Submission re Inquiry into Rural Drainage in Victoria Executive Officer, Environment and Natural Resources Committee Parliament House Spring Street East Melbourne Vic 3002 [email protected] Jodie A. Honan Port Fairy 3284 21 December 2012 Dear Sir/Madam Re: Inquiry into Rural Drainage in Victoria Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission about rural drainage in Victoria. I have worked and researched in areas affected by rural drainage for several years; particularly the south-west of Western Victoria. My submission includes my personal observations, along with references to other documents you may find helpful. I am also sending by post a copy of the publication ‘Yambuk Lake, Yambuk People’ (Honan & Condon 2008) which provides much useful background information. If you would like to discuss anything further, please contact me Yours faithfully Jodie A. Honan BAppSci, MSc, GradDipEd Jodie A. Honan 21 December 2012 Page 1 of 12 Submission re Inquiry into Rural Drainage in Victoria Re: Inquiry into Rural Drainage in Victoria 1. The historical basis for the establishment and operation of former drainage schemes including management arrangements South West Victoria once had a wealth of wetlands and waterways; in some areas early maps indicate up to one third of the land area was under water during winter. Most of these wetlands have been lost to rural drainage (Figures 1 & 2). The Glenelg Hopkins CMA publication: ‘Yambuk Lake, Yambuk People’ by J. Honan and P. Condon includes historical background about the drainage of the Yambuk and Eumeralla areas. This book was based on oral histories and archival research. A copy of the book will be forwarded to you by post. The book also includes many relevant photographs and maps (copyrighted to the owners). Much of the following information is provided in greater detail in this book. The initial construction of drains in South West Victoria paralleled the clearing of vegetation and construction of roads. Road boards (precursors of municipal councils) were created from the 1850s. The main purpose of the road boards was to improve roads for domestic and commercial transport however water dammed up behind the road formations.i Landholders requested help with drainage, including construction of culverts due to damage to their crops by flooding caused by the road formationiiiii and this eventually led to the construction of major drains by Roads Boards including the Yambuk Drain(before 1862); funded by subscribersiv Private landholders purchased large estates in the 1860s. About this time, a period of wetter years increased infections of footrot and fluke. The advice of scientists was to ringbark trees to dry and sweeten the soil.v Drains were also used (with prickly plants) instead of fences to contain stock.vi (There is a good example of this on Yambuk Wetlands NCR). On the large holdings there was widespread clearing and draining in the late 1800s.vii Existing drains were enlarged and added and tussocks clearedviii Works on the lower Eumeralla began before living memory. The 1855 Eumeralla Parish Plan shows a string of swamps and no defined channel. A drainage easement was surveyed north of the natural path of the river in 1867.ix Both the Eumeralla and Shaw Rivers have been modified by excavation from chains of ponds with little fall, into channels x First drainage scheme in Shire of Minhamite 1879. Eighteen landholders around the Bessiebelle area paid ten shillings an acre. Scheme formalised 1882. Almost £10,000 spent by 1890 in draining 3,380 acres of swamp in the Lower Eumeralla.xi From 1890s depression, the Government subdivided large estates into small rural holdingsxii, extensive drainage needed on smaller properties to improve access and manage stock. Jasper’s Flood on 17 December 1902 - stimulated more drainage.xiii Landowners petitioned Shire of Minhamite in 1904 to declare a Drainage Area. July 1906 Secretary of Agriculture approved drainage works at Eumeralla Swamp and Broadwater, and a loan was raised,xiv but works were soon stopped by floodwater.xv Clearing of vegetation followed, along with construction of bridges. Eumeralla Drainage Area constituted in 1907 Closer Settlement Estates were established following the first World War e.g. in 1924 Dunmore station (8216 acres) was subdivided into 20 blocks of between 116 and 927 acres. Poor drainage and flooding meant that the planned cultivation was abandoned in favour of grazing.xvi Jodie A. Honan 21 December 2012 Page 2 of 12 Submission re Inquiry into Rural Drainage in Victoria The Public Works Department, and later the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, administered the Rivers and Streams Grants to shires for river ‘improvements’. In 1932 a grant was made for the Eumeralla to clear the banks and cut the main drain to Lake Gorrie through the Gorrie Swamp; 11 kilometres long and three metres wide and three metres deep for much of its length.xvii In 1935 a grant was made to deepen and enlarge the ‘overflow’ drain, a ‘subsidy course of Eumeralla River’.xviii Subsequent works enlarged the overflow so it was only slightly smaller than the main river channel. Sections of Snakey Creek, Deep Creek, Thomas’s Drain, Rowbottom Drain and a part of Richardsons Creek were built as secondary drains.xix The Northern Eumeralla Drainage Area was declared in 1938. Grant in 1941 to enlarge the river channel in the North Eumeralla Drainage Area to ‘alleviate flooding’, but work not completed. A weir was built at the northern boundary of the NEDA to lower water in the river so weeds could be sprayed.xx Drainage schemes were eventually put in place across Victoria wherever water lay about and people wanted to farm. Some landholders made smaller drains to direct water into existing drainage lines without being part of a scheme. Drainage schemes in south-west Victoria included:xxi Condah Swamp Merri Lake Gorrie Lake Wangoom Northern Eumeralla Nullawarre Eumeralla Mount Warrnambool Moyne Fresh Lake Yambuk Stony Creek Goose Lagoon North Station Reedy Jellalabad Drains were not only based on previous waterways; some were made across natural barriers (e.g. Gorrie and Yambuk). When ‘Yambuck’ and ‘Aringa’ stations were subdivided, some of the smaller properties were low lying and prone to flooding. Landholders constructed drains and levee banks from the 1890s. The Yambuk Drain had been built by 1862, and extended in 1906xxii and 1913-1914xxiii A lot of people also waited until the drain was dug, then put their own channels in. This was prior to a Drainage Trust for the area. Maintenance occurred in the 1930s,xxiv and a floodgate built to prevent lake water entering the lower part of the drain. However, with no authority responsible for maintenance, the drains eventually silted up or filled with weeds.xxv Drainage in the catchment sent more water downstream to Yambuk Lake. A sand bar built up seasonally at the mouth of the Lake holding water in and flooding low land around the Lake and the Eumeralla wetlands. The bar held water in the Lake until the sand was breached by floodwaters, or high seas. Local landholders would dig a channel through the sand bar by hand to relieve flooding. In March 1946 the largest flood in recorded history swept away the sandbar. A flood in 1896 had done ‘negligible’ damage,xxvi but stimulated a spate of drainage works, as had Jasper’s Flood in 1906. The 1946 flood did far more damage, and people wanted to know how to stop such flooding from ever happening again. Jodie A. Honan 21 December 2012 Page 3 of 12 Submission re Inquiry into Rural Drainage in Victoria The 1946 flood occurred after a century of land clearing and drainage works from the headwaters to the mouth. People had made water move into the lower catchment with a greater speed and volume. Government departments and landholders were faced with erosion, flooding and silting. A Yambuk Drainage Area had been suggested in February 1945 by landholders.xxvii Within weeks of the 1946 flood meeting of 23 members of the Yambuk Australian Primary Producers Union (APPU) had called on the Public Works Department to inspect the situation. A petition for an area of 4210 acres was presented in October 1947, however some landowners objected. The sponsors were advised that forming a drainage area in the face of this opposition ‘would not be in keeping with the spirit of the Act’. The proposal was amended to 1870 acres and submitted in November 1949: The reasons for the application were: o To establish control of the drains for maintenance purposes. o To enable about 600 acres of land, at the time of little use, to be brought into production. o To enable the floodgate to be replaced and provision made for its operation and maintenance (to prevent overflow from the Lake running back up the drain during high water). The Yambuk Drainage Area was gazetted on 20 December 1950.xxviii At the start of the scheme, costs were allocated according to the wetted area of land-mass of each landholder as a proportion of the whole.The group met at least annually,xxix or when there was a problem. The drainage did not work as well as anticipated because the land was so flat. There was regular maintenance of the drains in the late 1940s and 1950s. Artificial fertilisers came into popular use after World War 2 to supply minerals which were naturally low in Australian soils..xxx Several landholders observed that increased fertiliser use increased plant growth in the drains. Working bees were held for manual cleaning of the drains in 1962, but the landholders also called on the Shire of Belfast to take over administration of the Drainage Area.