In Queensland, the 1902 drought was the culmination of eight years that were dry more often than not over most areas. These years had a devastating effect on stock numbers: sheep numbers fell from 91 million to 54 million, and cattle from 11.8 million to 7 million. The drought began focussing minds on irrigation, especially in the three states through which the Murray River flows: but it wasn’t until the next severe drought in 1914 that the River Murray Commission was created.
Disrupting the Borg is expensive and time consuming!
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Steve,
Even more dramatic when you realise that the early 1890’s look like the best season (s?) so far seen by Europeans in western Queensland. And that livestock DSE’s (dry sheep equivalents) in that area have only reached about 2/3 of the pre-1902 numbers again by the 1960’s
Sheep are devastating the thin topsoils.
Bradfield was a government engineer who proposed that Queensland’s coastal rivers be dammed and the flow turned inland to irrigate the dry interior. He also designed the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Rivers in tropical Queensland predominantly flow to the Pacific coast as the range is close to the coast and enormous quantities of water simply flood the coastal plain land on the way to the sea.
This proposal would not have been proposed if – as climate alarmists claim – drought was only due to late 20th century man made climate change – idiots !
Bradfield went to Ipswich Grammar for some trivia of the day.
On the irrigation he didn’t know that most of the mitchell grass area has bodaceous salt at about 3 feet under it – was an inland sea after all.