There was a scheme toreverse the flow of the Tully river , To irrigate huge areas of inland Qld. It was called the Bradfield scheme.He also designed the Sydney harbor bridge. Tallented fellow. Bill
So what happened to the scheme? The Harbour Bridge was lucky to be built as well. If it hadn't been for the dogged determination of premier Jack Lang, it probably wouldn't have seen the light of day. I remember the story of the federal government planning to freeze the NSW treasury's bank account but Lang and his mates got wind of the scheme and drove down to the bank first thing in the morning, withdrew all the cash and took it back to parliament house where they stashed it in safes. All public servant's wages were paid in cash plus other regular expenses, including wages for the Harbour Bridge workers. Hehe. And there wasn't a thing the feds could do about it.
Bob Katter tried to resurrect the scheme in the early 90's when I was OIC at the Mt Isa Met office - he put a full submission to parliament but it never got off the ground. Somewhere in my library I've got a copy of his submission which certainly made sense. Bob Katter is visionary and consequently only gets laughed at.