Darlington Dam - South Africa's troubled lake

Abstract

Water History The initiative to establish largescale irrigation in the Sundays River Valley can be traced back to the arrival of prominent Port Elizabeth auctioneer James Somers Kirkwood. Described as, ‘a tall man of pleasing personality, flowing beard and smiling eyes’ , Kirkwood came to the valley in 1877 to oversee the auction of the farm ‘Gouwernements Belooning’ . Pioneer’s dream The story goes that on that particular day Kirkwood could not reach the farm as the Sundays River was in flood. So he climbed a hill (known today as the ‘Lookout’) from where he had a view of the entire valley. The view he saw inspired him, and shortly thereafter he bought Gouwernements Belooning himself and settled in the area. In 1877 legislation was passed on irrigation which aimed to encourage, by means of financial assistance, settlement on farms and the development of private irrigation schemes. Kirkwood tried to convince his neighbours to combine to form an irrigation scheme, which would be entitled to assistance from the government.

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