When was mildura settled

However, by the s, drought had reduced the sheep-carrying capacity of the area, with neglect leading to rabbit invasions. As land fell into ruin, reformers agitated for closer-settlement farmlands. In , the Victorian government held a royal commission on irrigation, led by future Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, then a minister in the state government.

In , Deakin led a investigation party to visit recently-irrigated areas of California, where he met George and William Chaffey. The Chaffey brothers, from Ontario, Canada, had pioneered irrigation schemes that had established the model towns of Editwanda and Ontario, near Riverside in Southern California. The Chaffeys bought land and water rights for a large area at a low price, then sold them to settlers at a lower price, with a mutual irrigation company to distribute water on a not-for-profit basis.

The meeting between Deakin and the Chaffeys was successful, and the Chaffeys made the rash decision to sell up their interests in California. The government made an agreement with the Chaffeys, tendering , acres of crown land at Mildura to the brothers, subject to their creating an irrigated and developed settlement over the next 20 years. An extensive advertising campaign begun, and by , over 3, settlers most of them British had moved to Mildura.

The early settlement of Mildura was beset with scandal. Deakin had not prepared the Chaffeys, used to the entrepreneurial capitalist culture of California, for the cultural differences they would encounter in Victoria. The development soon struck disaster. Bad weather in Mildura saw rivers rise, causing yabby-damage to irrigation channels and salt seepage. Combined with the return of the rabbit plague, the problems led to the abandonment of many land plots.

An commission into the troubles in Mildura — in which the Chaffeys and Deakin were interrogated — concluded that the Chaffeys had acted on insufficient capital and committed serious errors in planning.

George Chaffey returned to the United States that year, where he played an important role in the suburban development of Los Angeles. William decided to stick it through, and established a permanent home in Mildura. Despite the rocky start, the new town continued to grow through the early 20th centuries. Social institutes were established, and Mildura like the American settlements was an officially dry town until , a rarity in colonial Australia.

Social life centred on the Coffee Palace, which only gained a liquor license in Wide streets were laid out, planted liberally with street trees. Like an American town, the streets running east-west were given numerical names from 1st street on , while the avenues running north-south were given American names Ontario Avenue, San Mateo Avenue.

The irrigation of the area allowed Mildura to become a major producer of dried fruit in the s. During the influenza pandemic of , jingles claimed that eating dried fruit could cure disease:. In , De Garis found a worthy rival in the journalist-turned-swindler Grant Harvey. Posing as an American named Hervey G. De Garis used his ownership of the local newspaper, the Sunraysia Daily, to expose Harvey as a fraud.

In revenge, Harvey reappeared in Mildura in , claiming that De Garis was on the verge of bankruptcy. In the post-war era, with the growth of car ownership, Mildura became a major centre of motor tourism, drawing visitors from Melbourne with its year-round sunny and warm weather. The centre of Mildura has a number of interesting architectural sites, grouped together as two major historic trails.

The Chaffey Trail guide allows visitors to trace the history of the early irrigation settlement though a walking tour of places associated with the brothers. Highlights include the recreated Old Mildura Station Homestead, the pastoral station built by brothers Hugh and Bushby Jamieson around Chaffey was so inspired by the homestead garden on his tour of Victoria that he selected Mildura as the location of his proposed irrigation colony.

The railway line was extended westwards to Yelta in Massive irrigation works from the late s were the basis of a vast fruit industry, including drying and preserving. In there was a change of ownership to Alexander McEdward, who in was forced to sell due to the severe drought and rabbit plague of the s. The potential of the region was seen by two young Canadian irrigation engineers, the Chaffey brothers, and a brilliant young politician called Alfred Deakin.

Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Popular articles Why was Mildura settled? When shepherds, many of whom were Chinese, arrived in the area in the s they called the lunette the Walls of China. Today that Lake Mungo remains unchanged. It is little more than a flat, barren bed of a long-departed lake and some heavily weathered sand dunes rising on the eastern horizon.

Lake Mungo's claims are threefold. It has "one of the longest continual records of Aboriginal life in Australia" having been occupied for over 50, years.

The skeletons found in the sands of the lunette are the "oldest known fully modern humans outside Africa" and, most importantly, the skeleton of Mungo Woman or Mungo I as she is officially known , which has been radiocarbon dated to around 26, years ago, "has provided the oldest evidence of ritual cremation in the world.

In her book Archaeology of the Dreamtime noted anthropologist, Josephine Flood, has written of the discovery: "It is interesting that it is a woman who was cremated.

Although no conclusions can be drawn from a sample of one, it at least shows that 26, years ago women were considered worthy of complex burial rites. What emotions inspired those rites — love, fear, or religious awe — we will never know, but all show a concern for the deceased which is the essence of humanity. In a way, all you can do at Lake Mungo is gaze across the dry lake bed, walk up the dramatic and unusual lunette, and silently contemplate the idea that once, tens of thousands of years ago, at this lonely, haunted place, Aborigines painted themselves with ochre, ate fish and mussels from the lake, buried and cremated their dead, cooked meat in simple hearths and ovens, sewed skins to make cloaks and shaped bones and stones into tools and weapons.

If you want to glimpse what life was like for Aborigines when our European ancestors were still living in caves then Lake Mungo is a genuinely unforgettable experience.

Mungo National Park lies km north-east of Mildura. The roads are predominantly good quality dirt which means they can become impassable after rain.

The tour, which lasts approximately eight hours, picks up visitors in Mildura and takes around minutes to drive from Mildura to Lake Mungo. Clarke knows where fragments of bones, pieces of rock sharpened for cutting and old fireplaces can be found and, as such, offers an opportunity to see remnants of the life that was lived on the lunette over 25, years ago.

During school holidays representatives of the Paakantji, Ngyiampaa and Mutthi Mutthi tribal groups are employed as Discovery Rangers. They offer three walking tours — a foreshore walk which starts at All tours last two hours.

Tickets can be purchased the Mungo Information Centre which is open 30 minutes prior to the tour. It lists 39 places of interest around the lake but these tend to be places more connected with recent European occupation wells, tanks, rabbit proof fences, old woolsheds than directions to see ancient Aboriginal artefacts. There is also evidence of the Paakantji, Ngyiampaa and Mutthi Mutthi tribal groups living in the area and their presence has been dated to 40, years ago.

He reached Lake Alexandrina in February, Significantly they also planted some grape vines. The Jamiesons sold the property in He was responding to a drought which had devastated Victoria from Deakin believed the Chaffey's model may be a solution to irrigating the Mallee which, at the time, had agricultural potential but low rainfall.

The Chaffeys were convinced by Deakin. The Chaffeys planned Mildura like a town in California. The streets running east-west were given numerical names First to Twenty-first Streets and avenues which ran north-south were given North American names San Mateo, Ontario. The town's main thoroughfare Deakin Avenue is reputedly the longest straight avenue in the country. They did not stop at street names. There was a plan to run trams through the town which meant the streets were designed to be particularly wide and the central median strip was enhanced with a band rotunda, a fountain, gum and palm trees all of which were planted by William Chaffey.

This was despite the fact that the nearest railway was km away. The Chaffey brothers imported two enormous engines for the pumping stations and water was raised from the Murray to irrigate the fields. So successful was the project that by the first fruits were being transported to the markets in Melbourne. Problems with transportation resulted in the rapid development of a dried fruit industry and its proximity to the Murray River meant the town quickly became an important river port.

It wasn't until that the first hotel, the Grand Hotel, was opened for business. George Chaffey returned to the USA while his brother, William, remained and went on to establish a winery at Irymple in and become the town's first mayor in This was led by a larger-than-life local businessman C.

De Garis who ran a public competition which led to the term 'sun-raysed' being applied to Mildura sultanas and raisins.

So successful was the campaign that pamphlets, recipe books, children's books, cartoons, music the 'Sun-Raysed Waltz' , screenings of a film about Mildura in capital cities, a local newspaper named the Sunraysia Daily and even a Sunraysia Cafe in Melbourne staffed by young women from Mildura who were 'raised on Sunraysia raisins', were all used to promote the local products.