The decade to 1931 had only produced two years where in excess of 600,000 bags of wheat had been harvested – and the last three harvests of the decade had struggled to achieve somewhere between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of that mark.
This
was all to change, with a boom harvest eventuating in the middle of the Great
Depression. It all came about in despite
of the predictions, rather than in fulfillment of better days being ahead.
The opening of 1931 planting season brought gloomy tidings
once more, thanks to the Sydney Morning
Herald. Under the heading, Wheat at Dubbo: Much Inferior Grain, the paper stated:
The recent rains have badly bleached the wheat,
adding to the damage wrought by rust. Most farmers have harvested their best
grain, and are now gathering the wheat which has been pinched by rust, which is
mostly under f.a.q. (fair to average quality - ed).
The rains will reduce the average acre yield, as
some crops will not now be stripped which otherwise would have been harvested
even if the grain was inferior. Feed is plentiful in spite of the grasshoppers.
Seasonally the prospects are fair, but financially the prospects are not
bright, as the returns will not pay the costs of production.
In the Dubbo silo 15,000 bushels of f.a.q. wheat
were stored. It was then cleared and sent to the terminal elevators. The silo
is now being filled with non-milling wheat, weighing from 59lb down to 56lb to
the bushel.
District mills are not operating on the market, but
are waiting the decision of the Federal Government and the Commonwealth Bank.
No public effort is made to store inferior wheat, some being stored on farms
for stock feed when dry conditions return. Unless some financial assistance is
given much Inferior wheat will not be stripped. Growers are appealing for assistance
by way of a guarantee.
The district silos show much greater returns than
Dubbo itself. Eumungerie has received over 150,000 bushels, Gilgandra fully
200,000, and Talbragar over 60,000. It is estimated that the Dubbo police
patrol district will yield over 37,000 bushels.
By late September 1931the Sydney
Morning Herald was reporting an improved situation, though the wheat
producing areas along the Coonamble line were lagging other western areas
around Parkes. The newspaper’s reports from the relevant senior agricultural
inspectors showed the difference:
In a report on crop conditions in that portion of
the western district of which Parkes is the centre, Mr. Harold Bartlett, senior
agricultural inspector, mentions that very opportune rains were registered last
Saturday, and although the falls were somewhat light, varying from 40 to 85
points, the steady, calm conditions before and after the disturbance gave every
point its full crop value. The early
sown and forward crops have every prospect of satisfactory grain development,
but the later sown paddocks, of which the area is not great, require easy
conditions until further rain...
In the opinion of Mr. B M Arthur, the senior
agricultural inspector for the Dubbo district, the average yield there will
probably not exceed 10 to 12 bushels per acre, and as the area under wheat does
not exceed 50 per cent, of last season's total, the yield of grain for this portion
of the western district will not be large in the aggregate.
September again proved comparatively dry and a good
soaking rain of about an inch would have been extremely beneficial during the
month. Only two light falls, ranging from 20 to 60 points, were registered on
the 9th and 26th instant respectively over most of the district.
The first rainfall was of a cyclonic nature and was
accompanied by hail in several localities. In the Gilgandra district a large
amount of damage was reported through a strip of country several miles wide,
where terrific hail and wind chopped many farmers' crops to pieces and
absolutely ruined the season's prospects. The actual extent of the damage is
not known at present; however, damage was done round Eumungerie, Curban, and
other localities.
These small falls, though useful, have not been
sufficient for the general requirements of the cropped area. Wheat planted
after the cessation of the winter rains has not made much growth, and is not
now likely to return a payable yield, as the required timely assistance has
been too long delayed. Many crops are now well out in ear and some of the
early-sown areas were seriously damaged by frosts. Others seen are filling
their grain well, look healthy, and promise fair to good yields.
Within the month stem rust has been, noticed in
some crops of susceptible varieties, mainly on the flag. Flag smut is also
fairly prevalent in susceptible varieties, but as a large area of Nabawa has
been sown losses due to this disease may not be severe.
Fallowing has been continued during the month in
every direction, and Mr. Arthur considers that the total area now ploughed
exceeds any previously carried out in the district.
Good October weather and rains brought the crop forward very
nicely. It meant that with greater
optimism the Herald could report on 10
November 1931 that ‘six new silos (are) to be opened’ as part of the move to
bulk handling of wheat. Along with this
move came a plethora of stern admonishments to growers, faithfully reproduced
by the newspaper, about gaming the system.
Arrangements have now been completed in regard to
the opening of the wheat silos during the coming harvest the wheat commissioner
and manager of the grain elevators (Mr Harris) said yesterday that old season's
wheat still remained in two of the country elevators, but the wheat in them had
all been purchased by millers and delivery would be completed within the next
few days. The balance of the 1930-31 wheat was carried in the terminal elevator.
The first elevators to be opened were at Curban and
Gilgandra, which commenced receiving wheat yesterday, followed next Monday by
Eumungerie.
Mr Harris advises farmers not to rush harvesting
operations as green wheat will not be received into the elevators, and
therefore no advantage will be gained by harvesting the wheat too early. Wheat
should also be delivered in a clean condition in order that the standard of
export wheat may be maintained
Growers are particularly warned against attempting
to mix any old wheat with their deliveries of new wheat, as this will only
necessitate the rejection of the whole parcel On no account will old wheat be
accepted into the silos amongst new wheat, on account of its tendency to weevil
thus endangering the safety of the whole contents of the bin.
Furthermore, under the Wheat Bounty Act growers
will be called upon to lodge claims for the Commonwealth bounty of 4½ per
bushel on this season's wheat, and any attempt to include old grain will make
the claimant liable to a heavy fine.
Growers should also note that under the Federal
Bounty Act it is only to the elevators that delivery of wheat can be made in
the grower's own name, either for sale, or for storage pending sale, without
the employment of an agent in all other cases, delivery has to be made to a
flour miller, wheat merchant, or co-operative organisation.
Mr Harris added that an extraordinary demand had
been made for bulk trucks for loading at non-silo stations. Applications for these trucks should be made
to the nearest Stationmaster, stating the date trucks were required for.
Appearances pointed to a larger percentage of wheat
being delivered in bulk this season than in any previous year.
At the start of the 1932 year the harvest was in full swing
and the shortcomings of government and the railways were in full view of
farmers and newspapermen. On 6 January
1932 the Sydney Morning Herald reported under the byline of ‘Congestion
at the Silos’ that there had been a huge increase in deliveries. The size of the harvest was such that the
Minister for Agriculture showed little collegiate sympathy for his ministerial
colleague, the Minister for Railways, and his department generally.
The Minister for Agriculture stated yesterday that
he was somewhat concerned at some very incorrect and misleading statements
which had recently been made in regard to the wheat silos.
One allegation to the effect that when all the
silos were filled farmers were advised by the Department of Agriculture to make
bulk deliveries to sidings where there are no silos was absolutely incorrect.
On the face of it, it was not only untrue but foolish. It should have been evident that if the
department was unable to remove wheat from the silo stations it would be
equally unable to remove it from the non silo stations.
Mr Dunn declared that it was the function of the Railway
Department to provide sufficient suitable trucks for the removal of the harvest.
It had been stated that the Department
of Agriculture had refused to pay £3 each for the conversion of ordinary trucks
into bulk wheat trucks. This was quite
correct and he was astonished at such a request being made by the railways. His own department had no funds available to
spend on railway rolling stock nor was it the function, of his department to
make such provision. That was the duty
of the railways which must stand up to their responsibilities.
The Department of Agriculture received only a penny
a bushel for wheat delivered from non silo stations and could therefore, hardly
afford to pay £3 per truck- holding about 600 bushels when such converted truck
might only make one trip during the remainder of the season.
So, the Department of Railways once again was being held responsible for the lack of foresight, at a time when no-one else had shown similar talents either – and certainly not senior members of the Department of Agriculture!
Moving to make it abundantly clear that the move to bulk wheat handling was not the cause of the delays at silos, Minister Dunn proceeded to declare that the farmers’ take-up of bulk wheat handling was the issue.
The Minister declared that the silo system, had
shown wonderful results in efficient working during the extraordinary demand
made upon it during the last few weeks.
Two years ago the department was appealing to
farmers to handle their wheat in bulk and at many stations where there were
silos only about 50 per cent of the deliveries were made to them this year
without any notification to the department of their change of intention wheat growers
not only at the silo stations but at other stations were carting all their
wheat to the silos and were expecting the system to receive an indefinite
quantity of grain without the slightest congestion.
Minister Dunn had a fair point. He noted that prior to the current harvest the second heaviest harvest on record was 13 322 000 bushels. By 31 December 1931 the Government’s silos received 19 754 000 bushels - 50 per cent more than previous. Interestingly, he noted that Eumungerie had recorded one of the largest increases – to 267,000 bushels.
Minister Dunn also reasonably observed that the receiving capacity of the country silos was governed by the ability of the Railway Department to remove the surplus wheat. To conclude the expansive interview, Minister Dunn added that a statement that wheat rotting at silos was absolutely untruthful and was likely to ‘injure the reputation of this country abroad’!
Minister Dunn was proven correct, ultimately. At nearly 602,000 bags, the 1931/32 harvest was the third largest on record for the Coonamble region. Yes, the wheat entered a world market where prices were depressed and unlikely to provide a great return. But the harvest showed the capacity of the area to produce quality harvests after a number of lean years.
Eumungerie itself provided nearly one-third of the volume, with 185,600 bags of wheat (or equivalent volumes of bulk wheat) being dispatched. Notably for the first time in a number of years the north of the line – Curban, Armatree, Gular and Coonamble itself – produced another third of the line’s harvest, so it was no longer just a Eumungerie/Gilgandra effort.
