The Australian June 7 – 8, 2008 p.28
Dry future well ahead of schedule
For the past decade, the autumn rains that heralded the grain planting season and produced winter pasture have failed in south-eastern Australia. This year was no exception: the last month was the driest May on record for Australia as a whole, while autumn 2008 was the eighth driest on record. For the Murray Darling Basin it was the fourth driest autumn on record, with a basin-wide average of just 40 mm of rain, well below the long term average of 128 mm. Autumn inflows into the Murray River were just 200 gigalitres or billion litres, the same as last autumn's record-setting low.
The head of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, Wendy Craik, warns "there is really no improvement in sight".
Read the rest of this entry »
Drying basin
June 30th, 2008Peter Wray Cullen
March 17th, 200828 May 1943 – 13 March 2008
(See also an earlier article by Åsa Wahlquist: Man with a plan).
After the news of Peter Cullen's final illness was made public on Tuesday March 11, Wentworth Group director Peter Cosier, said their phones rang off the hook. The day after Professor Cullen's death was announced, their website temporarily crashed.
Mr Cosier said the callers came from all walks of life: scientists, irrigators, conservationists, politicians, former students and people who have heard about him, read him or seen him on television. "It just tells me how wide a group he has touched," Cosier said. "His contribution to water reform was unparalleled".
Zac’s blog 4
May 28th, 2007Clancy has asked me to write about our best friend Hamish.
Hamish used to work at a puppy farm, before he was rescued and went to live with Åsa’s friend Annie. We like Hamish because he has, to quote Clancy, no tickets on himself. We like it when he comes to visit with us. I especially like going on walks with him. He is a big dog, and between Hamish and Clancy I feel very safe.
Read the rest of this entry »
Water hogs leave Darling high and dry downstream
May 17th, 2007Published in The Australian April 28-29, 2007
Thanks to the drought and too much water being taken upstream, a once great river has been reduced to use as a cricket pitch.
Living with less rain
May 17th, 2007Published in The Australian, December 30, 2006
Much of Australia has been in and out of drought for the past several years, or continuously lacking rain.
Once it’s wet, they’ll leave
May 17th, 2007Published in The Weekend Australian July 8, 2006
Åsa Wahlquist goes to the heart of the worsening drought that is afflicting all mainland states.
Catch it if you can
May 17th, 2007Published in The Australian April 29, 2005
A long dry has sent water authorities back to the drawing board, but the figures they're using to estimate future dam levels may be flawed.
The Australian 40 Years: The Land
May 17th, 2007Published in The Australian July 29, 2004
In 40 years Australian farming has been turned on its head. At the heart of the change is a more hard-headed appreciation of the wide brown land. Rural writer Åsa Wahlquist examines the lessons learned.
Man with a plan
May 17th, 2007Published in The Weekend Australian Magazine, May 31- June 1 2003
Not only can environmental scientist Peter Cullen demystify phenomena such as salinity and drought, he has workable solutions – and the ear of the Prime Minister.
The forensic fireman
May 17th, 2007Published in The Weekend Australian Magazine March 22-23 2003
Phil Cheney has spent his working life analysing bushfires. Despite the lessons of history, he says Australians still don't understand the nature of fire.