Once again we woke to a delightful day and set ourselves for a self drive Cotton Tour around St George.
As mentioned yesterday, water is key for cotton but as we observed in passing, so is flat land, and St George has that in spades. Plenty of warmth during the summer growing season is needed too, and it does get warm out here. It is about 28 degrees today and it is not summer yet.
Our first point of call was the Jack Taylor Weir. It is on the edge of St George town and banks up the Balonne River to provide a wide, long stretch of water with provision for boating, water sports, picnics, fishing and of course, water for the town. St George lays claim to being "The Inland Queensland Fishing Capital". Downstream from the weir was not very flash and looked quite dry. This is also the site of Major Thomas Mitchell's crossing of the Balonne River in 1846.
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| 041116 Andrew Nixon Bridge atop the Jack Taylor Weir |
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| 041116 Downstream of the Jack Taylor Weir |
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| 041116 Jack Taylor Weir |
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| 041116 Plaque at the Jack Taylor Weir |
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| 041116 Sir Thomas Mitchell plaque |
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| 041116 Sir Thomas Mitchell plaque |
The Jack Taylor Weir was the initial storage for the St George Irrigation Scheme and was built in 1953. The Beardmore Dam and its components were added 12 years later.
Next was the Beardmore Dam, 22km north of St George. Beardmore Dam and the Jack Taylor Weir hold back water for the St George irrigation system. From the Beardmore Dam, water is carried by the Thuraggi Diversion Channel to the broader irrigation area.
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| 041116 Beardmore Dam |
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| 041116 Lake Kajarabie behind the Beardmore Dam |
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| 041116 Thuraggi Diversion Channel at Beardmore Dam |
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| 041116 St George Irrigation Scheme |
Buckinbah Weir was next and it was close to the actual cotton farms. There is a pumping station on the weir.
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| 041116 Pumping station at Buckinbah Weir |
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| 041116 The lagoon at Buckinbah Weir |
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| 041116 The lagoon at Buckinbah Weir |
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| 041116 Plaque at Buckinbah Weir |
As we drove through the farms we passed several water storage dams which farmers use to capture rainfall and hold their water allocation delivered by the St George Irrigation Scheme. The water is siphoned from the channels on to the fields. Planting has recently started and there were some small cotton plants appearing in the fields.
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| 041116 A large irrigation channel in the cotton fields |
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| 041116 Irrigation of newly planted cotton plants |
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| 041116 On farm reservoir |
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| 041116 Siphon tubes from the channel |
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| 041116 Last season's cotton plant |
Cotton is harvested in March and April. Two types of cotton modules are produced - rectangle and round, the latter being a more recent innovation. The average rectangular cotton module weighs 8.6 tonnes and the round cotton modules 2.5 tonnes.
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| 041116 Rectangular cotton modules - photo of a photo |
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| 041116 Round cotton modules - a not too good photo of a photo |
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041116 Cotton in the raw
St George has a cotton gin. At the gin, the white, fluffy cotton lint is separated from the cotton seed and plant trash. Cotton seeds have a high protein content and are used in cattle feed. Oil is extracted from the seeds too. It is used in salad and cooking oils.
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| 041116 The St George cotton gin |
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| 041116 The plaque at the St George cotton gin |
We came across a farm which was harvesting red onions.
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| 041116 Red onions freshly picked with onion plants in the background |
We should not overlook the drive into St George. The jacarandas are in full bloom.
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| 041116 Jacaranda trees along the road into St George |
We had a great day today and a beautiful sunset last night.
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| 031116 Sunset at St George |
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