The Gellibrand 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 ...
of the
Corangamite catchment, located in the
Otways region of the
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n state of
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
.
Location and features
The Gellibrand River rises in the
Otway Ranges
The Great Otway National Park is a national park located in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated approximately southwest of Melbourne, in the Otway Ranges, a low coastal mountain range. It conta ...
in southwest Victoria, near the locality of
Upper Gellibrand in the
Beech Forest
Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted species i ...
. The river flows in a highly
meander
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...
ing
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 ...
generally west, and then south by west through the
Great Otway National Park
The Great Otway National Park is a national park located in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated approximately southwest of Melbourne, in the Otway Ranges, a low coastal mountain range. It conta ...
and
Port Campbell National Park
The Port Campbell National Park is a national park in the south-western district of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated approximately south-west of Melbourne and approximately east of Warrnambool. The park is located adjacen ...
, joined by fourteen tributaries including the
Carlisle River, before reaching its
river mouth
A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/reservoir, a bay/gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current, reducing the carryin ...
and emptying into the
Great Australian Bight
The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight (geography), bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern Coast, coastline of mainland Australia.
There are two definitions for its extent—one by the Internation ...
, at the locality of . From its highest point, the river descends over its course.
[
In its upper reaches, the river is impounded by the West Gellibrand Dam.][
]
Etymology
The river was named after Joseph Gellibrand
Joseph Tice Gellibrand (1792 – 1837) was the first Attorney-General of the British colony of Van Diemen's Land (now the Australian island province of Tasmania), where he gained notoriety with his attempts to establish full rights of trial by j ...
, a solicitor and colonist from England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.Allansford
Allansford is a town in the Western District, Victoria, Western District of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It is in the City of Warrnambool Local government in Australia, local government area. The Hopkins River flows through the t ...
region, recovered what was widely regarded as the remains of Gellibrand near to the river and subsequently named it after him. Gellibrand had previously gone missing in the Otway region on an expedition in 1837.Gadubanud
The Gadubanud (Katubanut), also known as the Pallidurgbarran, Yarro waetch or Cape Otway tribe ( Tindale), are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Victoria. Their territory encompasses the rainforest plateau and rugged coastline of ...
name for the river was ''Barrat''.
See also
*
References
External links
*
*
Corangamite catchment
Rivers of Barwon South West (region)
Otway Ranges
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