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inches. In one locality, reputed to be the wettest, 42.11 inches were
registered, and occasioned no little surprise. In another Australian
state, among the natural advantages of land offered for close settlement,
was catalogued an annual rainfall of 18 inches; in another an official
inducement of an average rainfall of 27 inches was offered, in yet
another 24 inches, with a not too shrewd note that 15 inches of rain was
ample.
Some of the denizens of a dry area in Victoria find it hard to credit the
simple facts recorded by my rain-gauge. The rainfall for the month of
January 1903, on Dunk Island was 26.60 inches, only 0.76 inches short of
the mean for the whole year in Victoria, and more than twice the quantity
that blessed the thirsty soil in some parts of Queensland. The total
rainfall of the wettest locality in Victoria was 42.11 inches. Here the
month of March alone gave 44.90 inches.
At Thargomindah (South-Western Queensland) 11.37 inches were registered
for 1903, and 9.82 inches for 1904. The two driest months of Dunk Island
fell short by a trifle more than 2 inches of the total fall for 1904 for
that parched area. At Eulolo (Mid-Western Queensland) 13.
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