Image caption Queensland's drought spread to 80% of the state last year

A record-breaking drought in the state of Queensland has reignited calls to unlock the economic potential of Australia's under-developed and sparsely populated north.

As those on the land struggle, business leaders are promoting the idea that the region could be transformed into a giant food bowl for Asia.

What's needed, according to Troy Popham, the head of the Townsville Chamber of Commerce, is the vision to create a large network of new reservoirs and pipelines to help a thirsty country cope with prolonged dry spells.

"The rain across northern Australia can be captured and can be channelled to relevant places so that the downstream effects of the water can still be utilised," he says.

"It is going to cost some money, but the rewards that it will deliver to the country are enormous."

Bold irrigation schemes, a 600m Australian dollar ($418m; £290m) upgrade to outback roads, extra money to revamp airstrips, and funds to explore rail freight links are part of a federal government discussion paper released last June.

"No longer will Northern Australia be seen as the last frontier: it is in fact, the next frontier," proclaimed a statement from the governing Liberal Party.

Development challenge

The region, to the north of the Tropic of Capricorn, covers more ground than many countries, and spans Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

It is flush with potential; from agriculture and renewable energy, to tourism, education and tropical medicine.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The cost of upgrading key freight routes would be huge

Crucially, for policy makers it is on the doorstep of emerging markets in Asia.

But the dreams of exploiting the untapped riches of the north that go back almost as far as European settlement in the late 18th Century have remained unfulfilled.

Colonial explorers dragged boats into the mysterious interior hoping to find an inland sea, but discovered only desert and disappointment. Over the years, other lofty ambitions have also turned to dust.

While Canberra's ambition to eventually light up the north is praised by industry groups and farmers, there is - because of the area's sheer scale - caution.

"It is a great principle, but it can end up being useless rhetoric if the government is not willing to drive this investment," says Queensland state MP Robbie Katter, from his offices in the mining city of Mount Isa in the rugged Gulf Country region.

"What many people have in mind is that it would be corporate-style farming with foreign owners or institutional investors that do a big irrigation scheme.

"That benefits a few and really doesn't help solve any of the problems for the established farmers out here."

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption In the Northern Territory most of the roads used to transport cattle are unsealed leaving them prone to flooding and closure

The cost of upgrading key freight routes would be huge, and take years, but would be worth the time and money, argues Andrew Gray, chairman of Northern Territory Livestock Exporters Association.

"The pastoral industry has been crippled by poor roads," he says.

"We have heavy rain during our wet season. Roads become impassable for passenger vehicles, let alone for the transport of livestock."

Losing battle

The beneficiaries of any nation-defining infrastructure projects will be future generations, but for drought-hit graziers Geoff and Vicky Toomby time is running out.

For 30 years they have crafted a living raising cattle at Wonderland Station at Alice River near Townsville.

The ground here hasn't seen significant rain for a year, and it shows. The scrub is a shade of ghostly grey, and a once-thriving business that was started from scratch is withering.

Image caption Geoff and Vicky Toomby's farm hasn't seen significant rain for a year

"It is just dry dirt and when you walk around here you can feel it crumpling under your feet. It looks like a lunar landscape," Geoff explains.

We drive through the sprawling property along bumpy, dusty tracks that weave across parched fields. The skeletal remains of a cow in a dried-out creek bed is a grim sign of what's to come.

In a distant paddock almost entirely devoid of grass, most of Geoff's herd of cattle idles in the baking sun.

Sustaining 500 head of livestock is tough every day as money for feed slowly dwindles, and the battle is being lost.

Many of the animals look emaciated and bones protrude what what should be wholesome flesh. The Toombys are valiantly hand-rearing more than a dozen calves whose mothers don't have enough milk.

"We're in survival mode," Geoff tells me. "Oh, mate, it breaks your heart to come over here.

"See, look at this little heifer scratching the side here now - see her eyes? She has been eating siam weed and that will kill her.

"We can't do anything about that."

There is emergency financial assistance available for farmers, but land owners often complain about too much red tape.

Image caption Geoff Toomby says his drought-hit farm is in "survival mode"

There have been recent heavy rainfalls in some drought-affected parts of Queensland, but, cruelly, many areas have missed out, leaving many lamenting nature's capriciousness.

"There are people that have lost everything. There are people who have committed suicide," says Mr Toomby.

"If I'm not careful I would go into severe depression, and the only way I can handle it is by knowing that Vicky and I are doing the best we can."

Northern potential

As the struggle continues, so does the pursuit of a more prosperous future for Australia's final frontier.

In June, delegates will gather at a conference in the city of Darwin that will explore ways to promote the potential of northern Australia.

It will ask some fundamental questions: What progress has been made? What barriers exist and how should they be overcome? What resources are needed? Where are the investment opportunities?

Perhaps the summit of government, academics, bankers, environmentalists, indigenous groups and farmers will defy history, and be the start of something truly monumental for those living above the Tropic of Capricorn, driven by their proximity to Asia.