DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES
Streams Flowing during the 1968 Drought
| The 1967/68 drought was one of the most severe and widespread droughts in Victoria. At the beginning of 1967, water storages across Victoria were virtually full to capacity. Melbourne storages were full and the major regional storages held 92.5 % of their total capacity. Historian Jenny Keating, in The Drought Walked Through, commissioned by the Department of Water Resources in 1992, wrote of the 1967/68 drought.... ".....lack of rain in the autumn and early winter of 1967 meant low streamflows and a rapid drawdown. By mid August, Melbourne’s water in storage had gone down by more than 50%. In many areas the cumulative rainfall in the first six months of the year was the lowest ever recorded." "The August rainfall was average to above average in all districts except the South Wimmera but when the September rain partially failed statewide, drought became a distinct possibility." "...the October and November rains failed completely throughout the state - in only one district, West Gippsland, was the rainfall average- all the rest were below average, many in the lowest rainfall decile. Taking 1967 as a whole, the rainfall in all 15 meteorological districts was in the lowest decile, eleven of them receiving their lowest ever recorded rainfall up to that time." (pp. 167-8) "Those farmers particularly hard hit by the drought were those reliant on private diversions from unregulated streams and rivers. Most of these streams failed, a number of them completely. In order to conserve water for domestic and stock supplies the (State Rivers and Water Supply) Commission, whose responsibility they are, had to impose restrictions which ranged from severe rationing and rostering to complete bans on the use of water for irrigation from 140 streams. This placed many farmers and growers in a desperate situation." (pp. 199) "The drought also had an effect on wildlife. Young ibis were reported dying in a Mooroopna swamp as the stream that fed the swamp stopped flowing. Fish in East Gippsland rivers were attacked by parasites which thrived in the low water levels and high temperatures." (pp.201) Source: J.Keating, 1992, The Drought Walked Through: a history of water shortage in Victoria, Dept. Water Resources. Available from the DPI Information Centre or the DPI Library Services.  |  Streams flowing During the 1968 Drought This map shows which streams were still flowing, and those where flows had ceased, at the end of February 1968, towards the end of the drought.  Lake Eildon at Bonnie Doon, March 1968 "...Lake Eildon, which began the season with 83% of its maximum capacity, ended it with under a third of its capacity." Photo: The Age, 25/3/68  Lake Eildon at Bonnie Doon, February 1983 Photo: The Age, 15/2/83 |
© The State of Victoria, 1996 - 2008.
This document was last reviewed on 24/09/2008