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George and JB (Benjamin) Chaffey came to Mildura to establish an irrigation district.
George Chaffey and his younger brother William Benjamin Chaffey undertook with Government approval, to develop 250,000 acres of Victorian land centred on Mildura.
They built a workshop, and commenced work on the pumps meeded to lift the water from the Murray river.
This carefully posed photograph taken by JW Lindt, a professional who travelled the 'outback' from Adelaide. It is very tempting to say the central figures are the Boss and his brother.
Ernestine Hill reports, in her book 'Water Into Gold', page 79 of the 7th Edition, printed 1946. Early in 1888, Bishop Thornton of Ballarat, paid the infant Mildura a visit, a tiresome coach journey of 170 miles from Kerang, and on Palm Sunday (25 March 1888) he held a service in Chaffey's workshop to a gathering of 85 all told.
The photo has interesting features. In the rafters, above JB's head is a dark splash where 2 rafters meet. It is possible one of the curious natives, a ring-tailed possum, is overseeing events.
The men are arranged in groups. All are dressed in white shirts and dark pants - not normal working overalls. Behind JB the group leader is wearing a white hat. The group on the far right are behind a foreman wearing a dark waistcoat.
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