Bradfield Scheme
The Bradfield Scheme, a proposed Australian water diversion scheme, is an inland irrigation project that was designed to irrigate and drought-proof much of the western Queensland interior, as well as large areas of South Australia. It was devised by Dr John Bradfield (1867–1943), a Queensland born civil engineer, who also designed the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Brisbane's Story Bridge.
| Bradfield Scheme | |
|---|---|
Bradfield Scheme irrigation area | |
| Purpose | Irrigate agricultural land in western Queensland, Australia |
| Proposed | 1938 |
| Abandoned | 1947 |
| Proponents |
|
| Opponents | W. H. R. Nimmo |
The scheme that Bradfield proposed in 1938 required large pipes, tunnels, pumps and dams. It involved diverting water from the upper reaches of the Tully, Herbert and Burdekin rivers. These Queensland rivers are fed by the monsoon, and flow east to the Coral Sea. It was proposed that the water would enter the Thomson River on the western side of the Great Dividing Range and eventually flow south west to Lake Eyre. An alternative plan was to divert water into the Flinders River.
G. W. Leeper of the school of agricultural science at the University of Melbourne considered the plan to be lacking in scientific justification.
In 1981, a Queensland NPA subcommittee proposed variation of the scheme.