A Report on the Flood of February 1955 in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales
Artist/Maker and role
W.C. Hawke: Author
Hunter Valley Conservation Trust (estab. 1950)
Production date
1958
About this object
The NSW State Government formed the Hunter Valley Conservation Trust in 1950 as an advisory and co-ordinating body to address the impact of floods in the Hunter Valley, providing greater expertise and oversight than the prior-existing efforts by local councils and landowners. The Trust focused on mitigation, land degradation and the preservation of natural resources.
Authored by the Secretary of the Hunter Valley Conservation Trust, W.C. Hawke, the report was published in July 1958, approximately 3 and a half years after the 1955 flood. As the title states, the report was an overview, including a literature review, of the impact of the 1955 floods; responses to the catastrophe; and organisations formed to mitigate the impact of future floods, namely the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission, Department of Public Works, and the Soil Conservation Service. A key theme in the report was a concern that the many organisations and approaches to the flood ‘makes an effective attack on the problem difficult. In fact, at times different Departments may support completely opposed theories.’ Hawke concedes, however, that the many organisations do facilitate an awareness of multiple perspectives and local needs.
The report’s major message is that flood mitigation will come at an environmental and economic cost, which needs to be balanced alongside the advantages.
Hawke writes that:
"Flood damage is to be expected when man encroaches on a part of the river channel, the flood plain. All flood control measures should be viewed in his light. The flood plain is the natural path of floodwaters; floodwaters cannot be confined to the main channel of the river. Flood control, therefore, means the provision of a certain amount of protection from floods. The cost of this protection is the price we pay for occupying the flood plain, and should bear some reasonable relation to the advantage gained by such occupancy."
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