The Baffle Creek is a

creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...

in Central Queensland,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Course and features

The Baffle Creek rises near Arthurs Seat in the Eurimbula State Forest and just south of the Eurimbula National Park in the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

. The creek flows initially southward, hemmed to the west by the Westwood Range and to the east by

Mount Dromedary Gulaga, dual-named as Mount Dromedary and also referred to as Mount Gulaga, is mountain located in the south coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It rises above the village of Central Tilba and is within the Gulaga National Park. At its ...

. The creek continues south crossed by the Bruce Highway just east of Miriam Vale and then turns south east forming braided channels near Sonoma and hemmed to the east by the Gwynne Range resulting in the formation of one named island, Grants Island. It then is crossed by the Bruce Highway again and turns east under Mount Maria then north and flows through the

Mouth of Baffle Creek Conservation Park The Mouth of Baffle Creek Conservation Parks are a series of two protected conservation parks located adjacent to the mouth of the Baffle Creek, on the central coastal region of Queensland, Australia Australia, officially the Commonw ...

and finally discharges into the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...

south of Rules Beach and northeast of Winfield. At its mouth the creek again forms an anabranch around Long Island. The catchment area of the creek occupies an of which an area of is composed of

estuarine An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

wetlands.

Etymology

The creek was named in the 1850s by the pastoralist and politician,

William Henry Walsh William Henry Walsh (18 December 1823 – 5 April 1888) was an Australian pioneer pastoralist or squatter and politician in early Queensland. He was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1859-1859, Member of the Queensland Leg ...

, during an expedition led by him to track an

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

raiding party into the bush. The footprints of the raiders disappeared in the dense bush along the creek banks leading the party unable to follow them further and leading Walsh to name the creek as Baffle Creek.

References

{{Rivers of Queensland Rivers of Queensland Central Queensland

Course and features

Etymology

See also

References