Note Footnote a: — Chapter V

It must be frankly conceded that the occupation by flocks and herds nearly forty years ago of what was then known as the Barcoo and Thomson country was venturesome to the point of recklessness. Except in the sandy beds of these rivers there was practically no surface water of a permanent nature; and the average rainfall was so inadequate, not to mention its capriciousness, and the ground in many places so porous, that any attempt to provide artificial water by the construction of dams or tanks seemed almost tempting Providence. Yet there arose a persistent belief, afterwards more than justified, that underneath the arid surface was flowing water in great abundance. The rainfall, however copious in exceptional seasons, certainly did not reach the sea, and the hypothesis that great subterranean rivers would disclose themselves to a systematic search attracted much notice. In the dry year of 1883 the necessity of an improved water supply if the country was not to be denuded of stock forced itself upon the attention of our leading public men. The Premier, the late Sir Thomas McIlwraith, decided to constitute a Government Hydraulic Department with a competent engineer at its head. There had previously been so-called hydraulic engineers, but their work was chiefly confined to the water supply of a few towns and of the more settled districts on the coast. But Sir Thomas McIlwraith, as a runholder in the Far West, realised that nothing but heroic efforts, assisted by the Government, would save the country from desertion, with appalling loss to its adventurous occupiers and their flocks and herds. Mr. J. Baillie Henderson was at the time in the Queensland public service, and the Premier knew that he had served with distinction as an engineer in the Water Supply Department of Victoria. That gentleman was therefore selected to organise a Water Supply Department in Queensland, and on 1st February, 1883, he was gazetted Hydraulic Engineer, an appointment which he has ever since held with credit to himself and advantage to the country.a