The "Great Dry" Drags On

By Pico Iyer

The worst drought in memory drains half a continent

An eerie stillness haunts the desolate plains of eastern Australia. Plows rest immobile in their sheds; paddocks remain withered and empty. For day after enervating day, nothing relieves the silence but the whine of hot, fierce winds whirling precious topsoil into dust clouds and the occasional squawks of crows wheeling above the carcasses of livestock.

The entire eastern half of Australia is thirsting through a wasting drought that is in many regions the worst in the history of the world's most arid continent. Already, the "Great Dry" has devastated 90% of New South Wales, which is now in its 45th month of drought, and 95% of the state of South Australia, Dubbo, a typical rural town, averages 25.5 in. of annual rainfall. Last year it had 2.3 in. In many areas seeds cannot germinate; in others the regal Murrumbidgee River is nothing but a stagnant puddle. Dust storms have enveloped Melbourne and, five weeks ago, bushfires raged over the arid ground of southeastern Australia, claiming a record 72 lives.

New Prune Minister Bob Hawke, who inherited a multitude of economic woes upon taking office earlier this month, has so far offered no solutions except for a $435,000 short-term trial of cloud seeding. Yet the drought's consequences are seeping into every pore of his nation's welfare. Some areas are suffering 40% unemployment. One estimate predicts that the total loss to the nation may amount to $7.5 billion. Australia, which relies on agriculture for half its export earnings, may also find it difficult to regain the markets it is steadily losing. Lamented the national daily, the Australian: "The drought is not just a rural catastrophe, it is a national disaster."

The most helpless casualties are 87 million sheep and 14 million cattle that have been left high and dry on 74,000 ravaged farms. Some farmers are selling $20 sheep for as little as 10-c-. Others, trying to keep their stock, are buying hay at five times the regular price. Ranchers in southwest Queensland have sent some 350,000 sheep to healthier pastures in the north; in Victoria and South Australia, hardened farmers with tears in their eyes have shot more than 100,000 aging animals they had bred for years. Sums up Cattleman Geoff McLeod: "We have got the backside out of our trousers."

Many farmers are economically shattered or simply unemployed. The estimated average annual income of working members of farming families is expected to plummet from $10,500 last year to $2,000. Ranchers' problems are in turn spilling over to related businesses. Austin Ryan, who sells rural machinery in Warracknabeal, Victoria, has cut his staff from 28 to three. Kevin Webb of Leeton, New South Wales, who is accustomed to selling up to 320 bins of wheat a season, has sold only four this year. Small outposts, which have no source of revenue outside of farming, may vanish altogether.

Nor have urban residents been spared. In Melbourne, some 24,000 homes have already been damaged, largely because of soil shrinkage under concrete foundations. The average repair bill: $3,000. Like 80 cities in the state of Victoria, Melbourne has been imploring its 2.8 million inhabitants to conserve water however possible and ordering them to hose their gardens for only two hours a day, three days a week. "Waterholics" who break the law face fines of up to $870. Most Australians are responding gamely to the crisis. Citizens in Sydney have sent lawn clippings to inland sheep farmers. Victoria's state electricity commission opened up land around its power stations for 7,500 starving sheep. The Crystal Industries iceworks of Bendigo has been collecting frost from its cooling rooms to water local trees. But the hardship is inevitably kindling resentment. Many people, for example, believe that the banks are exploiting suddenly impoverished farmers by forcing expensive financing upon them. To that, one banker indignantly replies that the bulk of his bank's lending has gone to primary producers.

Rainfall alone will not solve all the nation's problems. Some farmers expect that it may take seven years to recover entirely from the drought. They must now not only take precautions against future droughts, but also plow deep furrows to contain erosion. More generally, the government, which has spent $350 million for drought relief during the current fiscal year, has pledged to spend $620 million over the next five years to expand the country's water-storage and distribution systems.

In the meantime, a rainless continent bakes. Preachers have led prayers for rain, and 400 Transcendental Meditators have concentrated their thoughts upon reversing the dry spell. To little avail. Says Jack Hallam, New South Wales minister of agriculture: "I keep wondering just how bad it will get and how people will cope." Summer has now passed into autumn, but still each day the scorching sun beats down.

--By Pico Iyer.

Reported by John Dunn/Melbourne

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