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Pioneers of Victorian Irrigation

Home /
Education
and Training / Pioneers
of Victorian Irrigation

Hugh
McColl .. Stuart
Murray .. Elisha
Clement DeGaris .. Ettore
Checchi .. Alfred
Deakin .. William
Cattanach .. John
Stewart Dethridge .. Sir
Ronald East

Hugh McColl, MLA (1819-1885)
McColl was
born in Scotland and migrated to Australia in 1853. He was an early
advocate of town water supply, especially in the Bendigo area, and of
irrigation for northern Victoria. As a politician he aroused considerable
public interest in irrigation development and influenced decision-makers
such as Alfred
Deakin.

McColl's grand ideas for irrigation development contributed to the
construction of Goulburn
Weir and Waranga
Basin and the Waranga
Western Channel.

Stuart Murray (1837-1919)
Murray, who
also emigrated from Scotland (in 1855), is regarded by many as the pioneer
engineer of Victorian irrigation who turned the dreams of his
contemporaries into reality. As engineer of the United Echuca and Waranga
Waterworks Trust he played a key role in pressing for the construction of
the Goulburn
Weir.

In 1884 he became Engineer in Chief of the Water Supply Department and
helped design Goulburn
Weir and Laanecoorie
Reservoir and played a significant part in drafting water legislation.
He was the first Chairman of the Victorian State Rivers and Water Supply
Commission (SR&WSC).

Elisha Clement DeGaris (1851-1948)

DeGaris was born on the island of Guernsey and his family migrated to
Australia when he was only three years old. Following his ordination as a
Minister in the Methodist Church in 1881 he moved to Durham Ox, on the
Serpentine Creek not far from Boort and was soon at the forefront of those
interested in water conservation. The run of good seasons which had
accelerated the development of the Northern Plains had ended and the
position of farmers without a scheme of water conservation was, in many
cases, desperate.

For many years Hugh McColl had been preaching the gospel of large-
scale irrigation projects, and DeGaris became an ardent disciple. He wrote
numerous newspaper articles, with the most important channel of publicity
being 'The Australian Irrigationist', later to be merged into 'The Weekly
Times'.

In 1886 DeGaris became Chairman of the Tragowel Plains Irrigation
Trust, the first established under the Irrigation Act.

In 1891 he left the Ministry and settled in Mildura where he became a
prominent business man, auctioneer and real estate agent, general
storekeeper, shire councillor, packing house proprietor and leading light
in the foundation of the Australian Dried Fruits Association. He lived to
see the Big Eildon project submitted to Parliament and know that the
development of the Goulburn Valley was assured and to see the increasing
prosperity of Mildura and the dried fruits industry.

Ettore Checchi (1853-1946)
Born in Pisa,
Italy, Checchi obtained his engineering degree at Florence and with poor
prospects for employment in Italy decided to emigrate. He arrived in
Melbourne in 1877.

Amazingly two other Italians, Carlo Catani and Pietro Baracchi, who
also made notable achievements in the Victorian Public Service, were on
the same ship. Catani became Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department
and was involved in the draining of Kooweerup Swamp, development of
Melbourne's St Kilda foreshore and beautification of Mount Buffalo
National Park (Catani Gardens, St Kilda and Lake Catani in Mount Buffalo
NP were named in his honour.). Baracchi was the Victorian Government
Astronomer for a number of years.

Considered a great mathamatician and a sound designing engineer, Mr
Checchi's most notable work was done during 39 years of service
(1888-1927), firstly with the Victorian Water Supply Department and then
with the SR&WSC.

In his first few years, as an assistant engineer, Mr Checchi did
hydrographic work, under the direction of Stuart Murray, which attracted
world-wide attention and laid the foundation of a scientific water
conservation policy in Victoria.

His greatest contribution was to supply most of the technical data in
regard to water resources required in connection with harnessing the
waters of the River Murray. It was not until 1914 that an Agreement
was reached, based on recommendations of an Interstate Conference of
Engineers in 1913. This Agreement led to the establishment of the River
Murray Commission.

During his last 16 years with the SR&WSC he was associated with
many of the major water conservation projects including Hume
Dam and the first Eildon
Reservoir.

Alfred Deakin (1856-1919)
Deakin's
achievements were marked in irrigation, although he is probably better
known as serving three terms as Australia's Prime Minister. A lawyer and
journalist turned politician, Alfred Deakin was born in the Melbourne
suburb of Fitzroy. He played an important role in the development of
irrigation in Victoria and in Australian water legislation during his time
as Victorian Minister for Water Supply, a post he first occupied in 1883
at the age of 27.

Deakin toured overseas and presented to the Royal Commission on Water
Supply, excellent reports on irrigation in India, Egypt, Italy and
America. His practical approach to the problems of engineering,
agriculture and economics, combined with his enthusiasm, led to the
establishment, in 1886, of Irrigation Trusts to develop local works and
storages. In the same year, the Waterworks Encouragement Act was passed
under Deakin's sponsorship.

In the few short years that he could devote to the irrigation cause,
Deakin gave it all his energy and talent. Under his control, irrigation
development in Victoria (and Australia) received its first substantial
impetus.

Dr Elwood Mead
Dr Mead, a distinguished
American engineer, was Chief of the Irrigation Investigations Bureau in
the US Department of Agriculture when, on the recommendation of the
Victorian Minister of Water Supply, the Victorian Government offered him
the Chairmanship of the SR&WSC. He accepted and served as Chairman
from 1907-15 when he resigned to return to the USA.

It was on Mead's recommendation that charges for water rights, based on
payment per unit volume, were introduced to cover the costs of operation
and management of the irrigation and domestic and stock water supply
system. The charges had to be paid regardless of whether or not the water
was used. The compulsory charge was bitterly opposed by the majority of
landholders. Dr Mead appreciated the reasons for the hostility, but told
delegates at a Farmers' Congress at Bendigo in 1909 "the inclination of
the individual runs counter to the welfare of the State."

Mead was also an advocate of 'closer settlement' and intense culture
methods of irrigation. After years of his urgings, and the recommendations
of a Royal Commission appointed on Closer Settlement in Victoria,
legislation was passed in 1918, transferring permanently to the SR&WSC
the responsibility for land purchase and settlement in irrigation areas.
Finally the unified control of land and water that Dr Mead advocated
became effective and remained in force for all soldier and civilian
settlement following WWI.

The February 1951 issue of 'Aqua', the SR&WSC magazine concluded
that Elwood Mead, "...by a combination of his training, experience and
optimism, .... was able to guide Victoria in particular, and Australia in
general, in the evolution of the principles upon which all later
irrigation development has been soundly based."

William Cattanach CMG (1863-1932)
Born
in North Melbourne and educated firstly at a private school there and then
at Scotch College, Cattanach spent six years with the Bank of Victoria
before several appointments as Town Clerk at Flemington, Kensington and
Essendon. His sound administration skills attracted the attention of then
Premier, Sir Thomas Bent, who offered him a position as Commissioner of
the SR&WSC upon its formation in 1906. He served as Chairman of the
Commission from 1915 until his death in 1932.

His period of Chairmanship was one of great development of water supply
in general. Substantial additions to storage capacity totalled nearly one
million acre feet and included enlargement of Lake
Eildon and Waranga
Basin. The area irrigated annually had risen more than 50%.

The period of Mr Cattanach's Chairmanship was also dominated by the
administration of Closer Settlement under irrigation. In the Commission's
1915/16 Annual Report it was noted that due to subdivision some 1,500
families had been settled where 120 had previously lived. The Closer
Settlement Act 1918 provided for the SR&WSC to administer settlement
of discharged soldiers from WWI in areas irrigated, or likely to be
irrigated. Such areas in the Goulburn and Murray Valleys included
Shepparton, Tongala, Stanhope, Swan Hill and Nyah.

Another notable feature of Mr Cattanach's administration was the
leading role he played in the establishment of the great co-operative
canneries of the Goulburn Valley - pioneering the field of orderly
marketing before establishment of today's marketing boards. Ironically his
death followed what seemed to be a fairly small injury while on an
inspection of one of the Goulburn Valley canneries.

John Stewart Dethridge (1865-1926)
An
innovation of major importance in water management was the development of
the Dethridge
meter outlet. This wheel has become a familiar sight in Victoria's
irrigation districts.

The Dethridge meter was adopted by the SR&WSC
because it was simple, reasonably accurate and could be constructed as
cheaply as any other suitable device. It was installed on all channels
constructed after 1912 and today there are over 22,000 in use throughout
the Goulburn-Murray Water region.

Born in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, JS Dethridge began his
working life as a building worker, but following completion of his Water
Supply examinations he went on to become Executive Engineer of Goulburn
River Works in 1903 and Assistant Chief Engineer of the SR&WSC in
1907. In 1911 he became a SR&WSC Commissioner - a post he held for 15
years.

He was responsible for construction of the Waranga
Basin embankment, design and construction of the original Eildon
Reservoir, and unique design of Mildura
Weir and the original Torrumbarry
Weir.

He was Victoria's representative on the River Murray Commission from
its inception on 1 February 1917 until his death in 1926.

Sir Ronald East (1900-1994)
Lewis Ronald
East was the Chairman of the SR&WSC from 1936-65, following two years
as a Commissioner. During his record term of office, the capacity of water
storages was increased threefold and the area of land irrigated in
Victoria more than doubled. He received a knighthood on his retirement
from the SR&WSC.

Mr East was associated with, and to a considerable extent responsible
for, many amendments to and extensions of the Water Acts.

Just as his first appointment to be a commissioner was entirely
unexpected, so was the sudden death of the Commission's Chairman, and the
breakdown in health of the second Commissioner. Mr East was appointed
Chairman for a term of six months, then re-appointed again and again no
fewer than nine times, by four governments, for longer terms up to the
maximum of five years permitted by the Water Act, until he had been in
office for 28 years. He retired on 31 January 1965.

In an article for the 'The Chartered Engineer' in June 1965 Mr East
wrote :
"Engineering is the art of organising and directing men and
controlling the forces and materials of Nature for the benefit of
mankind."

Mr East was always workshop-minded, and he became skilled in the use of
metal and wood-working tools and machines. The badge of the Melbourne
University Engineering Students club was made to a prize-winning design
submitted by LR East in a competition amongst students in 1920. However,
his main interest was model engineering. Over many years, when he could
get the time, he made model locomotives, steam engines and boilers for
boys who were prepared to make the hulls for small steamboats.

References:
Pioneers of Victorian Irrigation,
SR&WSC, 1976
Aqua, February 1951, SR&WSC; Issue 9,
Autumn 1994, RWC
A South Australian Colonist of 1836 and his
decendants, Sir Ronald East

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