Leeton. Population 7,500.
Like Griffith, Leeton was a child of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and also a town designed by the architect who laid out Canberra, Walter Burley Griffin. One of the three men behind the establishment of the MIA was Sir Samuel McCaughey who had a grand house built just outside of Leeton in Euroley Road Yanco. It is now the Yanco Agricultural High School. McCaughey had started his own private irrigation system with channel at Yanco in the early 20th century for pastoralism. He bought Yanco pastoral station (he already had several others) and at great cost built over 300 kms of water channels so that he could not irrigate but supply water to 40,000 acres. In 1906, as a Member of the Legislative Council he envisaged a big government scheme that would support of population of over 50,000 people. In 1906 the NSW government passed a bill to construct the Burrinjuck Dam. Water from that dam first became available in 1912. A narrow gauge railway was built from Narrandera to Yanco in 1907 to transport materials for the development of the MIA. The station at Yanco railway was the nearest for Leeton until 1922. By 1960 there were over 1,900 kms of water supply channel, over 1,200 kms of drainage channels. The town was named Leeton after the Minister of Public Works at that time Charles Lee. The MIA water supply is now for horticulture more than pastoralism except in the outer areas. Leeton is now the rice capital of Australia but extensive areas of citrus trees and vines are grown. McCaughey’s dream ended for him in 1919 when he died at his home in Yanco. His estate was valued at £1,600 million of which he left to charities, the Presbyterian Church, hospitals etc. and a quarter of his estate went to the University of Sydney. At one time before his death he owned around 3.25 million acres! His sandstone and brick mansion at Yanco was left to the area as a school.
The central park in Leeton is McCaughey Park. Walter Burley Griffin was a follower of the Garden City Movement, like Charles Reade the designer of Colonel Light Gardens hence the curved and circular roads, and the avoidance of rectangles and squared corners. Streets were designed to follow contours and the highest point of Leeton, opposite the Hydro Hotel has three decorative water towers named after Walter Burley Griffin. The oldest was erected in 1913, the second in 1937 and the last in 1974 to feed water by gravity to the town. The first solid building built in Leeton was the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Trust offices in 1912 which later became the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission building in 1937 when a new Art Deco building was opened. . It is now the town museum and art gallery. This Trust employed the men who built the town and in the early years 250 homes were built each year, and the Trust workshops employed about 100 men. Because so much of the town was built during the Art Deco period with 21 buildings registered by the NSW Art Deco society which is impressive as they only list about 80 in the Sydney region. Most of the best examples of Art Deco in Leeton are mainly in: Pine and Kurrajong Avenues. Leeton has an annual Art Deco festival during July each year. Most of the earliest building in Leeton were timber framed and the beautiful Art Deco ones came along in the 1920s to 1940s.
In terms of development of the region at lot happened in 1914 as farmers were on their lands and residents were accommodated in Leeton and workers accommodated in barracks. The Leeton Progress Association was formed in 1914 as were the Yanco Agricultural and Horticultural Society, the Murrumbidgee Dairy Farmers Association (the butter rectory opened in 1913), the Murrumbidgee Farmers Union and the local newspaper, The Murrumbidgee Irrigator began publishing. Clarkes brothers General Store was in a solid shop as opposed to the 1911 tin shed. The one teacher school built in 1911 had five teachers and around 300 children by 1914. A Catholic School began in 1917 using the church as its school room until 1936. By 1914 Leeton had Methodist (replaced 1937), Baptist (replaced 1937), Anglican (the parish hall added in 1929) and Catholic churches (replaced in 1955). The current Presbyterian Church was built in 1957, replacing the 1916 timber framed one. By 1914 Leeton had only one Bank that of NSW (replaced in 1938). A second bank did not open until 1920 – the Commercial Bank of Sydney (replaced in 1957.) Leeton is a prosperous still growing town. One of the important employers in town is the Sunrise rice mill. It is the headquarters of Sunrise Australia which exports much of the rice not destined for the domestic market in Australia. In recent years Leeton has made a positive attempt to attract and befriend immigrant workers and families. Many are needed for the local abattoirs and agricultural work. There is now a sizeable Afghan community in Leeton with the highest proportion outside of Sydney. Leeton has small communities of Fijians, Pacific Islanders and East African workers. Cotton is also grown near Leeton. In terms of industry the town cannery was crucial and the major employed.
The NSW government cannery opened in Leeton in 1914 with government contracts for tinned fruit, vegetables and orange juice. The State Cannery eventually became Leeton Cooperative Cannery. It employed around 750 people throughout the year with a peak work force double that during the harvest season. In its last decades is marketed fruit etc as Letona brand. Sadly the cannery closed in 1994. Letona also sold locally grown rice as Letona Rice. The rice growing industry in Leeton began in 1924 and two sisters. Lois and Margaret Grant were among the first six pioneers of rice growing when it started. Lois Grant succeeded so well in this male industry and she was a founding member of the MIA Rice growing Cooperative Society. The cooperative marketed its rice as SunRice. It is now marketed as SunWhite Rice. Leeton is still a major rice producing region of Australia and most is produced for export. Australia including Leeton and the Riverina region leads the world in water efficient and sustainable and highly mechanised rice growing. The MIA grows much of Australia’s rice with more grown in other regions of the Riverina. About 25,000 to 65,000 hectares are used for rice growing in the MIA depending on the season and water allocations. There are between two rice mills in the Riverina with a major one near Leeton. The other major mill for SunWhite is at Deniliquin. One hectare sown in rice can produce about 12 tons of rice grain.
Some Art Deco structures to look for in Chelmsford Place and in the Main St which is Pine Ave. Starting at the top of Chelmsford Place by the Art Deco Walter Burley Griffin designed water tanks.
•The Walter Burley Griffin water towers. Oldest is 1913.
•The Hydro Hotel. Built as a coffee palace as Leeton originally teetotal site. Built in 1919 and burnt down in 1924. Rebuilt in Art Deco style 1924-26 and re-opened in 1927.The interior has many deco features.
•Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission headquarters. Erected 1937. It has many heritage items in the excellent little museum. It is also the Leeton Art Gallery. Worth a visit. It closes 3 pm.
•Leeton Town Council and Shire Offices. No Art Deco features. Built in 1962. Modernist style.
•The Art Deco Fire station with rounded corners, inset brick work etc. Includes stepped features over doorway. Built in 1938.
•At the roundabout turn left near the modern Art Deco style bus shelter. In front is the Roxy Theatre and the Art Deco memorial clock in the roundabout. The Roxy is to re-open in 2025 after renovations. Built in 1929-30. Check foyer if you can. The memorial clock was unveiled in 1926 in Art Deco style and the clock added in 1965.
•In Pine Ave. First on left is the Commonwealth Bank. This structure built in 1935.
•On the next corner intersection is Leeton Mall in brick with some Art deco features. This was the former Richards Store. A cream and red brick structure with stepped shapes on chamfered corner entrance. Building has vertical and horizontal banding. Built in 1936.
•Next left is the Hotel Leeton a much earlier structure but some Art Deco features. It was built in 1926.
•Nearly opposite is the Seton and Beyond Bank building with some great Art Deco detail with stylistic Rose and radiating rays.
•Just before the next side street adjacent to the Leeton Hotel is the Murrumbidgee Irrigator newspaper offices. Established 1915 but this Pine Ave building is marked as 1928.
•Over the next side street on opposite is the former Kinlock’s store. Built in 1938. Turn around here/
•Almost opposite it is the current Leeton Steel building. It was built in 1930s as the Leeton Fruit Growers Cooperative.
•On the way back take Church Street through to the Park. The Wade Hotel is on the corner with excellent Art Deco motifs. Architect designed and built in 1937. Named after the first head of irrigation for the MIA. As you cross Mountford Park on your left will be the modern St Peters Anglican Church. The first church was built in 1913 of locally made adobe bricks. The newer Church Hall was built in 1929. This Church was built in 1973.
•The next building on your right is the Leeton Courthouse. It was built in 1922 and opened in August 1924.
•On your left is the impressively large red brick Catholic Church. Wagga architect S J O’Halloran designed it in 1951. To facilitate the building, the Wagga Wagga diocese purchased the Yanco Brickworks in 1951 to produced 440,000 bricks for the church. The Romanesque style church is asymmetrical with a round stained glass window over the entry. It was completed in 1955 and at that time was the largest Catholic Church in country NSW. Return to the roundabout and the Roxy Theatre going past some good Art Deco buildings including the Morris Chambers.
