ORD RIVER

river in the Kimberley plateau region, northeastern Western Australia. It rises in the Albert Edward Range and follows an easterly and northerly course for 300 mi (500 km) to Cambridge Gulf. Chief tributaries are the Denham, Stirling, Panton, Wilson, Bow, Nicholson, and Elvire. Its upper reaches cut through deep gorges, which give way to grasslands and forests along its middle course and to alluvial plains in its lower valley. The region is subject to irregular rainfall. The river was discovered in 1879 by Alexander Forrest and was named for Sir Harry Ord, governor of Western Australia (187780). The Ord River Project is a major undertaking designed to prevent seasonal flooding and to impound water for irrigating large areas subject to drought. The Kimberley Research Station decided in 1945 that irrigated agriculture would be possible in this area, and plans were formed for the development of 180,000 ac (72,000 ha) of farmland. The Kununurra Diversion Dam, completed in 1967, allowed for the cultivation of the first 14,000 ac under the project. Kununurra town was built nearby as the service and residential centre. A larger dam, built 25 mi south of Kununurra in 197072, holds the main reservoir (Lake Argyle) for irrigation and possibly for eventual hydroelectric power generation. The main crop projected for the area was cotton, but this crop was rendered uneconomic by insect pests by 1974. Various other crops were experimented with, but without much success, and by the 1980s only some 11,000 ac were still under cultivation out of a possible irrigation area of nearly 150,000 ac. The Ord scheme has become Australia's most costly and controversial irrigation project.