New South Wales
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, 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 ...
,
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 ...
.
The river rises at the junction of the
Rocky River Rocky River may refer to:
Localities
* Rocky River, Ohio, USA
* Rocky River, New South Wales near Uralla, Australia
Electorates
*Electoral district of Rocky River (South Australia)
Streams
In Australia:
* Rocky River (New South Wales)
* ...
and Boorolong Creek, at Yarrowyck, northwest of Uralla and flows generally northwest and west, joined by over thirty-four
tributaries
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drain ...
, including the Horton and Mehi rivers, before reaching its
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
Collarenebri
Collarenebri is a town in north western New South Wales, Australia. The town is in the Walgett Shire Local Government Area and is situated on the Barwon River approximately northeast of Walgett and south west of Mungindi on the Gwydir Highway. ...
; descending 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 ...
Copeton Dam
Copeton Dam is a major clay core and rock fill embankment dam with nine radial gates and a gated concrete chute spillway across the Gwydir River upstream of Bingara in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. The dam's purpose incl ...
, with storage used for town water supply, stock, domestic use and irrigation. The Gwydir River below Copeton Dam provides some of the wildest whitewater rafting available in Australia. Before the construction of Copeton Dam and much diversionary work, the Gwydir River flowed into the Gingham and Lower Gwydir Wetlands.
The Gwydir Highway was named after the river.
Geography
The Gwydir river rises on the southern part of the Northern Tablelands, near the town of Uralla, and flows about generally north west and then west onto the plains where it branches somewhat, eventually joining the Barwon River, mostly as its main branch the Mehi River, which branches off to the east of Moree, before passing through it. The upper Gwydir River also passes the towns of
Bundarra
Bundarra is a small town on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. The town is located on Thunderbolts Way and on the banks of the Gwydir River, in the Uralla Shire local government area, from the state capital, Sydney. At ...
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...
, and
Pallamallawa
Pallamallawa or "Pally" is a small rural village approximately 30 kilometres east of Moree, in north-western New South Wales, Australia. It is on the banks of the Gwydir River, two kilometres north of the Gwydir Highway between Inver ...
. Further distributaries above Moree are the Carole which then joins with the GilGil Creek to the north that flow into the Barwon River when during times of high rainfall/runoff or water deliveries.
The Gwydir River further splits into two
anabranch
An anabranch is a section of a river or stream that diverts from the main channel or stem of the watercourse and rejoins the main stem downstream. Local anabranches can be the result of small islands in the watercourse. In larger anabranches, ...
west of Moree – the Lower Gwydir or "Big Leather Watercourse" is the southern channel, and the "Gingham Channel" is the northern branch. The Gingham Channel flows west and becomes undefined in wetlands and floodplains around west of Moree. Only in larger flood events does it then join with the Ballone Creek before it flows into the Barwon River. The Big Leather Watercourse then also loses definition in wetlands and floodplains to the west and only larger floods joins with the Barwon River to the west. In turn, the Mehi River joins the Barwon River near the town of Collarenebri.
Over its entire distance, the Gwydir River falls around in elevation from its headwaters, at an elevation of above sea level to when it joins the Barwon River at an elevation of above sea level. The Gwydir River's total length is , in which space and thirty-four tributaries feed into it over its entire length; including the Horton River,
Warialda Creek
Warialda is a town in the North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, in Gwydir Shire. Situated on the banks of Warialda Creek, the town's name means "Place of Wild Honey" in local aboriginal language. At the , Warialda had a populati ...
The traditional custodians of the land surrounding the Gwydir River were the AboriginalKamilaroi peoples.
Explorer Allan Cunningham crossed the river at Gravesend in 1827 and named it after his patron, Peter Burrell, Baron Gwydyr (), who took his title from
Gwydir Castle
Gwydir Castle is situated in the Conwy valley, Wales, a mile to the west of the ancient market town of Llanrwst and to the south of the large village of Trefriw. An example of a fortified manor house dating back to c1500, it is located on t ...
in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
. The Commonwealth Electoral Division of Gwydir, which was created in 1901 and ceased to exist at the
2007 federal election
This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...
, was named for the Gwydir River. In Australia the name is pronounced to rhyme with "wider," whereas the Welsh name is pronounced roughly "Gwidd-eer."
The iron lattice bridges crossing the Gwydir River at Bundarra and Bingara are regarded as significant bridges of the colonial period. Around mid-1838 a war of extirpation, according to local magistrate Edward Denny Day, was waged all along the Gwydir River. Aborigines in the district were repeatedly pursued by parties of mounted and armed stockmen and Day claimed that great numbers of them had been killed at various spots.
Agriculture
A lot of irrigated
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
is grown near Moree, as well as many other crops, livestock and agricultural enterprises. The cotton industry relies on
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...
and has been affected by recent
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
with water allocations to farms severely reduced. In 2006 it was calculated that the cotton industry consumed 87% of the agricultural water taken from the Gwydir River.
Irrigation in the upper Gwydir led to a severe reduction in natural flows downstream. The reduction in water flow has affected landholders who traditionally grazed on wetlands and floodplains and in areas where the waters from the river were used to supplement stock drinking water and for minor watering of pasture and small areas of crops. It also reduced or stopped periodical flushes of water into ephemeral creeks, watercourses and wetlands in the Gingham, Lower Gwydir and Mallowa and other smaller systems. These conflicts resulted in the establishment of the Gwydir Regulated River Management Committee in 1997 and then the Gwydir Environmental Contingency Allowance Operation Advisory Committee when the Gwydir Water Sharing Plan came into effect on 1 July 2004.
Environment
Wetlands
Some of the privately owned Gwydir Wetlands were designated on 14 June 1999 as a
Ramsar site
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O)
*** Permanent 8 ha (P)
*** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts)
**
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
as an
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Inte ...
because, when they receive adequate water inflows, they support more breeding
waterbird
A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from sea ...
s than any other site in the country. At times more than half a million nesting waterbirds have been present, including over 1% of the world populations of nankeen night herons, intermediate egrets, and of
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...
Australasian bittern
The Australasian bittern (''Botaurus poiciloptilus''), also known as the brown bittern or matuku hūrepo, and also nicknamed the "bunyip bird", is a large bird in the heron family Ardeidae. A secretive bird with a distinctive booming call, it is ...
, Black-necked stork and other threatened species have been recorded.
The
Namoi River snapping turtle
The Namoi River snapping turtle (''Myuchelys bellii'' ), also commonly known as Bell's turtle, the Namoi River elseya, or Bell's saw-shelled turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Chelidae.
The species is endemic to New South Wales, Austr ...
or Bell's turtle (''Elseya belli'') is found only in the upper reaches of the Namoi, Gwydir and Macdonald Rivers on the NSW North West Slopes.
See also
*
List of rivers of Australia
This is a list of rivers of Australia. Rivers are ordered alphabetically, by state. The same river may be found in more than one state as many rivers cross state borders.
Longest rivers nationally
Longest river by state or territory
Althoug ...
*
Rivers of New South Wales
This page discusses the rivers and hydrography of the state of New South Wales, Australia.
The principal topographic feature of New South Wales is the series of low highlands and plateaus called the Great Dividing Range, which extend from ...