The Bulloo River is an isolated

drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils can prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditions that harm root gro ...

system in western

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, central Australia. Its

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

, which extends into northern

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, is an important area for

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 seabi ...

s when inundated. It comprises most of the

Bulloo-Bancannia drainage basin The Bulloo-Bancannia drainage basin or Cooper Creek–Bulloo River Basin is a Level 2 drainage basin that covers part of western Queensland and New South Wales. It was recognised by the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO as a subdivision of the Lake ...

Description

The Bulloo is the only river in the region not part of either the

Murray–Darling basin The Murray–Darling Basin is a large geographical area in the interior of southeastern Australia, encompassing the drainage basin of the tributaries of the Murray River, Australia's longest river, and the Darling River, a right tributary of ...

or the

Lake Eyre basin The Lake Eyre basin ( ) is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. It is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about , including much of inland Queensland, large port ...

; instead it flows into several ephemeral lakes which are blocked by low hills from reaching the Lake Frome, the

Paroo River The Paroo River, a series of waterholes, connected in wet weather as a running stream of the Darling catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the South West region of Queensland and Far West region of New South Wales, Aust ...

or the Lake Bancannia systems. In its lowest reaches, which extend to near Tibooburra, New South Wales, is the distributary known as Bella Creek. It is believed that in past wet periods the Bulloo has had connections to Lake Frome because its fish fauna resembles that of the Lake Eyre basin rather than that of the Murray–Darling basin. Several tributaries flow into the Bulloo in its upper reaches, the largest being Blackwater Creek. Ranges of low hills prevent the lower reaches of the Bulloo from receiving significant tributaries.

Hydrology

Hydrologically, the Bulloo is very similar to the

Darling River The Darling River (or River Darling; Paakantyi: ''Baaka'' or ''Barka''), is the third-longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth. Including its long ...

and

Cooper Creek The Cooper Creek (formerly Cooper's Creek) is a river in the Australian states of Queensland and South Australia. It was the site of the death of the explorers Burke and Wills in 1861. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its ...

. It is usually completely dry except for water holes, but during years of strong monsoonal activity in the summer the Bulloo can flood heavily to discharges of more than 1000 m³/s, and annual flows of up to five times the mean. In dry years annual rainfall can be as low as 100mm (4 inches) throughout the basin and years of zero runoff are not unknown.

Climate

Annual rainfall throughout the basin ranges from 330 mm (13 inches) in the north to 200 mm (8 inches) in the south, with the northward increase being due to higher falls in the summer. In the winter, rainfall is rare throughout the basin, with the average between April and October generally around 115 mm (4.5 inches), though on extremely rare occasions such as 1920-1921 and 1956 the river has had a significant flood during the winter. The basin was flooded in the March 2010 Queensland floods and again in the floods of early 2012. Temperatures in the summer are extreme throughout except during monsoonal activity, with mean maxima around 38 °C (100 °F) in January and minina around 23 °C (74 °F). In the winter maxima remain warm, ranging from 20 °C (68 °F) in the south to 25 °C (77 °F) in the north, but

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...

s are not unknown at night.

Environment

The Bulloo basin is used almost exclusively for the extensive grazing of

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

and

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

. The only towns within the basin are the former

opal Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silicon dioxide, silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3% to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6% and 10%. Due to the amorphous (chemical) physical structure, it is classified as a ...

mining town of

Quilpie Quilpie ( ) is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Quilpie, Shire of Quilpie, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Quilpie had a population of 530 people. The town is the administrative cent ...

and, further downstream,

Thargomindah Thargomindah (frequently shortened to Thargo) is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Bulloo, Queensland, Australia. The town of Thargomindah is the administrative centre for the Shire of Bulloo. In the , the locality of Thargomindah h ...

. There is only one major protected area, Idalia National Park, in the entire basin, located in the river's headwaters. The Bulloo floodplain, with an area of about 9240 km² is classified by

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 i ...

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 Int ...

. When it floods the site supports several hundred thousand

s, with over 1% of the populations of red-necked avocet, grey teal,

Australasian shoveler The Australasian shoveler (''Spatula rhynchotis'') is a species of dabbling duck in the genus ''Spatula''. It ranges from . It lives in heavily vegetated swamps. In Australia it is protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. ...

Pink-eared duck The pink-eared duck (''Malacorhynchus membranaceus'') is a species of duck found in Australia. Description The pink-eared duck has a large spatulate bill like the Australasian shoveler, but is smaller at 38–40 cm length. Its brown back ...

and

freckled duck The freckled duck (''Stictonetta naevosa)'' is a waterfowl species endemic to Australia. The freckled duck has also been referred to as the monkey duck or oatmeal duck. These birds are usually present in mainland Australia, but disperse to coas ...

. It also contains the entire population of a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the

grey grasswren The grey grasswren (''Amytornis barbatus'') is a passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is found on arid inland floodplains of Australia where it is endemic. The grey grasswren is a rarely seen elusive bird that was first ...

History

The

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of the area are the Kalili people. Kalili (also known as Galali, Kalali, Kunja, Kurnja, Galili, Kullalli, Ngura) is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

spoken by the Kalili people. The Kullili language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Paroo Shire and Bulloo Shire, taking in Eulo and extending west towards

taking in the properties of Bulloo Downs and Currawinya.

References

{{Rivers of Queensland Bulloo River Floods in Queensland Important Bird Areas of Queensland Floodplains of Australia Important Bird Areas of New South Wales South West Queensland