Soil Erosion Major Australian Problem

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 1, 2 January 1945, Page 4

Soil Erosion Major Australian Problem

By ARTHUR O'HALLORAN RECENT stories in the Press relating to the terrible dust storms and soil erosion in the Riverina of New South Wales make tragic reading. To anyone who has lived in that portion of the "Mother State" during good seasons * will recall immense fields of waving wheat, great flocks of splendid Merinos. In memory he will see asain the big concrete ,silos gorged with wheat, the bullock wagons and trucks laden with bales of the golden fleece, the big fruit canning factories of the irrigation area. And lest it all appear too lyrical— yes, there are the snakes and the flies and the summer heat wave. For "Hay, Booligal and Hell" are not far away (an hour's drive from where I was living). To those born and bred "out west," there is perhaps little romance about it all. though they have no hankerings after city life and have something of the Dad and DaveSnake Gully attachment for their own "locale." "Man-made Desert" But to me, a sojourn in the Riverina some years ago spelled romance. I am Australian-born, know and love Australian poetry, and to-day, in memory, V see the distant trees drooping over lazy, sun-drenched Murrumbidgee; a lone eagle soars high in the sky; a flock of chattering parrots pass overhead; there are the sharp staccato snaps of well-trained sheep dogs; the bleating, drawn-out "baas" of tired, dusty Merinos; and at night, as one walked in the garden, sometimes across the plain comes the faint cry of a dingo. To-day much of that land is a "man-made desert." Prodigality has given place to barrenness and ruination. Who shall be blamed? Not, in my opinion, the small graziers of 5000 to 10,000 acres, who, taking up holdings after some of the big runs were cut up, have bravely faced drought and fire, erstwhile striving to reduce their bank mortgage. But whoever is (or was) to blame, soil erosion is now a national problem, and must be tackled as such. Whilst, of course, there must be immediate attention to what is nothing short of a major calamity, soil erosion is one of Australia's big post-war problems. It will call for big exchequer grants, and the advice of the best soil erosion experts. To-day, to quote a critic, Australia is merely "fooling with the problem." For such fooling she is paying a heavy price.

Far Fluns Plains The Riverina has an area of 26,600 square miles, with a population of about 80,000. It is watered by the Murray, the Murrumbidgee, the Lachlan and several small rivers. Albury, the Victorian-New South Wales border "city," may be said to be in the Riverina —if "only just." The same applies to Junee, where the South Western branch line commences its far stretch to Hay, on the edge of the "Old Man Plain." But Narrandera (which has a junction with Victorian lines), Leeton, JeriJdere, Hillston, Balranald, Yanco, Griffiths and Hay are towns well away in the Riverina proper. Hay is at the railhead, 454 miles from Sydney, but many people besides Hayites believe that wiser and less parochial legislators would have continued the Hay line, making it a great trunk railway bridging the back country of Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia, saving an immense loss of mileage and time. Maybe the battle of the routes is not yet over, nor the last word said on the subject. Recurring Periods of Drought If the Riverina had a heavier and more regular rainfall, its prodigality, which has been great despite recurring periods of drought, would have been amazing. Originally entirely pastoral country, it now occupies second place for wheat growing in New South Wales, whilst in the irrigation areas there is now also dairying, pig-raising, fruit farming and canning of fruit. The fruit industry is mostly centred round Leeton, Griffiths and Yanco. It has been one of the soldier settlement areas (World War No. 1) and although the scheme has had its tribulations the success of fruit farming in the irrigation areas is assured. The quality of the canned fruit is favourably known to many of us in New Zealand. Our lament is that we cannot get enough of it. When I was in the Riverina the annual wool crop was not far short of 59,000,0001b. The wheat production was approximately 10.000,000 bushels per annum. Butter production stood at 1,850,000 pounds. Add to this fruit, fresh, canned and dried, cheese, bacon, livestock, etc., and it gives some idea of the fertility of that red earth. This despite a rainfall which in some parts only averages 12 inches a year, and in the most favoured sections of the Riverina only averages 25 inches per year.