The thesis traces the history of governmental intervention in Australian water management. At the State level, it examines traditional common law doctrines, their inadequacies to meet Australian demands, and the tensions between private rights and public control inherent in the Australian system of administrative rights to water. It argues for clearer recognition of the role of private law actions in such a system.
At the national level it documents the history of the conflicts which have shaped the administration of inter-State rivers as a background to the integrated enquiries of other research students.