NA ="Nangiloc, Iraak, Colignan,";
FE1[0]=" The Murray-Darling vineyard region winds itself along the great Murray River at the junction of three State boundaries - NSW, Victoria and South Australia. The constant sunshine allows for the production of wines with ripe fruit f";
FE2[0]="lavours and softness. The region extends from the South Australian border to just east of Balranald in New South Wales taking in both sides of the Murray River and part of the Darling and Murrumbidgee rivers. The largest concentra";
FE3[0]="tion of vineyards is around Mildura and Red Cliffs and further east around Euston (NSW) and Robinvale (Victoria). The region was opened up to agricultural production by irrigation initiated in the 1870s by George and William Chaff";
FE4[0]="ey. Today the region is the powerhouse of the Australian wine industry with all the big wine companies producing bulk table wines and fortifieds with an increasing proportion of production being devoted to premium wine especially ";
FE5[0]="Chardonnay. The region's status as a food basket was amply demonstrated on the ABC TV program and book A Gondola on the Murray presented by Mildura chef Stefano De Pieri. The produce from this region is wonderfully diverse as are ";
FE6[0]="the people who bring it to our tables. Mildura is a major regional city of some 22 000 people located near the north-western tip of the state and at the centre of an area known as 'Sunraysia'. The settlement is 560 km north-west o";
FE7[0]="f Melbourne and 50 m above sea-level. The Murray River then meanders for 650 km through South Australia, discharges into Lake Alexandrina and finally enters the sea near Goolwa, where it flows into Encounter Bay and the Southern O";
FE8[0]="cean. Mildura is flanked to the north by the Murray River (marking the state border), which extends for 2530 km, making it one of the longest navigable rivers in the world with a catchment area covering 14 per cent of the continen";
FE9[0]="t. The district supplies 80% of Australia's dried fruit, 15% of its citrus fruit, 85 per cent of the state's winemaking grapes and it possesses the second and third largest packing companies in the world.";
LA1[0]=" This large, flat, dry region straddles the Murray River on which it depends for irrigation. The river is also the state border (NSW & Victoria), so the region sprawls into Victoria and New South Wales on either side of the river. ";
LA2[0]="Vineyards are large, mechanised, and their harvest is often sold to other region for processing. Principal wine styles are Chardonnay and Colombard, but many grapes are used in bulk wine production. Modern river channels consist m";
LA3[0]="ostly of sandy soils and more saline heavy grey and brown clays towards the outer perimeter of the floodplains on the higher rarely flooded terraces.  Sandy soils also form levees, old channels, dunes and lunettes. Much of the geo";
LA4[0]="logy and geomorphology of the region is similar to that of the Darling Riverine Plains.";
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CL1[0]=" Mildura & Murray Outback has a typical Mediterranean climate with dry summers and mild winters. Most rain falls between May and October, with average rainfall approximately 250mm. The autumn months bring warm days with chilly even";
CL2[0]="ings.   Winter months have mild days and cold nights. Spring brings warm days, but the nights still remain cool. Summer is hot with plenty of sunshine and warm days. Temperatures vary but 35-40 degrees is quite common. The climate";
CL3[0]=" is continental; hot and dry with low rainfall making it a relatively fungus disease free region thus reducing the risk for such large-scale production. A range of grape varieties are grown, with, however, an emphasis on Chardonna";
CL4[0]="y and Cabernet Sauvignon and fortified varieties such as Muscat Gordo Blanco, Semillon and Colombard. Harvest time: late January to mid March. Location: 34°10'S, 142°10'E;  Annual rainfall: 280 - 350mm;  Mean January temp: 23.9°C;";
CL5[0]=" Sunshine hours per day: 9.7.  ";
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HI1[0]=" The first European in the vicinity was probably Charles Sturt who passed the townsite on his journey along the Murray in 1830. The first station in the area was 'Yerre Yerre', established in 1847 by Frank Jenkins but, as he didn't";
HI2[0]=" obtain a licence, the Jamieson brothers, with 6000 sheep, took over the property within a few months. Prophetically they also planted some grape vines. In 1858 the property was renamed 'Mildura' after a Keramin word speculatively";
HI3[0]=" thought to mean 'red earth', due to the red soils of the area, or 'sore eyes', allegedly a tribute to the problems caused by the vast fly population. The inception of the town dates from 1886 when Alfred Deakin travelled to Calif";
HI4[0]="ornia to investigate the model irrigation settlements established in the Californian desert by Canadians William and George Chaffey. Deakin, then commissioner for public works and later prime minister, was interested in the possib";
HI5[0]="ility of irrigating the semi-arid areas of the north for agricultural development at a time when the Mallee was a semi-arid region, as yet unsettled by Europeans. The Chaffeys, with undue haste, sold up their Californian interests";
HI6[0]=" for a song and acquired land at Mildura and Renmark. A promotional scheme was set in motion in 1887 and, despite transportation difficulties (the nearest train station was 163 km away) there were 3300 settlers (mostly new British";
HI7[0]=" migrants) by 1891. They cleared hundreds of hectares, built fences and dug irrigation channels. The brothers imported two enormous engines for the pumping station and, by 1893, the first fruits were being marketed. The dried frui";
HI8[0]="t industry emerged due to problems with transporting fresh fruits to the Melbourne markets. From the start, horticulture was highly important in the region. Though some wines were made very early in the region's history (from 1891";
HI9[0]="), the emphasis was on dry fruit. Later in the 20th century, though dry fruits have remained important, this has switched to citrus and multi-purpose grapes. Lindemans and Deakin Estate are 2 of the main wineries.";