The Goulburn River, a major inland perennial river of the Goulburn Broken catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

, Northern Country/North Central, and Southern Riverina regions of the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

n state of Victoria. The headwaters of the Goulburn River rise in the western end of the Victorian Alps, below the peak of Corn Hill before descending to flow into the Murray River near

Echuca Echuca ( ) is a town on the banks of the Murray River and Campaspe River in Victoria, Australia. The border town of Moama is adjacent on the northern side of the Murray River in New South Wales. Echuca is the administrative centre and larges ...

, making it the longest river in Victoria at . The river is impounded by the Eildon Dam to create

Lake Eildon The Eildon Dam or Eildon Weir, a rock and earth-fill embankment dam with a controlled spillway across the Goulburn River, is located between the regional towns of and within Lake Eildon National Park, in the Alpine region of Victoria, Aust ...

, the Eildon Pondage, the

Goulburn Weir Goulburn Weir is a weir built between 1887 and early 1891 across the Goulburn River near Nagambie, Victoria, Australia. It was the first major diversion structure built for irrigation development in Australia. The weir also forms Lake Nagambie ...

and

Waranga Basin The Waranga Dam is a major earthfill embankment dam with an uncontrolled spillway located approximately north of Melbourne in the North Central region of the Australian state of Victoria. The impounded off-stream reservoir is Waranga Basin ...

Location and features

The river rises below Corn Hill on the southwestern slopes of the Victorian Alps, south of near the town of in the

Shire of Mansfield The Mansfield Shire is a local government area in the Hume region of Victoria, Australia, located in the north-east part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018, had a population of 8,979. It includes the towns of Mansfield, Mai ...

. The river flows generally north, then west, then north, then west passing through or adjacent to the regional cities and towns of , , , , Arcadia Downs, before reaching its confluence with the Murray River near Echuca. The Goulburn has 41 tributaries including the

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

, Jamieson,

Howqua Wu Bingjian (; 17694 September 1843), trading as "Houqua" and better known in the West as "Howqua", was a hong merchant in the Thirteen Factories, head of the '' E-wo hong'' and leader of the Canton Cohong. He was once the richest man in the wor ...

, Delatite, Big, Rubicon, Acheron, Yea, and Broken rivers and the

Seven Creeks Seven Creeks is a creek in Victoria, Australia that is a part of the Murray-Darling Basin. The confluence of this river is located in Kialla, flowing into the Goulburn River. The creek passes through Euroa. In 1836 during his " Australia Fel ...

. The river descends over its

course Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

. In addition to being the longest river in Victoria, the Goulburn also has the highest discharge and the highest annual flow of any river in Victoria. The area surrounding the river is very productive as a result of irrigated agriculture. The Goulburn (Along with the Upper Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers) accounts for 45% of the Murray-Darling Basin's total runoff. By contrast, the Darling basin contributes just 31.7% of the basin's total runoff.

River quality

Much of the flow is extracted, and the river is very heavily regulated, which has strongly affected the river's ecosystem. With recent years being some of the driest on record in the basin, there has been even further stress on the river's ecosystem. Because of all this there has been much controversy over the construction of the North–South Pipeline, which will pipe of water annually to Melbourne's water supply. There are arguments that all the water piped to Melbourne will be saved water, by the upgrade of the irrigation infrastructure in the Goulburn river basin all a part of a food bowl modernisation project. In June 2008 the Murray-Darling Basin Commission released a report on the condition of the Murray-Darling basin, with the Goulburn and Murrumbidgee rivers both rated in a very poor condition in the Murray-Darling basin with fish stocks in both rivers were also rated as extremely poor.

Recreation

The Goulburn Heritage River was declared in 1992 in recognition of its unique natural, recreational, scenic and cultural values. In June 2010, the

Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and t ...

created the Lower Goulburn National Park to protect and enhance the River Red Gum forests in Victoria. Red River Gum forests line the Goulburn River for most of its length, reaching up to in height and live more than 500 years. The trees need periods of flooding and can survive inundation for months. Their seeds are washed onto higher ground during a flood and germinate and grow before the next flood reaches them. Hollows and broken branches provide nesting for galahs, cockatoos, cockatiels and various parrots, while fallen branches provide habitat for other animals. Additional activities on the river include canoeing, sightseeing and picnicking, swimming, and fishing, with Murray Cod, Golden Perch and Spiny freshwater crayfish found in the lower reaches of the river. In the upper reaches, there are extensive forests of very tall

mountain ash Mountain ash may refer to: * '' Eucalyptus regnans'', the tallest of all flowering plants, native to Australia * Mountain-ashes or rowan The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus'' of the rose family, Rosa ...

and mixed species and may be described as typical trout streams.

Etymology

In the Aboriginal Taungurung language, the river has several names: ''Warring'', meaning "big or large water"; ''Bayyango'', where Thomas Mitchell noted that this word appeared to be a generic word for river, and (also in the Ngurai-illam Wurrung dialect/language) ''Omio'' with no clearly defined meaning. In the Yorta Yorta language, the river has several names: ''Koninner'', meaning "the country at the junction of the Murray and Goulburn rivers; ''Gungupna'', with ''gupna'' meaning "deep waterholes"; and ''Gaiyila'', meaning "father of waters". Hamilton Hume and William Hovell explored the area in 1824, naming the Goulburn River in honour of Major

Frederick Goulburn Frederick Goulburn (1788 – 10 February 1837) was a British army officer and the first Colonial Secretary of New South Wales (1 January 1821 to 7 January 1826). He was the third son of Munbee Goulburn of Portland Place London, and his wife Su ...

, the first Colonial Secretary of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

References

External links