LANDSEEKERS ARE TURNING DESERT INTO FERTILE AREA

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22852, 24 January 1949, Page 6

LANDSEEKERS ARE TURNING DESERT INTO FERTILE AREA

ADELAIDE. • A new generation of landseekers, equipped with high-powered tractors, massive ploughs, and a scientific formula for turning bad soil into good, is followed closely in the wake of knowledge that the ill-named “90-Mile Desert” is potentially one of the most productive areas of South Australia. Not more than a score of these twentieth century pioneers have taken up holdings so far. but their numbers are increasing weekly. In the past few months since it became known that the spindly “desert” pastures flourished, almost magically, after a handful or two of copper and

zinc sulphates were added to superphosphate dressings, dozens of people - have called on the established settlers, made searching inquiries, and then, either on the spot or back in Adelaide, opened negotiations for a stretch of the virgin land.

Farmers seeking newer fields for themselves, or properties for their sons, and city businessmen, alike, are attracted by the possibilities—“certainty” is the word most of them use—that a combination of scientific research and practical endeavour has brought to light. The new leaseholds vary in size from 2000 acres to 30,000 acres and purchase prices ranging from 6s 6d to £1 an acre have been mentioned. Pioneering Work in Wasteland The “90-Mile Desert” is an inapt description for the great tract of greywhite sand and scrub that the new settlers will face when they set about the pioneering work of rolling and burning and ploughing and planting. It is an undulating sea of whipstick mailee, stunted titree. bottle bush, broom bush, honeysuckle, heath and yacca sprawling over 10,000 square miles from Lake Albert in the west across the border into Victoria, split into the “big desert” and the “little desert” by a ring of open woodland around Keith and a tongue of naturally fertile country which extends from the Wimmera district to Bordertown. Visions that this immense wasteland will, perhaps in 20 years, almost certainly within 50 years, take on a coat of green pastures dotted with prosperous homesteads and townships and crossed by busy roads and railways have prompted a crop of new local titles. The "Ninety-Mile Plain” is a popular suggestion, and others are the “Ninety-Mile Downs” and “Heath Downs of South Australia.” South Australia’s share of the “gold mine” is about 6500 square miles —according to some long-range views, almost wholly capable of development if science discovers ways and means of handling the more difficult sections of the terrain. Use of Vital “Trace” Elements One of the most cautious “guesses” is made by Mr. D. S. Riceman, of the C.S-I.R. Division of Biochemistry and General Nutrition, whose field experiments, which finally proved that the vital “trace” elements of zinc and copper could transform the land, matured during the past five years. Mr. Riceman says that, allowing for a 50 per cent, wastage through sandhills and difficult country, some 2,000,000 acres of heath country appear to be capable of development to an average carrying capacity of about two sheep to the acre and an annual fat lamb production as great as the rest Of South Australia is producing at the moment. The greatest optimists about the future of the Upper South-East are the few pioneers who, in the past 10 years courageously broke into the wasteland to clear a patch of land for pasture. They now see the end to all their troubles and visualise the day when they will be surrounded by scores of neighbours instead of unending horizons of stunted scrub and heath. Settlers’ Experience The story which Mr. R. L. Bruce tells of his own experience is typical. Five years ago, Mr. Bruce took up 3000 acres of scrub. Mr. Bruce had "practically no capital and nothing better than a horse team to work with.” Now 1700 acres are in production and one paddock of 240 acres is carrying 3£ sheep to the acre. Over four years ago, the paddock was dressed with a total of 5 cwt. of superphosphate, and last year 71b of copper sulphate and 71b of zinc sulphate was applied to each acre for an outlay of 7s 6d an acre. Research workers believe that the effect of the copper and zinc will last at least three or four years and that Mr. Bruce could have achieved equal results with an even smaller aplication. “Give me three more years and I’ll nave my entire property carrying at least two sheep to the acre,” Mr. Bruce ' says. He estimates the cost of reaching that stage in five years at £5 10s an acre; including the purchase price of the leasehold. Two wheat crops during the establishment period yielded a return of £6 an acre—£l an acre more than the cost of development. There are many who believe that at a little extra cost much of the land in the higher rainfall sections will ultimately support three and even four sheep to the acre on pastures that are green in all seasons of the year. Scientists’ Part. The part played by the scientists in making all this possible provides one of the more dramatic highlights of South Australian land settlement policy. The investigations which led to the recent discoveries began in 1933 and it is unlikely that any potential pasture land, in the world has ever had so much scientific attention. The very nature of the “desert” acted on the scientists like a spur. It had nearly every advantage considered necessary for successful primary production except fertile soil. Droughts rarely occurred. The annual rainfall varied from 15in. at the northern limits to more than 20in. in the south—equal to the most favoured wheatlands of the State. Most important of all, .the “desert” represented about one-third of the good rainfall area of South Australia which had not yielded to development. The climate was temperate, the stunted scrub could be easily cleared and vast areas of heath needed nothing more than ploughing. Leaseholds and freeholds could be bought cheaply and it seemed that the cost of development would be cheap in comparison with other areas of South Australia which had been brought into production. None of its products would be far distant from market centres. A supply of fresh water was not a problem. Stories of wells being sunk in less than a day are common, and in any part of the area few settlers have had to go deeper than 16 feet to obtain sufficient water for their needs.