Bradfield Scheme

{{Short description|Proposed Australian water diversion project}} {{Use Australian English|date=July 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}} {{Infobox | name = Bradfield Scheme | titlestyle = | abovestyle = background-color:skyblue; | subheaderstyle = | title = | above = Bradfield Scheme

| headerstyle = | labelstyle = | datastyle = | header1 = | label1 = Purpose | data1 = Irrigate agricultural land in western Queensland, Australia | header2 = | label2 = Proposed | data2 = 1938 | header3 = | label3 = Abandoned | data3 = 1947 | header4 = | label4 = Proponents | data4 = {{unbulleted list|John Bradfield|Bob Katter|Peter Beattie}} | header5 = | label5 = Opponents | data5 = W. H. R. Nimmo | header6 = | label6 = | data6 = | header7 = | label7 = | data7 = | header8 = | label8 = | data8 = | header9 = | label9 = | data9 = | header10 = | label10 = | data10 = | belowstyle = | below = }}

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.<ref name="adb">{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|id2=bradfield-john-job-crew-5331|title=John Job Crew Bradfield (1867–1943)|last=Spearritt|first=Peter|date=1979|volume=7|access-date=18 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115131111/http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070391b.htm|archive-date=15 January 2010|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

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.<ref name="awr"/> 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.<ref name="oct1938">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38731715 |title=Augmenting Queensland's Inland Water Resources by J.J.C. Bradfield. |newspaper=The Courier-Mail |location=Brisbane |date=1 October 1938 |access-date=7 December 2010 |page=6 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

G. W. Leeper of the school of agricultural science at the University of Melbourne considered the plan to be lacking in scientific justification.<ref name="adb" />

In 1981, a Queensland NPA subcommittee proposed a variation of the scheme.<ref>[https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/TableOffice/TabledPapers/2007/5207T995.pdf The Revised Bradfield Scheme], November 1981</ref>

==Proposed benefits== thumb|left|Bradfield Scheme irrigation area The water was expected to provide irrigation for more than {{convert|3000|mi2}} of agricultural land in Queensland.<ref name="ibwt"/> The scheme had the ability to generate {{convert|370|MW}} of power and the potential to double that amount.<ref name="ibwt"/>

It is claimed that extra water and vegetation in the interior may then produce changes to the climate of Australia, however various studies have concluded that this is unlikely.<ref name="amm">{{cite journal |last=Hope |first=P |author2=N Nicholls |author3=JL McGregor |title=The rainfall response to permanent inland water in Australia |journal=Australian Meteorological Magazine |year=2004 |volume=53 |url=http://www.acohotselles.info/amm/docs/2004/hope_hres.pdf |access-date=2 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109065624/http://www.acohotselles.info/amm/docs/2004/hope_hres.pdf |archive-date=9 January 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> This may increase the rainfall in areas of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. Extra rainfall may drought-proof Eastern Queensland, and thereby improve river inflows to the Murray-Darling River system. It is claimed that a full Lake Eyre would moderate the air temperature in the region by the absorption of sunlight by the water instead of heat radiation from dry land into the air.

==Objections== Bradfield's scheme and others have been criticised because of the claim that they are not practical.<ref name="awr">{{cite book |title=Australia's Water Resources: From use to management |last=Pigram |first=John J. |year=2007 |publisher=CSIRO Publishing |location=Collingwood, Victoria |isbn=978-0-643-09442-0 |page=59 }}</ref> This scheme has been criticised because of the high capital and ongoing running costs which opponent believe would make the project uneconomical.<ref name="tnb">{{cite news |last=Horn |first=Allyson |date=1 November 2019 |title=The New Bradfield scheme proposes moving floodwaters from north to south, but its feasibility is in question |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-01/bradfield-scheme-is-moving-water-from-north-to-south-feasible/11662942 |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=17 October 2022}}</ref> Former Minister for Agriculture and Drought David Littleproud opposed the scheme saying it was outdated and discredited.<ref name="wrm">{{cite news |last=Hasham |first=Nicole |date=1 August 2019 |title=Water Resources Minister rebukes MPs pushing 'discredited' 1930s technology |url=https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/water-resources-minister-rebukes-mps-pushing-discredited-1930s-water-technology-20190801-p52cwe.html |work=Brisbane Times |access-date=22 November 2023}}</ref>

Elevation measurements were taken with a barometer, leading to inaccuracies in land heights and mistakes in the proposal.<ref name="ibwt">{{cite book |title=Inter-basin water transfer: case studies from Australia, United States, Canada, China, and India |last=Ghassemi |first=Fereidoun |author2=White, Ian |year=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |isbn=978-0-521-86969-0 |pages=125–129 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6EBM2a6R9igC |access-date=15 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012233717/http://books.google.com/books?id=6EBM2a6R9igC |archive-date=12 October 2013 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In most cases no flow record of the rivers were available to Bradfield. He used an empirical formula which assumed 33% of the water flow would be lost to evaporation and seepage. The estimated water available for the scheme was {{convert|114|m3/s}}.<ref name="ibwt"/>

In 1947, W.H.R. Nimmo conducted a critical review of the scheme.<ref name="ibwt"/> He proved that Bradfield's estimates of the amount of water available from the easterly flowing rivers were about two and half times greater than it actually was. The error was attributed to the methodology used to calculate flow estimates which was based on German rivers where the average temperature was much less than in northern Australia.<ref name="ibwt"/>

A 2022 CSIRO investigation found the scheme to be unviable due to a lack of reliable water.<ref name="qga">{{cite news |last=Toomey |first=Jade |date=9 December 2022 |title=Queensland government abandons Bradfield Scheme after review finds it completely unviable |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-09/queensland-government-abandons-bradfield-scheme-after-report/101751678 |work=ABC News |access-date=22 November 2023}}</ref>

==Support== {{missing information|section|what the many modernized plans entail; Hells Gates Dam project|date=June 2022}} The Bradfield Scheme has not received broad political support from any of the major Australian parties in recent times, but it has been pushed by individual politicians such as Bob Katter, who advocated the plan whilst he was a member of the Nationals for the state seat of Flinders during the 1980s, and continues to support it as an independent, representing the federal seat of Kennedy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025 |title=Bradfield Scheme |url=https://www.bobkatter.com.au/bradfield-scheme |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Bob Katter - Member for Kennedy |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=NORTH AT THE MERCY OF MOTHER NATURE WITHOUT BRADFIELD: KAP |url=https://kattersaustralianparty.org.au/media-release/north-at-the-mercy-of-mother-nature-without-bradfield-kap/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Katter's Australian Party |language=en-AU}}</ref> In February 2007, the then Queensland Premier Peter Beattie urged the Federal Government to look at a modern version, saying it is better to find more water than to cut back on current supplies. However, Beattie preferred desalination.<ref>{{cite news|date=19 February 2007|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-02-19/water-war-fears-over-resurrected-bradfield-scheme/2198028|title='Water war' fears over resurrected Bradfield scheme|work=ABC News|location=Australia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504190654/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-02-19/water-war-fears-over-resurrected-bradfield-scheme/2198028|archive-date=4 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In May 2019, former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and Pauline Hanson's One Nation party expressed support for the scheme.<ref>{{cite news|date=17 May 2019|title=Barnaby Joyce said building the Bradfield Scheme to redirect water is the one thing Australia can do to reduce the effects of drought. Is he correct?|work=ABC News|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-24/fact-check-bradfield-scheme-barnaby-joyce-drought/11029284|access-date=10 June 2019}}</ref><ref name="tbsi">{{cite news |date=18 June 2019 |title=The Bradfield Scheme is supposed to alleviate drought. So why has it been rejected so many times? |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-18/fact-file-bradfield-scheme-drought-relief/11216616 |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=17 October 2022}}</ref>

In November 2019, the Liberal National Party of Queensland, through the opposition leader Deb Frecklington, provided support of the project as a long term investment.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-11-04|title=The New Bradfield Scheme|url=https://www.deb2020.com.au/newbradfield/|access-date=2020-09-07|website=Deb Frecklington|language=en-AU|archive-date=20 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020201216/https://www.deb2020.com.au/newbradfield/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

Category:Engineering projects Category:Proposed interbasin transfer Category:Geography of Queensland Category:Water management in Queensland Category:Water supply and sanitation in Australia Category:North Queensland Category:Far North Queensland Category:Central West Queensland