Georges River

Coordinates: 34°0′35.994″S 151°7′47.6394″E / 34.00999833°S 151.129899833°E / -34.00999833; 151.129899833
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Georges River
Tucoerah River
Macarthur
 • coordinates34°15′00″S 150°49′48″E / 34.25000°S 150.83000°E / -34.25000; 150.83000
 • elevation350 m (1,150 ft)
Chipping Norton Lakes
[3][4]

The Georges River, also known as Tucoerah River,

Sydney CBD, with the mouth of the river being at Botany Bay
.

The river travels for approximately 96 kilometres (60 mi) in a north and then easterly direction to its mouth at Botany Bay, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the Tasman Sea. The Georges River is the main tributary of Botany Bay; with the Cooks River being a secondary tributary.

The total catchment area of the river is approximately 930.9 square kilometres (359.4 sq mi) and the area surrounding the river is managed by various local government authorities and NSW Government agencies across Sydney.

The land adjacent to the Georges River was occupied for many thousands of years by the

Tharawal and Eora
peoples. They used the river as an important source of food and a place for trade.

Geography

The Geroges River at Freres Crossing Campbelltown.
Freres Crossing, near Campbelltown.

From its source east of Appin within

Taren Point/Sansouci
in the southern suburbs of Sydney, where it joins with the estuarine catchment.

Major tributaries include O'Hares Creek, Bunbury Curran Creek, Cabramatta Creek, Lennox River (proposed), Prospect Creek, Salt Pan Creek and the Woronora River. The Georges River is popular for recreational activities such as water skiing and swimming. The banks of the river along the lower reaches are marked by large inlets and indentations overlooked by steep sandstone ridges and scarps, many being home to expensive residential properties.

The Georges River features some artificial lakes in the suburb of

Chipping Norton Lakes
, are the result of sand mining and quarrying operations in the twentieth century. The Lakes are now a popular watersports and recreational facility for the residents of the south-western suburbs of Sydney.

Liverpool Weir now forms the uppermost tidal limit and presence of salt water on the Georges River.

[From Appin to Glenfield, a large corridor has been protected as part of the Georges River Regional Open Space Corridor. Council reserves allow for access to natural sections of the river at Simmo's Beach,[6] Ingleburn Reserve, Keith Longhurst Reserve,[7] and Frere's Crossing.[8]

Botany Bay Community River Health Monitoring Program is a community-based initiative to monitor ecosystem health catchment.[9]

History

Aboriginal history

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Georges River was formerly known as Tucoerah (or Toggerai / Tuggerah) River[

traditional custodians
of the area. It is not known whether this word referred to the whole river or rather just a part of it. Mill Creek, a tributary of Tucoerah was called Guragurang.

To the south of Tocoerah are the traditional lands of the

Dharug
/Eora people are the traditional custodians of the land on its northern banks.

European history

The Georges River was given its English name in honour of

King George III, by Governor Arthur Phillip.[2] It was one of the many sites of the Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars, a series of wars between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the resisting Indigenous clans in the late 1700s and early 1800s.[10]

One of the earliest contacts between British settlers and Aboriginal people occurred on 20 January 1788. Arthur Philip and Philip Gidley King, leading a party of seamen from the First Fleet rowing two open boats, explored the 'South-West Arm of Botany Bay' (now Georges River). They are now thought to have gone as far as Lime Kiln Bay, where they landed at two locations there, the first of which they called 'Lance Point'—thought to be modern-day Gertrude Point, Lugarno—where an altercation with local people occurred. Later the same day, there was a peaceful meeting at what is now thought to have been the head of Lime Kiln Bay. They are also now believed to have entered the estuarine mouth of the Georges Rivers' tributary, Woronora River. Not finding enough freshwater, around Botany Bay and its two 'arms', the colonists moved on to Port Jackson, where the settlement of Sydney began six days later.[11][12]

The river was explored by

Bankstown
.

A dam was constructed by David Lennox using convict labour at Liverpool in 1836, as a water supply to Liverpool.[13]

In February 2007, Liverpool and Campbelltown City Council were awarded a $2 million grant from the

NSW Environmental Trust under their Urban Sustainability Initiative.[14] The grant was to allow the councils, in conjunction with Wollondilly Shire Council and the Georges River Combined Councils Committee, to develop a Comprehensive Strategic Plan focused on the rehabilitation of the catchment area.[15]

Since the 2010s, the Mandaean community in the Greater Sydney region has been using the Georges River for their ritual baptisms, called masbuta. Along with the Nepean River, it is one of the few ritual rivers (called yardna in Mandaic) that they use for their baptism and ablution rituals.[16][17][18]

Crossings

Georges River from East Hills.
View of the river as it passes through East Hills and Voyager Point. The Voyager Point footbridge and the East Hills railway line bridge can be seen in the middle distance

Bridges over the Georges River include from east to west:

Fish

Illawong
.

The Georges River is a popular area for recreational fishing. Species present in the river include bass, bream, whiting, yellowtail, jewfish and flathead. The river is also host to a number of commercial oyster farms. The upper ends of the Georges River are abundant with Bass during the summer months and during the winter months these bass migrate down to the lower ends of the river towards the salt water to breed. Waste water inflows to the river are carefully managed to maintain the estuarine habitat.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Georges River". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 4 January 2013. Edit this at Wikidata
  2. ^ .
  3. Office of Environment and Heritage
    . 26 April 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  4. ^ "Georges River information page". Campbelltown City Council. Archived from the original on 2008-07-30.
  5. .
  6. ^ "Simmo's Beach Reserve". Macarthur Branch: Activities. National Parks Association of NSW. 2011. Archived from the original on 25 February 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  7. ^ "Bushwalkers Basin". Macarthur Branch: Activities. National Parks Association of NSW. 2011. Archived from the original on 26 April 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  8. ^ "Freres Crossing". Macarthur Branch: Activities. National Parks Association of NSW. 2011. Archived from the original on 25 February 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  9. ^ River Health Monitoring Program Archived 2021-01-27 at the Wayback Machine Georges Riverkeeper
  10. .
  11. ^ Hayworth, Robert (2012). "The several 'discoveries' of Sydney's Georges River: precursors to the Tom Thumb expedition". ResearchGate. University of New England / Journal of Colonial History. Retrieved 19 Dec 2023.
  12. ^ "Gertrude Point · Lugarno NSW 2210, Australia". Google Maps. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  13. ^ "Liverpool Weir". Heritage Branch, New South Wales waling Department of Planning. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  14. ^ Project Summaries - 2006 Urban Sustainability Major Program Grants NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change
  15. ^ "Downloading [PEPart1070403.PDF]". Archived from the original on 2011-06-17. Retrieved 2010-07-20.
  16. ^ "23rd Biennale of Sydney, River Project". Georges Riverkeeper. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  17. ^ Ly, Philip (2015-11-04). "Mandaeans to baptise in Georges River". dailytelegraph. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  18. ^ Hromas, Jessica (2020-03-27). "Keeping the faith: Sydney's Mandaeans perform baptism rituals – in pictures". the Guardian. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  19. ^ "Georges River Bridge". Roads and Traffic Authority, New South Wales. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
  20. ^ "Kings Falls Bridge over Georges River". Roads and Traffic Authority, New South Wales.

External links