Twenty years ago, Cowra faced one of the toughest droughts on record. In 2005, creeks ran dry and motorists were left driving an extra kilometre or two to access Wyangala Waters.
At the time, two journalists from the Cowra Guardian, Janine Finlayson and Peter Clarke took to the air with pilot Don Hodge, to capture parched pastures and dry backyards across Cowra.
In June 2005, rainfall was about 120mm below average, following four dry years across the region. Across the autumn months, only 26.4mm fell: 20mm in March, 5.2mm in April and 1.2mm in May. At one point, Cowra endured 54 days with rainfall of less than 1mm, at one point sweltering under 37 dry, sunny, days in the autumn of 2005.
While the 2025 autumn break came later in the year, the numbers tell an all-too-similar story. In March, Cowra Airport recorded 13.2mm of rain, 5.4mm in April, before a very welcome 51mm of rain at the end of May to total 69.6mm across the autumn months.
Drought-affected conditions persist today as they did 20 years ago. Across June, only 29.4mm of rain fell across the Cowra district, followed by 49.6mm through July.
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