LEETON was named after the Honourable Charles Alfred Lee, the Minister for Works, during the early period of development of this area. It was gazetted as a town on January 22, 1913.
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The land was purchased from Sir Samuel McCaughey of North Yanco Station in 1911 for the price of £3.5.0 per acre.
The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Trust (MIT) commenced development and in 1913 the Water Conservation & Irrigation Commission (WC&IC) took over until 1928 when town development came under the control of the Willimbong Shire Council, a precursor to Leeton Shire Council (1946).
The first plan was drawn up by FH Brewster, a Designing Engineer at MIT before a ‘Plan of Extension’ (1914) by Walter Burley Griffin (planner of Canberra and Griffith) was developed into a design that is the base of what we have today.
The town was laid out on a low elongated hill with views of the hills to the north, now one of the most picturesque towns in the Riverina featuring many original Art Deco buildings.
Pine Avenue was named after the native white cypress pine growing where the street was planned whilst Kurrajong Avenue was named after a large Kurrajong tree growing near the street junction later becoming known as the Pioneer Tree until it was damaged and had to be removed for safety reasons.
A ‘new’ Pioneer Kurrajong tree was planted in Graham Park during our year-long centenary celebrations in 2013.
The first newspaper of the area, The Irrigation Record, was a twice monthly publication published by the Irrigation Commission and printed by Websdale-Shoesmith Ltd of Sydney.
The first edition, edited by J G Youll, Senior Clerk with the Commission, was issued on February 15, 1913 and the final edition was issued on February 1, 1917.
The Murrumbidgee Irrigator’s first issue was April 23, 1915, the owner operator was G Hopkins, whose office was housed at the rear of 76 Pine Avenue.
JJ Sullivan, proprietor of other Riverina papers purchased the business in October 1915, published the paper each Friday at 2d a copy.
In October 1916, W Wrightson took over as proprietor and commenced publishing a twice weekly paper, Tuesdays and Fridays.
The Pine Avenue site, where the offices are to this day, were purchased with new premises being built in 1928.
J S Palmer took over as editor in 1935 and was managing editor when he resigned in 1964. He remained as director of the company until his death in 1976.
Many changes of managers over the years have occurred, with The Irrigator as it is known today, celebrating their centenary in 2015.
- SHARE YOUR PHOTOS: Do you have any old photos to share with our readers? Maybe some faces looking for names? Submit your photos at www.irrigator.com.au/community/forms.
