Part 15 (2/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: A FIELD OF MAIZE, EEL CREEK, GYMPIE]
The farmers of Queensland may well lay to heart the experience of America. Forty years ago disaster overtook every attempt at cultivation west of the Mississippi basin until the aid of irrigation was invoked. The response to the application of water was immediate, and millions of acres are now under intense cultivation in the dry belt, and supporting a population far outnumbering that of Australia.
These are the words in which an American writer graphically describes the wonderful work that has been done on lands that bear a striking resemblance to those of Western Queensland both in regard to climate and soil:--
The actual amount of land that may be reclaimed and cultivated in the semi-arid region furnishes no measure of the value of irrigation in this vast district. By enabling thousands to engage in farming, irrigation has made it possible to use the surrounding plains as the pasture for great numbers of beef cattle. In many instances small herds are owned by the farmers themselves, but to a large extent their crops are bought by those whose sole business is cattle-raising. Thus all the resources of the region are brought into use, and a wonderful prosperity has followed as the logical result.
From Canada to Mexico the revolution of the Great Plain is now in full tide. It is the most democratic page in the history of American irrigation. It has saved an enormous district from lapsing into a condition of semi-barbarism. It has not only made human life secure, but revolutionised the industrial and social economy of the locality.
To a considerable extent it has replaced the quarter-lot with the small farm, and the single crop with diversified cultivation. It has transformed the speculative instincts of the people into a spirit of sober industrialism. It has raised the standard of living and improved the character of the homes. It has planted the rose bush and the pansy where only the sunflower cast its shadow, and it has twined the ivy and the honeysuckle over doors which formerly knew not the touch of beauty. It has made neighbours and society where once there were loneliness and heart-hunger. It has broken the chains of hopeless mortgages and crowned industry with independence.
The history of irrigation in the United States reads like a romance.
Competent authorities have expressed the opinion that truly scientific farming is only possible where irrigation takes the place of rain, and where the elements of fertility are retained in the soil. American experience supports this view. Farms of from ten to forty acres support whole families in comfort, if not in affluence, and one acre yields as much as five of the best land in the rainfall belt. Whether land is used for mixed farming or crop cultivation, the best results are achieved when moisture can be applied or withheld according to the needs of the crop. Without irrigation, crops may be more certain in the coastal belt and on the intermediate tableland, but with irrigation the advantage will undoubtedly lie with our Western lands.
A downpour may do irremediable harm to a ripening crop or at harvest time, and to that danger the plain lands of the interior are less liable than those in the region of heavier rainfall.
In some parts of Queensland, princ.i.p.ally near the coast, irrigation has already attained some prominence. In 1907 water was applied artificially to 9,612 acres. Of this area, 4,492 acres were in the Burdekin Delta, the water being drawn from the Burdekin, from lagoons, and from wells. The rainfall is comparatively light, and the marked increase in the cane crop on the irrigated lands is apparent to the most casual observer. In the Bundaberg district 2,350 acres were irrigated from the Burnett River and from wells; the vegetable and fruit growers of Bowen irrigated 356 acres; and water was applied to 482 acres in the neighbourhood of Rockhampton. Artesian water was supplied to 100 acres at Barcaldine and 240 acres at Hungerford far out on the New South Wales border.
In the Western States of America, where water is measured out with mathematical accuracy and applied with clockwork regularity, agriculture has been raised almost to the rank of an exact science.
The soil of Western Queensland is quite equal to that of the States in fertility, and similar methods should here produce similar results.
When even the sterile Sahara is gradually disappearing before the irrigation works of French engineers, there is no need to despond regarding the future of the very driest parts of Queensland.
In Egypt and Spain and in several of the American States, the water for irrigation is obtained from perennial streams drawing their supplies from distant snow-clad mountains. Kansas differs in this respect from other States. The description of the rivers of Western Kansas by an American humorist might have been penned with equal appositeness of the rivers of Western Queensland: ”They are a mile wide, and an inch thick; they have a large circulation, but very little influence.” Fortunately for Kansas, water is everywhere procurable by sinking shallow wells. In Dakota and Texas, thousands of millions of gallons are poured on to the land daily from thousands of artesian wells. Though lofty mountain chains are lacking, with summits high above the line of perpetual snow and giving birth to rivers rivalling Nile and Mississippi in volume, both of these latter sources of supply are available in Queensland. East and west of the Great Divide, abundance of water has been obtained from wells. Our western rivers may flow intermittently on the surface, but sub-artesian water is plentiful in many localities, and the great artesian basin, with its area of no less than 372,000 square miles, coincides generally with that part of the State which has a rainfall of 20 inches or less, a wise Providence having apparently created this huge subterranean reservoir to guard against excessive evaporation and to compensate for the light rains.
There is still another supply open. Allowing for a very large percentage of the water that finds its way into the watercourses of the West sinking into the earth or being lost through evaporation, a tremendous quant.i.ty that now runs to waste could be conserved by works such as the Government of New South Wales are constructing in the Murrumbidgee basin. Irrigation on a large scale is beyond the means of individuals--it must be undertaken either by private co-operation or by State enterprise; and preferably the latter. Irrigation and afforestation are both necessary for the successful development of the West. If water can be supplied to settlers at a cost which is not prohibitive, whether it be drawn from storage reservoirs or from subterranean sources, the face of the country will quickly be changed.
Instead of a handful of pastoral lessees controlling in some instances areas of hundreds of thousands of acres, a much larger population of grazier farmers will be settled on much smaller holdings, enjoying all the benefits--educational, social, and civic--which result from concentrated settlement.
A product of the land which is intimately connected with settlement, if somewhat outside the scope of this chapter, is timber. The forests of Queensland are very extensive, and contain numerous timbers of great value for building and cabinet-making. Chief among the former are several species of pine, hardwood, beech, and ash. The most beautiful and valuable of the ornamental woods are red cedar, silky oak, bean-tree, and maple. In the earliest settled districts in the South most of these have become comparatively scarce. The timber-getter has been through the scrubs and forests, and much that could not be converted into lumber has been destroyed by fire, to make the ground ready for the plough. In North Queensland there are immense quant.i.ties available, especially of the ornamental varieties, and a profitable trade has been opened up with the southern part of the State and with Sydney and Melbourne. Formerly the timber became the property of the selector, but now a royalty is charged, which yields the Crown a considerable revenue, and selection is deferred until the marketable trees have been removed. To prevent the exhaustion of the supplies, and as a preliminary to reafforestation, reserves have been proclaimed in several parts of the State to act as nurseries.
Of the 429,120,000 acres contained in Queensland, at the close of 1908 some 21,500,000 acres--or just one-twentieth of the total area--had been selected as agricultural farms and homesteads; 31,000,000 acres were held as grazing and scrub selections, 56,000,000 acres were under occupation license or depasturing right, and 186,000,000 acres under pastoral lease, the remainder consisting either of reserves, mineral lands, or unoccupied land in remote localities.
From every district where land is open to agricultural selection, however, comes the report that the demand is keen. No sooner is an area thrown open to selection than it is eagerly applied for, and the number of those who signify their desire to become personal residents in order to obtain priority is fast increasing. The Australian States, New Zealand, the British Isles, and Germany are all furnis.h.i.+ng their quota of seekers after the cheap and excellent lands Queensland has to offer.
Provision has been made by the Legislature for all kinds of settlement--purely agricultural, mixed farming, and grazing. The areas vary, being governed by the quality of the land, rainfall, the presence or absence of permanent water, and proximity to a market or a railway--in other words, by the amount required to provide the settler with a comfortable income. The State is a generous landlord, and every allowance is made for the difficulties of selectors in the earlier stages of their occupancy. The man who wishes to acquire a freehold has the opportunity of gratifying his desire. The man who objects to that tenure has it in his power to obtain a lease in perpetuity. The best settler being generally the man who intends to earn his living entirely from the soil, and is prepared to reside continuously upon the land, men of that cla.s.s are very properly accorded priority over those who do not intend to reside in person. Particulars regarding the different tenures and the conditions upon which land may be obtained from the Crown will be found in Appendix E.
The State a.s.sists the agriculturist in many ways. The Agricultural College at Gatton is doing valuable service in training young men and in carrying on experimental work. Six State farms, at two of which apprentices are taken, have been established in as many widely separated districts to ascertain by experiment the crops and methods of cultivation most suited to local conditions, and impart the results of their labours to the neighbouring farmers. Some of these farms have valuable stud flocks and dairy herds, from which settlers can obtain high-cla.s.s stock. At Cairns tropical products are being tested and propagated at a State nursery. Useful educational work is also being done at the Sugar Experiment Station at Mackay. These inst.i.tutions are under the direct supervision of the Department of Agriculture, which also employs experts in dairying, fruit culture, and tobacco growing and curing. A botanist, an entomologist, and an agricultural chemist are highly necessary and valuable members of the departmental staff, and much useful information is disseminated through the medium of the ”Agricultural Journal,” published by the Department.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THREs.h.i.+NG WHEAT, EMU VALE, KILLARNEY RAILWAY]
[Ill.u.s.tration: COFFEE PLANTATION, KURANDA, CAIRNS RAILWAY]
In addition to giving instruction, the Government have built sheds in the princ.i.p.al farming centres on the Darling Downs for the storage of wheat and other grain until the farmers can dispose of their crops to advantage. Cheap money is supplied through the medium of the Agricultural Bank. There are trust funds from which advances are made to those who desire to build co-operative flour or sugar mills, b.u.t.ter and cheese factories, or meat-preserving works. Railways have been constructed in the older farming districts, produce is carried at moderate rates, and subsidies are given to steams.h.i.+p companies for the carriage of produce to oversea markets.
All this has been done for the man already on the land. Much is likewise being done to help the man who wishes to become a settler.
Railways are being built into districts in which the Crown owns large areas fit for close settlement. In other localities roads are made, land is cleared, and wells and bores are sunk. Money is advanced on liberal terms and at a low rate of interest by the Agricultural Bank for the making of improvements and the purchase of stock, implements, and machinery. Land is cheap, and special concessions are given by the Railway Department to new settlers when taking up their land. The annual rent forms an instalment of the purchase money, and payments may be deferred during the initial years of occupancy, when the selector is under heavy expense and is getting little or no return from his land.
North and south along the coast, and west to the setting sun, long stretches of thick wood or gra.s.sy plain present themselves to the eye, solitary as in the dawn of creation, only awaiting the advent of the settler to be transformed into a scene of bustling activity.
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