After clearing and ploughing the Victorian Mallee from the early 1880s, soil erosion in the region became a significant issue, particularly in times of drought. In 1933, the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission reported that it had spent over £300,000 in the years 1929, 1930 and 1931 clearing sand drift from 4,000 miles of channels in the Mallee. This photo shows a fence disappearing under Mallee soil in 1929 after a series of drought years and a severe El Nino event in 1926.