ACHIEVEMENT

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22551, 5 November 1938, Page 21

ACHIEVEMENT

Pioneers Of Irrigation No one in Australia needs to be told who the Chaffey brothers were. They achieved wonders, and their memorial is a fruitful land. The man who inspired Australia with the idea of irrigation was Alfred Deakin, but the two practical apostles of desert irrigation were George and W. B. Chaffey, Canadians of British stock. They made their way to Australia, and there they amazed everyone by saying that the drought-stricken region of the Murray valley could be turned into a fruitful garden. At first people thought them mad. ' But they were not the sort of men to lie low, as Brer Rabbit did. They were always up and doing, and bit by- bit they won the confidence of the people and of the Government, securing a large grant of land on certain terms. Then began intensive irrigation. Pumping machinery seemed to spring up everywhere. Canals were dug. The water began coursing along new miles and finding its way into the furrows of the fields. There was sunshine and there was rich soil, and with the water the dream of the Chaffey brothers came true. The day of the Chaffey brothers is over, but their achievements remain.