LAND USE IN AUSTRALIA

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28984, 27 August 1959, Page 9

LAND USE IN AUSTRALIA

Marked Change In North

Post-war research had opened the way for a revolutionary change in land use in Northern Australia, which could add £som annually to the national income, said Mr C. S. Christian, chief of the division of land research and regional survey, C.5.1.R.0.. at Perth.

Mr Christian was addressing delegates to the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science Congress in the city on the subject of "The future Revolution in Agriculture in Northern Australia.”

"The development of a new economic-geographic unit of the Australian economy with a population of more than 200,000 supported by agriculture in an area where there are now no more than 10,000 is possible if the known resources are fully developed,” he said. C.5.1.R.0. regional surveys have shown that there are about 10,000 square miles of land on which rainfed agriculture could be developed, almost 500,000 acres of land worthy of consideration for controlled intensive irrigation, and 1000 square miles of naturally flooded potential rice land, said Mr Christian. Research Station

“The Katherine research station had shown how a stable mixed agriculture based on peanuts, and other crops could be practised in an area previously thought to be suitable only as low-grade cattle breeding country. If the peanut potential were developed and the nuts processed for oil in the region, there would be produced enough meal as a by-product to provide a protein supplement for lj million cattle, he said. “This prospect, plus what has been learned about fodder crops and improved pastures, opens up a vision of a completely different intensified cattle industry in the north, developing in association with the new arable agriculture." It had been found that other legumes in addition to peanuts could be grown, with the result that a large area which was naturally nitrogen deficient could be transformed into a protein surplus region. Townsville lucerne had been proved to be a successful pasture legume, with prospects in Northern Australia comparable to subterranean clover in the south.

“The Kimberley research station has established the possibilities of irrigated agriculture in many parts of Northern Australia. In the next 25 years there will be 500 million more people in the areas north of Australia. Herein lies not only the prospect for marketing all that can be produced in Northern Australia, but also the necessity for Australia to develop these potentials.” said Mr Christian.