Darlington Point

The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area depends on water reserved in Burrynjuck Dam, built on the upper reaches of the Murrumbidgee river in 1912 for the express purpose of maintaining a regular water supply for irrigation in the region north of the river on land reclaimed from the Yanco north and Gogeldrie station properties. The land is serviced by hundreds of kilometers of canals and channels gravity fed from Berembed diversion weir some fifty kilometers upstream. The region was chosen because of the quality of its soil, the relative flatness of the topography and needs of expanding population and foreign trade.

In 1956 Blowering dam was built on the Tumut river, a tributary of the Murrumbidgee, to supply water for further irrigation south of the river to the Coleambally Irrigation Area. In these two areas much of Australia's food supply and agricultural export commodities are grown. It is the most densely populated and productive agricultural region in inland Australia.

Darlington Point on the Murrumbidgee river and at the junction of the Sturt Highway and the Kidman Way, is the oldest settlement in the region. It was a river crossing from the 1840s, where a punt and subsequently a bridge with a lifting span were built. The river from early times was used by steamers as far as Yanco and beyond. In 1982 the new concrete bridge was finished. This now carries a great deal of north-south traffic.

The township was close to a gathering place for the Wirradjerrie people who met there within living memory and some of whom have settled in the township itself. The Point has had a diverse history from a prosperous populated small town, to a relatively backward village and now a growing retirement and dormitory town of 900 people for the region..

The newest town in Australia is Coleambally , 40 kilometres south of the Point, and the centre of Coleambally Irrigation Area. With a large rice mill and extensive industry dependent on the agriculture of the area it services quite a large area and is home to 600 people. It is a friendly well laid out "town in a forest" of native pines with abundant sporting and service facilities and a bright future.

Maureen

Coleambally

We left Griffith and drove down the Kidman Way to Darlington Point, a historical little town that grew up around a punt crossing on the Murrumbidgee River. We stopped near the Old Punt Hotel 1860, and picked up our host for the day. John McInnes a rice farmer and long time mayor of the Coleambally Shire. John welcomed us to his shire and walked us over to the banks of the "Bidgee". We were told that explorer Sturt arrived here by land in 1829 and made a note in his diary "I hope this is my first and last visit for this is a god forsaken land". They have only 33 cm of rain a year and all the agriculture is totally dependent on the river water. John described the Bidgee as the best managed and healthiest river in NSW. It complies fully with the COAG guidelines on water quality, in that it provides water suitable for Recreation, Town, Irrigation and Environmental usage. As the river boat traffic picked up the local punt was replaced by a lift span bridge in 1904.

After visiting a redgum artefacts factory supplied by local agro-forestry timber, we journeyed to John's home town of Coleambally. The Hub of the Coleambally irrigation Scheme, CIS which was created after the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Scheme MIS. Initially the district attracted pastoralists who fed their sheep on the abundant Old Man Salt bush which is good sheep tucker, local fat lambs sell for $100 each. Many farmers have put in a paddock of Old Man Saltbush as it adds flavour to the meat increasing the price. As we approached Coleambally we saw many of the ways that irrigation is employed in this area. Timber plantations, Barrters Chicken farms handle 1 million chicks a day and employ 200 local people, prunes, soybeans and grapes etc. There were many vegetable crops to be seen as well as the rice fields which are re-planted at the end of the rice crop with barley, realizing two or more crops a year. Paddocks are fertilized by dung from local cattle feed lots. Flooding is used for rice and agroforestry, drip is used for vegetables and overhead sprays are used on potatoes and fruit crops. A lot of farmers are value adding to their crops by packaging their own produce. Many farmers have accessed bore water which we were told was of very high quality, but this could not last forever as the water table was refilling from the Great Dividing Range run-off at 270 ml a year, but consumption is fast approaching 500 ml per year.

The CIS started in 1950's with irrigation water coming from Burrinjuck Dam and the Snowy Scheme, an extensive network of canals and channels were created and existing channels from earlier irrigation projects were upgraded. The original 1935 Bucyrus Erie Dragline rests in a nearby park, it arrived in the CIS in 1958 after working on the MIS, it still works.

           

Coleambally is dominated by a spectacular wine glass shaped water tower. Opened in 1968 the town was designed by the locals to be the rural service centre. It is known as the town in the forest, the town square is named after our host John McInnes and all the streets are named after birds. John tried very hard to recruit our doctor, even showing Evelyn which house she would have to live in. Water wise John said that irrigation water is used several times and is not returned to the river, he did mention that saline water is pumped into the Bidgee at Wagga as they are trying to save their old buildings from salt damp. Canberra is a major source of storm water run-off and phosphates as well as ash from the recent bushfires. All of which finds its way into the Bidgee.

At Johns place Yanlea Farm 1962, the levelled paddocks are flooded prior to rice planting. The first water onto the paddocks contains weed killer, then the germinated rice seeds are dropped into the water by aircraft. No crops are sprayed. The whole district is affected by drought, tho you would not know it looking at the green crops. Water costs $170 ml, if it has been allotted for hydro power generation, irrigators like to get water after it been used to produce electricity then it's only $70 ml. Usually they have to take what is available.

           

We all enjoyed our most informative day with John, a very genuine and down to earth man of the inland.

John P

Rice Farm and "Mystery" Afternoon

After lunch at Coleambally we visited Channel 9, YANLEE FARM, home of John McInnes. On the way we passed a horticultural park, then a golf course behind which were vines. Grapes were presold to the local de Bertoli winery. Then down to the paddock of Farm 81, having looked at the canal irrigation system on the way.

First we saw 5 acres of saltbush used for grazing sheep. Wool from such fed sheep was 1-2 microns thinner and meat more tender and flavoursome. Next we passed fallow land. Water supply is critical. Because of the drought, Farm 81 had only 25% of its usual allocation for rice planting this year. Later, this was increased to 30% and rice with a shorter growing cycle was planted. All will be ready for harvest at the same time. From seeding to harvest takes about 4 months. Other cereal crops, barley here, can be grown using the residual moisture in the soil and not requiring irrigated water.

Rice is planted early in October. It can be sown by direct drilling, disc servers or, as here, by aerial sowing. Seed is soaked for 24 hours. Land is graded, weeded and urea fertiliser is applied. The beds are soaked with some herbicide added to this first water only so that the rice is not contaminated. Aerial sowing is precise, taking into account wind direction and flying low, so that overlapping of rows does not occur. Irrigation is by flooding from open channels running down the paddocks, and water is retained in the rice baysby removable wooden blocks or earthbanks which can be breached before harvest. Requirement for further fertiliser is assessed precisely at a particular growth stage, before Christmas, after study of dried leaves at the rice centre.

When rice is ripe, the water is drained from the paddock. This had been done on the morning of our visit, so that the paddock was muddy but not under water. The crop would be harvested in about 10 days. This crop required 11 megalitres of water per hectare. 10 hectares were planted. The yield was expected to be 4 tons per hectare.

On the return trip to Griffith we visited Catania, the Fruit Salad Farm. After admiring the beautiful Princess and Red-Rump parrots, we sampled the mustards, pickles, dried fruit (particularly the prunes), oils and some wine. Much produce was purchased. We returned to Griffith late afternoon. Most of us were pleased to relax, although two workaholics headed to the Library.

Evelyn