Heavy Rains Fall in Vast Area of Central Australia

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 95, 8 May 1937, Page 16

Heavy Rains Fall in Vast Area of Central Australia

ADELAIDE."— Bains wbicb in some respects bave been dnprecedented, Have trnns'f ormed c.onditions ' xn central ;Australia where drougbt ba;d,affected a c.onsiderabie. area., Hardly.a.disfrict in. tbe. wbole .of soutb .Apstralia.basl be"en missed in ' tbe • recent . wide-spread dowufall of moisture. - • '• ; ~ - Tbe borders' of Soutb ■ Au'striaiia's -expanse of. 243,244,800 actes toueh' foiir states, and its'inost bbftbern-'boubdary is tbe NortbernjTemtory. ' iVtore fban. 12 per cen'tl df tbe, tbtal' area is' pastoral country ' ,wbicH bas some" of , tbe^ddest patebes iu tbe world. ® ! In some places, thp rains in tbese isolqted \distriets,. , considferably. more tban, .1800 xnileslf roxp tbe .Capital, .were. tbe. best .for . 16vyearsl in. many. places, for 20 years an.-.otbers,'. and even longerat some far'away. cen.terS.1 » «. 1. • • . ; Tbqr.e were aboriginal- children . ia Adelaide . at : tbe time' dqwn , f or a :boliday froxn a* central- Abstralian missibn stati'on, krbo' bad never' seen fain. Heavy showers ;feli in tbe "city wben tbey' were at J tbeir - se'asi'de * camp* abd in wonder asked wbat' was ba^pening.' *" In tbe. einpty, dry country far nortb of .Adelaide tbe, quantity ' of rain wbicb f ell.was.equa.i to; a.normai suppy. of two and tbree years. : It • was . tben tbat. a. .tribal. king in a camp of aborginals" near Tennant creek sbowed sympatbetic consideration by. placing at tbe- disposal : of the police officers in cbarge; o'f tbe local station two fast runners wbo carried pr'ovisions to tbe marooned people. '