The outback has poured
out its own life-giving water for more than a century. But
miracles come with a price.
 |
| A bore on Murweh Station, near
Charleville, in 1898, pumping out 3 million gallons a
day. Picture: John Oxley Library 36862. |
|
"To the tortured thirsty cattle, bringing gladness in
its going;
Through the droughty days of summer it is flowing, ever
flowing
It is flowing, ever flowing, further down."
A.B. "Banjo" Paterson
A CENTURY and a quarter after the sinking of the first
successful bore into the Great Artesian Basin at Bourke, New
South Wales, in 1878, this seemingly never-ending, almost
miraculous water resource in the arid heart of the world's
driest continent still supports pastoral and other economic
activity valued at $5 billion a year.
In communities such as Narrabri and Moree (NSW), Longreach
and Charleville (Qld) and Innamincka and Marree (SA), more
than 100,000 people still depend on it, as do the country's
pastoral, mining, oil and gas industries.
Outback Queensland is criss-crossed with 22,000km of open
bore drains which carry life-giving water to stock from more
than 2500 artesian bores, about 800 of which have flowed
uncontrolled since they were sunk as long as a century or more
ago. They have been the saviour of outback Australia.
The Great Artesian Basin, a multi-layered sedimentary basin
of porous aquifers, underlies 1.7 million sqkm or about
one-fifth of the Australian land mass, including most of
Queensland.
From the late 19th century, thousands of wells sunk into
the basin have saved the inland from the ravages of periodic
drought and allowed the development of a vast, permanent
pastoral industry, agricultural activity and scores of inland
communities.
The first successful bore in Queensland was drilled in 1887
at a drought-stricken property near Cunnamulla. Later that
year, Barcaldine became the first town with an artesian water
supply.
Artesian water is still a big part of outback life, but its
uncontrolled use through free-flowing bores has degraded the
resource.
Wastage through evaporation and seepage from open drains
has been estimated at a billion litres a day, and water
pressure in the aquifer has fallen.
The drains have worsened the spread of feral animals and
noxious weeds including prickly acacia, introduced in the 30s
as a shade tree.
A federal/state strategy is in place to accelerate capping
of uncontrolled bores and to replace open drains with piped
reticulation.
