["Our Interviews", The Northern Times (Carnarvon, WA), Saturday 18 November 1911, page 2]
OUR INTERVIEWS
MR. A. Despeissis.
Irrigation on the Gascoyne.
In the course of an interview with the Commissioner for Tropical Agriculture, Mr Dispeissis expressed his surprise at finding so much activity shown in many directions at a time when the Nor'-West was in the grip of one of the most intense droughts experienced for a number of years. The drought after all will prooably result in much good, in improving and expanding the operations of pastoralists for the better and safer stocking of their runs. A good deal of money is being spent in fencing and providing water, in freight and carting over long distances the material required for these permanent improvements. The great sacrifice forced on the squatters now can legitimately be regarded as an insurance against disaster and as an investment which must become profitable when plenty of feed in well watered paddocks follow good seasons. In one particular direction – that of utilising the stores of fresh
Water Hidden Underground,
for the growth of fodder for feeding stock – the dry season has done an amount of good that will be of incalculable value to those who occupy the rich tracts of land in the arid portions of the State. For some months past I have been engaged in obtaining additional information regarding the extent and the quality of the water known to be lying under the surface along the banks of the Gascoyne in the vicinity of Carnarvon. A systematic boring exploration has been made of the reserves on each side of the Gascoyne, with results that are most satisfactory. Twenty-six shallow bores have been put down at intervals of quarter of a mile, and in each, with the exception of three or four,
Large Supplies of Fresh Water
were struck at depths of 15ft. to 30 ft. from the surface. Each bore has been plugged and located so that when the land is sub-divided the owner will have the knowledge that fresh water, which in many cases has risen a few feet in the casing, lies underneath ready to be tapped and utilised, as is being done by Messrs Angelo at "Leura." When, therefore, these enterprising gentlemen placed themselves in communication with me and made known their object, I secured for them the co-operation of the Department of Agriculture, whose function in a great measure is to assist those who help themselves.
...
The public seem to be taking much interest in the experiment?
Yes, a good deal of interest has been created in consequence of the work which is
Being Done at Leura,
and an invitation was tendered to all those interested to inspect the work done. Several squatters and a number of gardeners from Yankee Town came up. The work done by the leveller or "slicker" and the "buck scraper" aroused much interest and surprise. An 8 B.H.P. oil engine working a three-cylinder pump over a large well 26ft. deep delivers the water over plots almost as level as a billiard-table, and along furrows graded with a fall of about two inches in the chain. Portion of the ground will also be irrigated by means of sprinklers placed half-a-chain apart and fed from a capacious tank over a stand 25ft. high. Already
Millet, Sorghum, and Maize,
have been sown on each side of the ridges between the furrows. Lucerne will be sown over the plots after the first growth of double-gees has been dealt with. Barley will also be sown. If the first and luxuriant
Growth of Double-gees,
which in the wet season covers the land, can be successfully checked, many similar plots will no doubt be established. This experiment is all the more valuable as the Gascoyne has not run for over two years and there is little or no feed to be seen on the country around.
