Centralisation was inaugurated in 1929 by the Native Affairs Department. It was largely a response to the passage of the Land Apportionment Act in 1930, and the consequent increased population pressure in the reserves. It became essential to increase the carrying capacity of these areas. To this end, agricultural demonstrators preached intensive cultivation using four course crop rotation. Centralisation went further than this and actually altered the traditional system of landholding. Lands were divided into permanent arable and grazing areas. The two areas were separated by the village which was built in a long line through the middle. The initial success of the scheme was shortlived, and a number of factors were to lead to its revision in the mid-1930s.
Read
