Echuca

The engineering giant that helped build Queensland

30 May 2025 / 5 Comments

Nations are not built by those who sit down and ask for doles or alms, but by the daring and the bold. They are not built by the timid, but by the dauntless and adventurous.

R. S. Maynard

Maryborough was truly an essential industrial city in Queensland’s early history. It served as a pivotal distribution centre that supported three major industries: agriculture, manufacturing, and timber.

Fabricated myths and politics are causing the mismanagement of water in the Murray-Darling Basin

1 October 2021 / 4 Comments

“It doesn’t matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true.“^[1]

Before I started our travels, I recall hearing and reading stories about the parlous state of the Murray River and its basin. These calls are always louder when there is a drought.^[2]On our trip, I have spent a lot of time on the Murray, the Lachlan and Edward Rivers, as well as in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation area.… Read more

Fabricated myths and politics are causing the mismanagement of water in the Murray-Darling Basin Read More »

The 1886 embezzlement scandal, and the disappearance of Robert Alston Murray

20 September 2020 / 5 Comments

The story below is peripheral to the main themes in ‘Fires, Farms and Forests’ and is not covered in the book. However, I want to share with you this remarkable incident that occurred in 1886.

James William Norton Smith features prominently in my book, particularly in Chapters 2-6. He was born in England in 1846, and after receiving an education in agriculture, he managed a sheep farm in New Zealand.