Macumba River (

Arabana The Arabana, also known as the Ngarabana, are an Aboriginal Australian people of South Australia. Name The older tribal autonym was Ngarabana, which may have been misheard by white settlers as Arabana, the term now is generally accepted by ne ...

: ''Maka-Wimpa'';

Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Australi ...

: ''Ura-Ingka''), once known as Treuer River, is an

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

freshwater stream in the far north of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, that is part of 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 ...

Course and features

The river rises at the base of Macumba Hill and where the Alberga River joins with Hamilton and Currallulla creeks, it then flows in a south easterly direction entering the Kalamurina Sanctuary and eventually discharges into the

Warburton River The Warburton River (or Warburton Creek) is a freshwater stream in the far north of South Australia that flows southwest and discharges into the eastern side of Lake Eyre. It is one of the state's largest rivers, and is part of the Lake Eyre Bas ...

near the north eastern side of

Lake Eyre Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in the east-central part of the Far North (South Australia), Far North region of South Australia, some 700 km (435 mi) north of Adelaide. It is the larg ...

. The Macumba is situated in an arid region, the

Simpson Desert The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth-largest Deserts of Australia, Australian desert, with an area of . The Wangka ...

and flows only very rarely. Even in years that Lake Eyre fills, such as 2010, most of the water comes from the east, the

Channel Country The Channel Country is a region of outback Australia mostly in the state of Queensland but also in parts of South Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales. The name comes from the numerous Braided river, intertwined rivulets that cro ...

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 ...

. The

Finke River The Finke River, or Larapinta in the Indigenous Arrernte language, is a river in central Australia, whose bed courses through the Northern Territory and the state of South Australia. It is one of the four main rivers of Lake Eyre Basin and is th ...

normally drains into the Simpson Desert to the north west of the Macumba, but in the first decade of the 20th century it is thought that the Finke flowed directly into the Macumba. It is thought that the Finke has flowed to Lake Eyre via the Macumba in 1909, 1938, and 1945. The Macumba is part of the western rivers catchment of the Lake Eyre Drainange basin along with the Peake Creek and

Neales River The Neales River is a watercourse located in the Far North region of the Australian state of South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Aust ...

. The western rivers catchment is composed of sandplains,

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...

scrub,

gibber A desert pavement, also called reg (in western Sahara), serir (in eastern Sahara), gibber (in Australia), or saï (in central Asia) is a desert surface covered with closely packed, interlocking angular or rounded rock fragments of pebble and c ...

plains and dissected residuals. Along with its tributaries the river has a catchment area of . The river passes through a number of permanent and semi-permanent waterholes including Ross waterhole, Walkinna waterhole, Tidnabucca waterhole, Ullabarracoola waterhole and Christmas waterhole. Eleven

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 ...

join the Macumba including the Alberga River, Stevenson Creek, Coomparana Creek, and Yardaparinna Creek.

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

and

peoples, both of whom belong to the Central Australian Desert language group. The Macumba features in the Emu story, which is told in 80 verses. The Arabana word for the Macumba is ''Maka-Wimpa'' which means fire track, the Arrernte word is ''Ura-Ingka'' which also means fire track, named so as the river bed would be the path followed by

bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

in the area. '' Wangkangurru (''also known as ''Arabana/Wangkangurru, Wangganguru, Wanggangurru, Wongkangurru)'' 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 on Wangkangurru country. It is closely related to

Arabana language Arabana or Arabuna is an Australian Aboriginal languages, Australian Aboriginal language of the Pama–Nyungan languages, Pama–Nyungan family, spoken by the Wongkanguru and Arabana people. The language is in steep decline, with an estimated ...

. The Wangkangurru language region was traditionally in the South Australian-Queensland border region taking in

Birdsville Birdsville is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. The locality is on the Queensland border with both the Northern Territory and South Australia. The town is situated north of the South Australian bord ...

and extending south towards Innamincka and

, including the local government areas of the

Shire of Diamantina The Shire of Diamantina is a local government area in Central West Queensland, bordering South Australia and the Northern Territory. Its administrative centre is in the town of Bedourie. Like most places in Queensland with the "Diamantina" nam ...

as well as the

Outback Communities Authority The Outback Communities Authority (OCA) is a statutory authority in South Australia (SA) created under the ''Outback Communities (Administration and Management) Act 2009''. It has been established to "manage the provision of public services and f ...

of South Australia''.''

John McDouall Stuart John McDouall Stuart (7 September 18155 June 1866), often referred to as simply "McDouall Stuart", was a Scottish explorer and one of the most accomplished of all Australia's inland explorers. Stuart led the first successful expedition to tra ...

was the first

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an to explore the area in 1859 when he conducted an expedition to the west of Lake Eyre. In 1870, the Australian Overland Telegraph, which crosses the river near

Oodnadatta Oodnadatta is a small, remote outback town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia, located north-north-west of the state capital of Adelaide city centre, Adelaide by road or direct, at an altitude of . The unsealed Oodnadatta ...

, was being built. In 1984, the Macumba, along with Neales River and the other western tributaries, filled Lake Eyre south and partially filled Lake Eyre north from their discharge following heavy rains in central Australia. The river flooded in both 2011 and 2012 with waters discharging into Lake Eyre each time.

References

{{coord, 27.832645, S, 137.237023, E, region:AU-SA_type:waterbody_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title, format=dms Rivers of South Australia Lake Eyre basin Far North (South Australia)

Course and features

History

See also

References