine and otherdrinks 2.) yey 2h es | al 
Tobacco Ee i; re Hy, Pest 5 OF Sa} 0 3 0 
Hay, chaff, grasses ... £ ee riley SG HY 3, 4 aw] 5 
Wool, scoured, greasy ie! ne a 10 | 4 | 6 10 | 4 
School exhibits ny we +f 1H 5 | 4 | 3 2 3 
| Sr | ent ern || | | 
Totals igre ioe ee es 100 RT SSS we t54 50 47 
