1892 Australia: Chaffey Brothers, Limited, "The Australian Irrigation Colonies"

Description

Chaffey Brothers, Limited, "The Australian Irrigation Colonies", First Mortgage Debenture. Dated December 23, 1892, No. 764, for £100. Issued and stamp cancelled, certificate is in good condition, with fold marks/creases, light edgewear, and several pin/staple holes. Printed by "Waterlow Bros. & Layton, London". 43 x 26 cm.
Company History: George and William Chaffey were Canadian-born engineers who developed large parts of Southern California, including what became the community of Etiwanda and cities of Ontario and Upland. They undertook similar developments in Australia, which became the City of Mildura, and the Town of Renmark and Paringa. A major drought in Victoria from 1877 to 1884 prompted Alfred Deakin, then a minister in the State Government and chairman of a Royal Commission on water supply to visit the irrigation areas of California. There he met George and William Chaffey. In 1886 George Chaffey came to Australia and selected a derelict sheep station known as Mildura as the site for his first irrigation settlement signing an agreement with the Victorian government to spend at least £300,000 on permanent improvements at Mildura in the next twenty years.