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Chaffey TrailPrint Page Print this page

12-September-2017
12-September-2017

Photographs supplied by Graeme Saunders

The Chaffey Trail was named in honour of Canadian brothers George and W.B. Chaffey. The Chaffey Trail provides an insight into the vision and spirit of the area's early settlers and the Murray Irrigation system.

William Benjamin Chaffey, CMG (1856 – 1926) was a Canadian engineer and irrigation planner who with his older brother George Chaffey developed what became the cities of Etiwanda, California, Ontario, California, and Upland, California in the United States of America, as well as the cities of Mildura, Victoria and the town of Renmark, South Australia, in Australia.

Alfred Deakin then a minister in the Victorian government and chairman of a royal commission on water supply, visited the irrigation areas of California in 1885 where he met George and William Chaffey. George Chaffey visited Victoria in February 1886 and excited by the prospects for irrigation in the Murray Valley, cabled William to sell their interests in California. After some discussions in the Victorian parliament, the Chaffey brothers commenced development on 101,170 hectares of land near Mildura. Disputes about the Chaffey's practices were discussed in the Victorian parliament. A collapse of the Melbourne land boom also contributed to problems faced by the Chaffeys. After a government report, the Mildura Irrigation Trust took over from the Mildura Irrigation Co. in September 1895.

On 10 December 1895, their Australian projects went bankrupt and George returned to the United States. William Benjamin Chaffey (known as W.B.) remained in Mildura, bringing his 81 hectare orchard into production and establing the Mildura (later Mildara) Winery Pty Ltd. Active from 1895 in the development of marketing procedures for local fruit, Chaffey was a leading member of both the Mildura and the Australian Dried Fruits associations, president of the latter for many years. William Chaffey was elected president of the Mildura Shire Council in 1903 and became mayor in 1920.

 

 

Location

Address:Hugh King Drive, Mildura, 3500
State:VIC
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -34.184496
Long: 142.171965
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Walkway
Monument Theme:Landscape
Sub-Theme:Settlement
Link:http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/adbonli…

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Sunday 15th October, 1995
Front Inscription

      CHAFFEY TRAIL
COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE

The vision for Sunraysia was shaped by the Chaffey Brothers in the 1880`s. The Chaffey Trail is a recognition of the birth of irrigated settlement in Australia and remains the focus and inspiration for Sunraysia in the future.

The Chaffey Trail honours the unique historical beginnings of the region.  It is a heritage experience which commemorates the fulfilment of the Chaffey vision for over forty years.  The pioneering traditions founded by the Chaffey brothers will continue to sustain the rich agricultural and horticultural industries into an ever expanding future.

The continued development of the Sunraysia region is testimony to the realisation of the Chaffey Brothers` vision.

The Chaffey Trail was declared open 15 October 1995 by
Chief Commissioner Hugh Delahunty,
Mildura Rural City Council.

Source: MA,ADB
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au