The Brockman River is a

perennial river A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

located in the Wheatbelt region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Course and features

The river rises north of Bindoon Hill and then flows generally in a southerly direction. The river is crossed by the

Great Northern Highway Great Northern Highway is an Australian highway that links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its northernmost port, Wyndham. With a length of almost , it is the longest highway in Australia, with the majority included as part of the ...

near the Bindoon-Moora Road turnoff and flows parallel with the highway as it continues southward. Passing the town of and through Lake Needoonga and Lake Chittering, the highway crosses the river as the river veers eastward. The river then passes and finally discharges into the Avon River near Jumperkine Hill just north of

Walyunga National Park Walyunga National Park is a national park in Western Australia, 35 km northeast of Perth along the Great Northern Highway. There is also an eponymous locality of the City of Swan, but the boundaries of the national park and the locality are ...

. The river has many smaller

tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' 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 into which the ...

including Wootra Brook, Spice Brook, Longbridge Gully, Marbling Brook, and Marda Brook. 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 ...

. The Brockman has the largest

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, th ...

in the Lower Avon and Upper Swan River catchments. The natural resource base of the river is deteriorating as a result of clearing of natural vegetation which in turn has led to

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

and

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

. The first European to pass by the river was the surveyor

Francis Thomas Gregory Francis Thomas "Frank" Gregory (19 October 1821 – 23 October 1888) was an Australian explorer and politician. Born in England, he emigrated with his family to Australia as a boy. He was the younger brother of the explorer and politician Augu ...

who named the river in 1853. The river is named after

William Locke Brockman William Locke Brockman (1802 – 28 November 1872) was an early settler in Western Australia, who became a pastoralist and stock breeder, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council. Biography Born in Kent, England, in 1802, Wi ...

who was a pastoralist in the region with large land holdings and a

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative A ...

References

Avon River (Western Australia) {{WesternAustralia-river-stub

Course and features

See also

References