Complex sentence: During the early days of Coonong station McCaughey suffered greatly from drought conditions, but overcame these by sinking bores for artesian water and constructing large tanks and so was a pioneer of water-conservation in Australia.
Split into simpler sentences: During the early days of Coonong station McCaughey suffered much from drought conditions, but overcame these by sinking bores for artesian water and constructing large tanks. He was thus a pioneer of water-conservation in Australia.