The Darling River (Barka is it’s Indigenous name) has been polluted and drained to the point that the great Murray cod were floating dead, along with other species of fish, e.g. pigmy perch.
Why? Because cotton farmers upstream were allowed to over-drain water to grow cotton by the then coalition regime, and by Water Minister Melinda Pavey. They just turned a blind eye to what was going on.
The cotton farmers claim it wasn’t them sucking the Barka dry. Well who else could it be? They were the ones who needed so much water.
Hemp doesn’t and you don’t need to use pesticides with hemp growing well. Back in the 1930s the petrochemical industry came up with a product called nylon which was a competitor for hemp products, so a world-wide campaign began to make growing hemp illegal.
Originally the sales and rope on ships were made of hemp and the first pair of Levi’s jeans were made from hemp. Yes Dupont you’ve a lot to answer for don’t you?
Above the Barka there’s Cubby Station, a big cotton farm which gets flood water before it reaches the Murray Darling Basin. The dam built there has more holding capacity than Sydney Harbour. No wonder the poor Darling/Barka is dying and nearly dead.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
