Published Resources Details
Conference Paper
- Title
- Chaffey brothers irrigation works in Australia
- In
- 19th Australasian engineering heritage conference: putting water to work: steam power, river navigation and water supply
- Imprint
- Engineering Heritage Australia, Barton, Australian Capital Territory, 2017, pp. 401-430
- ISBN/ISSN
- 9781922107923
- Url
- https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.385229438798747
- Subject
- History of Applied Sciences Engineering and Technology
- Abstract
George and William Chaffey made significant contributions to the development of irrigation for agricultural land in dry climates with several successful projects in California and at Mildura and Renmark in Australia.
Their combined skills allowed them to integrate engineering, social, commercial and agricultural techniques to develop irrigation colonies in very aggressive environments. Their work laid down principles which were followed by others enabling large scale irrigation projects which now contribute greatly to agricultural output in many arid and semi-arid parts of the world.
Engineer George Chaffey pushed the limits of the use of centrifugal pumps to achieve efficient, high volume pumping at an affordable cost for irrigation work. He also developed his skills to lay out efficient channel networks to distribute water over large areas by gravity with water delivered to the highest point of each block.
William pioneered the dried fruit and wine-making industries at Mildura and helped to establish Australian excellence in those industries which continues to the present time. The Chaffey colonies were, however, subject to serious disputation and public ridicule, largely because of flaws in the financial models adopted for the colonies. This also occurred at a time of much wider financial problems affecting the general economy and resulted in the failure of the Chaffey companies. As a result, Irrigation Trusts were established at Mildura and Renmark to operate, maintain and expand irrigation systems in return for rates from the landowners. This model proved to be more sustainable and brought stability and prosperity to the irrigation areas.
The personal characteristic of the brothers are a model for all engineers. They were hard-working, not deterred by the many set-backs they encountered and they took breathtaking engineering and commercial risks in order to innovate. They combined a wide range of skill and high professional ethics in a way we should all admire.
- Source
- cohn 2018
Related Published resources
isPartOf
- 19th Australasian engineering heritage conference: putting water to work: steam power, river navigation and water supply edited by Engineers Australia and Engineering Heritage Australia (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Engineers Australia, 2017), 536 pp. Details