SHEEP TO BE MOVED

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 129, 4 June 1927, Page 11

SHEEP TO BE MOVED

19,000 BY MOTOR TRANSPORT

TO ESCAPE QUEENSLAND

DROUGHT

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

SYDNEY, 27th May. The pastoralists of Central and Northwestern Queensland have been "up against it" during the last two years or so because of a drought that seems as if it is never going to end. They don't care to think how long it is since the last solid ram fell, and though great areas of the State have been relieved, there are still many districts as badly as ever in the throes of the drought. To saye 10,000 sheep last year one squatter paid £1500 to move them 180 miles to good agistment, and the experiment was a success. But that feat pales into insignificance beside a project that is now maturing. To move 19,000 sheep 300 miles over drought-stricken country ;s the gigantic scheme of Mr. Sol Green, owner of Llanrheidol Station, near Winton. Mr. ween, a Melbourne bookmaker and racehorse owner, was ever renowned for the magnificent scale on which he did things, from laying a wager to backing his own horses but no greater gamble has he tried lonnn i one,he is n °w planning. Tie 19,000 sheep that are to be transported are all that remain of the Llanrheidol about Sot f°r many J'earS nUmbered For about twelve months these sheep nave been roaming the country in search or grass and water, for Llanheidrol has been drought-stricken. The property has now sufficient feed for the sheep, but the difficulty is to get them from fake Maehattie, near the South Australian border, to the property, owing to the intervening country still being in the grip of the_drought. When they went from Llanheidrol, they passed through country that has since been dried bare by the rainless spell, and .now they are practically locked m on all sides by drought-stricken country, through which it would be impossible to take them back on foot to Llanheidrol. The droving of the sheep being out of the question, it was once proposed to hand feed the stock en route and have boring plants ahead to provide water supplies, but this would have cost'more than the sheep were worth. Consequently it was decided to engage motor transport at 7s per head for the 300 miles trip, a total cost of £6650.

■ But even that price may be increased. When Mr. Green's manager, Mr. Spenceley, put the proposition before owners of motor-lorries in Winton and Longreach, they were dubious as to whether they could make the work pay at 7s per head. Eventually sis lorries were procured, and these have set off to Lake Machattie. If the work pays at 7s per head, it will be continued. _ Owners of four-ton lorries doing the trip hope to carry 150 sheep per trip with two tiers of crates, and owners of two-ton lorries propose carrying 80 head. One optimistic feliow has gone -.vith ii one-ton lorry, which will carry about 50 sheep at the most. He would have to do tha trip, 600 miles there and back, for only £17 ids The lorry men propose rushing the sheep over the 300 miles, of dry country in 30 hours without food and water. The sheep are in fairly good condition, and should be able to stand the strain. The trip will be a difficult one for the drivers; as the roads in that back country are very bad. It is said that some of the worst roads in Queensland are on that route, and that, says a lot. Graziers throughout Australia are watching the unique project with great interest.