This monument marks the official opening of the Loxton Irrigation Area by then Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford on September 21, 1949. The development of the several thousand acre irrigation area was the idea of the Taplan RSL sub-branch in 1940, which saw the need to plan for the repatriation of ex-servicemen after the war. In the early years of the irrigation area there was no domestic water, so settlers had to get their water from irrigation channels or cart it from water points. Young trees had to be hand watered with water being carted in a small tank on a horse-drawn trolley. The remnants of one irrigation channel is still visible to the left of the monument, while the view overlooks citrus and apple orchards and vineyards.