Ignoring the signals: Irrigation salinity in New South Wales, Australia

From antiquity the problems of salinisation appeared with the introduction of irrigation in the Mediterranean basin. Times of abundant harvests were followed by periods of declining yields due to sterilisation of the soils. In the nineteenth century, British India and the United States of America had to face similar problems. The experiences in these two countries provided understanding of the problems of salinisation of irrigated soils. In south-eastern Australia salinisation occurred shortly after the Mildura irrigation settlement was established in Victoria in 1887. By 1906 the New South Wales government began plans for Australia's first intensive irrigation development: the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Scheme. In this paper I examine how the historical signals from overseas and Victoria were ignored, and how rising water tables, waterlogging and salinity followed the development.