RICH NORTH AUSTRALIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22064, 21 September 1933, Page 16

RICH NORTH AUSTRALIA

CATTLE AND SHEEP LAND THE SPORTSMAN’S PARADISE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, September 9. A land where a great meat industry could be established, a large area where millions of sheep could be bred, a sportsman’s paradise —these were some of the descriptions given by members of an aerial survey expedition which returned to Sydney this week after flights in the north of Australia. The expedition, which had been absent for three weeks, covered 0000 miles in the Northern Territory. “It is .imperative for the development of the territory,” said Mr W. G. Hutchins, organiser of the expedition, “ that a railway from Birdum to Bourke should be built. If this line was-built the chilled beef trade could be developed by a convenient method. Thousands of young steers could be trucked to the southern States to be fattened, whereas bow, after a long trip, they are old bullocks. If cattle could be sent south by tail when about 18 months of age, and if the breed of cattle-could be improved by the importation of good quality bulls, the meat industry in the north would have a reasonable chance of success. The number of cattle in the territory could be increased enormously if the prices were payable. As it is they are barely paying their way. Mr Hutchins said that the Barkly Tableland could carry millions of sheep if the right facilities for transport existed. A necessary adjunct was the development of a port on the eastern eide of the territory. Port M'Arthur had been surveyed, but it had not been opened, although the Government recognised that it was important -as an aid to the development of the hinterland. The fact that a few hundreds of sheep had been run at Anthony’s Lagoon and that the number there was to be increased demonstrated that the sheep industry could be established in the territory. Big capital expenditure, however, was necessary for the satisfactory development of the territory, which would eventually be Australia’s breeding ground for cattle..

Mr Hutchins predicted a great future for aviation in North .Australia. A number of landing grounds had established by the Government, he said, but the Government should establish them throughout the territory. The aborigines had taken a great interest in the expedition’s plane wherever the party landed. The ,plane had landed at, among ether places, Bathurst Island and Melville Island, and the blacks there, who •were among the finest physical specimens be had seen in Australia, had been particularly interested in the aeroplane and bad been of great assistance. Commander Bennett, another member of the expedition, said that they had learnt more about the conditions in the north in three weeks by means of the plane than could be gleaned in a tour of six months by other means.