Soon after I left school and started working on the farm at home Dad decided to establish some irrigation on the property we had at Keith. It’s not always as simple as just putting down a bore hole and having the water at hand. Here’s our story.
Drilling in progress by B B Buckley (scanned from a slide)
The bore was drilled by B B Buckley. He had poor eye-sight but when mud splashed on his glasses he simply wiped across the lens with his finger like it was a windscreen wiper! How he was able to continue without doing more than that I’m not sure, but he got the job done.
Drilling taking place by B B Buckley (scanned from a slide)
The site had been divined by our neighbour, but wasn’t really that far from the original bore put down by the AMP Society as the ‘house’ bore during land clearing in the early 1950’s. During the AMP Society’s Land Development Scheme in the late 1940’s and 1950’s, sufficient stock bores and a ‘house bore’ were put in on what would become each property. The stock bores in the area where we lived at the time were around 45 to 50 feet deep giving sufficient quality and quantity of water for stock. The ‘house bore’, placed close to where the likely house site would be, was deeper, around 60 odd feet deep. This gave a better quality and better quantity of water for the house site.
Drilling complete. Early stages of development (scanned from a slide)
Initially the volume of water from our irrigation bore was not great. We could barely keep this 4″ x 3″ irrigation pump primed, but as we developed the bore the volume gradually increased. It took several days to build the volume up to even having 1,000 gallons an hour, pumping sandy water for 3 or 4 hours each morning. The water was in a sand bearing layer and we had to pump enough sand out with the water to give a clear cavity underneath for the water to come into so that we could then pump the volume we needed.
Development well on the way (scanned from a slide)
Over several weeks of almost daily pumping we eventually developed the bore to the point where we could maintain around 12,000 gallons an hour without pumping much sand. Once this was achieved we set about putting in a ‘Nash’ irrigation system.
The ‘Nash’ irrigator in action (scanned from a slide)
This was the first type of ‘pivot’ irrigation in the area, and was designed by Mr Ted Nash of Keith. His ‘pivot irrigator’ had a 6 foot steel wheel about three quarters the way along from the centre point. The water going through the last three sprinklers went through a centrifugal pump backwards. The power from this was used to drive a pump-jack with off centre arms that then pushed the wheel along. On later models a water powered hydraulic cylinder was used.
Each circle covered 5.5 acres. The whole unit took the best part of two days to complete a circle. The large steel wheel was then raised and the unit towed to the next centre point. With seven pivot centres to move to we finished up with 40 acres of irrigation.
David
About David
*Not often do I encounter a weblog that is both educated and entertaining, and let me tell you, you may have hit the nail on the head. Your concept is excellent; the issue is something that not sufficient individuals are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy that I stumbled across this in my quest for something relating to this.
Outstandіng story theгe. What happened after? Good luck!
We used the irrigation each season for the following 10 years, before selling the property .
This very blog is really educating and besides factual. I have discovered many useful things out of this amazing blog. I’d love to come back every once in a while. Thanks!
Thanks for coming by.
This blog is no doubt cool and also diverting. I have picked helluva interesting advices out of this blog. I’d love to visit it again and again. Thanks a bunch!
Thanks for your comment Seo.
*Good job on this article! I really like how you presented your facts and how you made it interesting and easy to understand. Thank you.
Thanks Dana.
Thanks for your article. Another item is that being a photographer includes not only problems in catching award-winning photographs but hardships in acquiring the best photographic camera suited to your needs and most especially issues in maintaining the grade of your camera. This is certainly very true and visible for those photographers that are in to capturing the particular nature’s captivating scenes – the mountains, the actual forests, the particular wild or seas. Visiting these exciting places undoubtedly requires a digital camera that can meet the wild’s unpleasant environments.
Thanks for your comments Suzi. A good camera is not always needed although it does help in some circumstances. Plenty of practice, getting to know the camera you are using, and experience goes a long way too.