Shoalhaven River

The Shoalhaven River is a

The estuary has two entrances, approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) apart, that flow into the Shoalhaven Bight within the Tasman Sea of the Pacific Ocean. The southern entrance is located at Crookhaven Heads and is permanently open. The Shoalhaven River flows south via Berrys Canal to Greenwell Point, where it is joined by the Crookhaven River and then flows east past Orient Point into the bight, north of Culburra.^[5] The Berrys Canal between the Shoalhaven and the Crookhaven was constructed in June 1822 by convicts overseen by Hamilton Hume under the direction of Alexander Berry to facilitate ship transport to the original European settlement located in the region.^[6] The construction of the canal formed Comerong Island. The canal was dug using own hand tools, and was the first land navigable canal in Australia. Berrys Canal remains one of two navigable canals in New South Wales, the other being the Alexandra Canal.

The northern entrance is located south of Shoalhaven Heads, and is open intermittently, at times of peak flow and during flood events.^[5]

Use for water supply

The traditional custodians of the land are Jerrinja tribal peoples the surrounding Shoalhaven River, in its lower reaches, are the Aboriginal peoples of the lower catchment are Jerrinja tribal peoples which are the traditional custodians of the Shoalhaven .^[9] Some of the culturally important Aboriginal places in the Shoalhaven include Coolangatta Mountain, Bundarwa (Beecroft Headland), Cambewarra Mountain, Didthul or Pigeon House Mountain, Kangaroo Valley, Burrill Lake, and Murramarang Aboriginal Area and its environs.^[10][11]

The upper part of the Shoalhaven river, in the district around modern-day Braidwood, is the traditional land of

The explorer and navigator George Bass found the entrance to the Shoalhaven River during his whaleboat voyage down the south coast of New South Wales in 1797. He gave the name Shoals Haven to the river (now known as the Crookhaven River) because of the shoals of mud and sand he found at the river mouth.^[1][13]

Approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) west of Nowra are a series of properties along the banks of the Shoalhaven River that were a gift to the people of Australia from Arthur Boyd, his wife, Yvonne, and the Boyd family. Entrusted to the Bundanon Trust, along with further gifts by Boyd, including copyright of all of his artwork, these properties provide an environment that promotes visual arts, writing, music and other performing arts, and the promotion of education and research in the arts.^[14]

Crossings

The river crossings, from its headwaters to its river mouth, include:

• Ballalaba bridge
• Farringdon crossing between Farringdon and Bendoura
• Bombay bridge
• Kings Highway, near Braidwood. A bridge at this location was first opened on 23 September 1874,^[15]
  and later replaced by the current structure.
• Stewart's Crossing is a ford on Stewart's Crossing Road.
• Oallen Crossing was formerly a flood-prone single-lane timber bridge with a low-level concrete floodway for the Oallen Ford Road at
  Nerriga, constructed in 1936. The timber bridge and floodway has been replaced by a longer higher concrete bridge crossing slightly downstream, around mid-2015 (date needs checking). .^[16] The new crossing is designed to permit higher speed travel and eliminates some sharp bends on the western side of the river and only to be overtopped by much deeper 1:20-year flood events.^[17]
• Bomaderry
  and Nowra.
• Comerong Island Ferry carries vehicles and pedestrians to Comerong Island near the river mouth.

Historically, there was once a ford crossing at the former village of Larbert.^[18]

Gallery

• 
  Shoalhaven River Gorge, near

  Bundanoon
• 
  Shoalhaven River, near Nowra
• 
  With paddlers

See also

• List of rivers of Australia § New South Wales
• List of rivers in New South Wales (L-Z)
• Morton National Park
• Rivers of New South Wales
• Shoalhaven Scheme

References

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shoalhaven River.

• Gehrke, P. C.; Gilligan, D. M.; Barwick, M. (2002). "Changes in fish communities of the Shoalhaven River 20 years after construction of Tallowa Dam, Australia". River Research and Applications. 18 (3): 265–286.
  S2CID 131725363
  .