A Long Time Coming

The crowning of cotton as king in the Namoi is widely credited to two Americans who arrived in the 1960s, but cotton was first discussed as a crop with potential forty years earlier.

In 1921, the Imperial Cotton Committee investigated the land around the Namoi River. When nothing resulted following the visit, there were calls in the community to seize the moment, American cotton growers had experienced losses due to soil degradation and there was a gap in the market. Those keen to exploit it and see cotton trialed suggested offering a prize of five guineas for the best hundredweight of raw cotton at the 1922 Agricultural Show as a motivator.

There is a rhythm to what became an ongoing question of the suitability of cotton for the Namoi. A year later, again just before it was time to sow, the inaction of the Minister of Agriculture on the question of irrigation in the area was raised. Minister Chaffey downplayed the suggestion that the Government was stalling and offered settlers interested in trialing the crop five pounds of seed—enough to plant an acre—free of charge; each additional pound would sell for a penny.

In the years that followed, any conversation about cotton was also about keeping it watered. Work had begun on a dam in 1939 but stalled two years later due to WWII. Construction resumed in 1946, and in the late 1950s, when the Minister for Conservation fielded questions about its completion, he made assurances that water would be available for irrigation by mid-1960.

In 1961, after a wait of forty years and the completion of the Keepit Dam, two seasoned cotton-growing Californians, Frank Hadley and Paul Kahl, finally brought cotton to the Namoi. Described as bringing “I need it YESTERDAY!” energy to Wee Waa, which raised eyebrows and ire at the time; within a year, they had harvested their first crop.