Macleay River
Macleay River Muddy River Uralla | |
---|---|
• elevation | 455 m (1,493 ft) |
2nd source | Gara River |
Source confluence | Salisbury Waters and Bakers Creek |
South West Rocks | |
• coordinates | 30°52′S 153°01′E / 30.867°S 153.017°E |
• elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
Length | 298 km (185 mi) |
Basin size | 11,287 km2 (4,358 sq mi) |
Discharge | |
• location | Near mouth |
• average | 82.5 m3/s (2,600 GL/a)[2] |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | Chandler River, Top Creek, Dyke River, Sunday Creek (New South Wales), Georges Creek, Five Day Creek, Lagoon Creek, Nulla Nulla Creek, Hickeys Creek, Mungay Creek, Christmas Creek |
• right | Blue Mountain Creek, Apsley River, Kunderang Brook, Carrolls Creek, Felters Creek, Stockyard Creek, Mackenzies Creek, Warbro Brook, Parrabel Creek, Cadiangullong Creek, Dungay Creek |
National parks | Cunnawarra NP, Oxley Wild Rivers NP |
[3] |
The Macleay River is a river that spans the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast districts of New South Wales, Australia.
Course and features
Formed by the
The river flows through the town of
The Macleay River is liable to flooding in the Kempsey area, on occasions causing great damage.
History
The
John Oxley failed to realise the potential of this river in 1820 as he did not navigate far enough up-river to see the magnificent stands of timber and the fertile land. The river was vaguely referred to as the New River from descriptions given by Aborigines. In 1826 Captain Wright travelled overland from Port Macquarie and explored to the head of navigation at Belgrave Falls, a series of rapids to the west of the present town of Kempsey. It was then called Wrights River. Major Archibald Clunes Innes, Commandant of Port Macquarie Penal Settlement, sent the first government gang of Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata) cutters to work there in 1827.[citation needed]
More cedar camps were established on the Macleay during the 1830s and the area was also a haven for escaped convicts. By 1841, about 200 cutters were working on the river area, where violence and theft of logs was not uncommon. Demand and prices dropped in 1842 and cutting along the Macleay diminished although it continued in the upper tributaries. When Europeans arrived in the area around the 1820s the river mouth was just south of Grassy Head, and almost a mile wide with a sand spit in the middle. The small town of Stuarts Point was established on the river just inside to serve arriving ships.[12]
The coastal strip extending from South West Rocks to Grassy Head is a wide delta with various channels connected to the river. Around 1885 English marine engineer John Coode advised on improvements to various rivers and ports in Australia, including the Macleay. The
Variously known as Wright River, Trail River, New and McLeay rivers, it was named the Macleay River in honour of Innes's father-in-law, Alexander Macleay, Scottish-born scientist and colonial secretary of New South Wales.[1][13]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Macleay River". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
- ^ "East Coastal Watersheds".
- ^ a b "Map of Macleay River, NSW". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
- ^ Connaughton, Todd (1 December 2015). "It's the Macleay Valley Bridge (and the 'yapang gurraarrbang gayandugayigu')". Macleay Argus. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
- ^ "Australia's longest bridge crosses the Macleay River in Northern NSW". Macleay River and Floodplain Bridge, Kempsey, NSW. Arup Group. March 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
- ^ "Mid-year start for project to complete Kempsey Bypass". Media Monitors. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Chisholm, Alec H., ed. (1963). "Macleay River". The Australian Encyclopaedia. Vol. 4. Sydney: Halstead Press. p. 444.
- ^ "Disastrous flood in the Macleay River". Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser. National Library of Australia. 25 August 1864. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
- Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 16 July 1952. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
- Kempsey Shire Council. November 2011. Archived from the original(PDF) on 19 May 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
- Department of Planning & Environment. NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service. 2005. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- ISBN 0-85587-037-0.
- ISBN 0-86417-121-8.)
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