Great Darling Darling | |
---|---|
Location of Great Darling Anabranch mouth in New South Wales | |
Location | |
Country | Australia |
State | New South Wales |
Region | Far West, Riverina |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Darling River |
• location | south of Menindee |
• coordinates | 32°52′59″S142°21′23″E / 32.88306°S 142.35639°E |
• elevation | 60 m (200 ft) |
Mouth | confluence with the Murray River |
• location | west of Wentworth |
• coordinates | 34°05′48″S141°45′22″E / 34.09667°S 141.75611°E Coordinates: 34°05′48″S141°45′22″E / 34.09667°S 141.75611°E |
• elevation | 33 m (108 ft) |
Length | 460 km (290 mi) |
Basin features | |
River system | Murray River, Murray-Darling basin |
Tributaries | |
• left | Stony Creek (Darling Anabranch) |
• right | Redbank Creek (Darling Anabranch), Coonalhugga Creek, Glue Pot Creek, Popiltah Creek |
Lakes | Lake Mindona; Hunter Waterhole |
[1] [2] |
The Great Darling Anabranch, commonly called the Darling Anabranch, is an anabranch and ancestral path of the Darling River in the lower Murray-Darling basin in the Far West and Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia.
The anabranch flows approximately 460 to 488 kilometres (286 to 303 mi) [1] [2] from its offtake on the Darling River south of Menindee, southward to the Murray River, west of Wentworth. There are approximately twenty ephemeral deflation basin lakes, called the Anabranch Lakes, associated with the Darling Anabranch of which several are over 5,000 hectares (12,000 acres) in size. The Anabranch Lakes and associated marginal vegetation are listed in the Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia and collectively cover an area of 269,000 hectares (660,000 acres). [3]
The Darling Anabranch contains archaeological cultural material and evidence of Aboriginal occupation. [4] The Darling Anabranch is a naturally ephemeral system. After the completion of the Menindee Lakes scheme in the 1960s the system was managed as a permanent water supply for stock and domestic water use for adjacent landholders. A series of 17 weir pools were replenished with an annual replenishment flow, most of which evaporated. Over the 40 years of this flow management there was a decline in the health of the system, including poor water quality, decreased numbers of native fish and a decline in aquatic vegetation. [5]
In 2007 a pipeline was constructed along the length of the Darling Anabranch to supply water to adjacent landholders. The Darling Anabranch was returned to an ephemeral system, with the removal of most structures within the channel, and the first dry phase for over four decades. [4]
Initial results from a ten-year monitoring program have showed a marked ecological response to the restoration of the Darling Anabranch. [4] Monitoring began in September 2010 at the breaking of the 'millennium drought', and detected a strong vegetation response including significant increases in riparian tree condition and in the condition of Lignum, a keystone species on the floodplains of the Murray-Darling Basin. [6] The return of the Darling Anabranch to an ephemeral system also increased native fish diversity, and the system is thought to be crucial to maintaining the Murray-Darling Basin native fish community through provision of important habitat and food resources for juvenile life stages during times of flood. [4]
The Murrumbidgee River is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, descending 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) over 1,485 kilometres (923 mi), generally in a west-northwesterly direction from the foot of Peppercorn Hill in the Fiery Range of the Snowy Mountains towards its confluence with the Murray River near Boundary Bend.
The Darling River is the third-longest river in Australia, measuring 1,472 kilometres (915 mi) from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth, New South Wales. Including its longest contiguous tributaries it is 2,844 km (1,767 mi) long, making it the longest river system in Australia. The Darling River is the outback's most famous waterway.
The Murray cod is a large Australian predatory freshwater fish of the genus Maccullochella in the family Percichthyidae. Although the species is called a cod in the vernacular, it is not related to the Northern Hemisphere marine cod (Gadus) species. The Murray cod is an important part of Australia's vertebrate wildlife—as an apex predator in the Murray-Darling River system—and also significant in Australia's human culture. The Murray cod is the largest exclusively freshwater fish in Australia, and one of the largest in the world. Other common names for Murray cod include cod, greenfish, goodoo, Mary River cod, Murray perch, ponde, pondi and Queensland freshwater cod.
The Culgoa River is a river that is part of the Darling catchment within the Murray–Darling basin and is located in South West Queensland.
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 the Murray and Australia's third-longest river. The basin, which includes six of Australia's seven longest rivers and covers around one-seventh of the Australian landmass, is one of the country's most significant agricultural areas providing one-third of Australia's food supply. Located west of the Great Dividing Range, it drains southwestly into the Great Australian Bight and spans most of the states of New South Wales and Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, and parts of the states of Queensland and South Australia.
Gwydir River, a major inland perennial river of the Barwon catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes, and Orana districts of New South Wales, Australia.
The Lachlan River is an intermittent river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, located in the Southern Tablelands, Central West, and Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia.
Menindee is a small town in the far west of New South Wales, Australia, in Central Darling Shire, on the banks of the Darling River, with a sign-posted population of 980 and a 2016 census population of 551. Menindee was the first town to be established on the Darling River. There are two distinct theories for the derivation of the township’s name: (a) from the Barkindji word "minandichi" for the shallow ephemeral lake north-west of the present-day township; (b) from the Barkindji word 'milhthaka', meaning "yolk of an egg".
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, Australia. It is the home of the Paarkantji people.
The Warrego River is an intermittent river that is part of the Darling catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, which is located in South West Queensland and in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The Warrego River is the northernmost tributary of the Darling River.
Lake Victoria, a naturally occurring shallow freshwater lake of the Murray catchment and part of the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the western Riverina region of south western New South Wales, Australia.
The Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) is the principal government agency in charge of managing the Murray–Darling basin in an integrated and sustainable manner. The MDBA is an independent statutory agency that manages, in conjunction with the Basin states, the Murray–Darling basin's water resources in the national interest. The MDBA reports to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment and Water, held since June 2022 by the Hon Tanya Plibersek.
The Paroo-Darling National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Far West region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 178,053-hectare (439,980-acre) national park spans two distinct regions in the outback area. This region covers the arid catchments of the Paroo River and the Paroo-Darling confluence to the south.
The Barmah National Park, formerly Barmah State Park, is a national park located in the Hume region of the Australian state of Victoria. The park is located adjacent to the Murray River near the town of Barmah, approximately 225 kilometres (140 mi) north of Melbourne. The park consists of river red gum floodplain forest, interspersed with treeless freshwater marshes. The area is subject to seasonal flooding from natural and irrigation water flows.
The Yanga National Park is a newly formed national park, located near the township of Balranald in south- western New South Wales. It covers an area of 66,734 hectares which includes 1,932 hectares of Yanga Nature Reserve, and has a frontage of 170 kilometres (110 mi) on the Murrumbidgee River. It is largely located in the Lower Murrumbidgee Floodplain, which is included on A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia because of its importance as a breeding site for waterbirds when flooded.
The Murray Darling Depression , also known as the Murray-Darling woodlands and mallee, is a 19,717,651 HA biogeographic region and an ecoregion in southeastern Australia consisting of a wooded plain through which flow two of Australia's biggest rivers, the Murray and the Darling. There are several modern human settlements in the bioregion including Ivanhoe and Manilla, but the region also contains some of the oldest known human occupation sites in Australia.
The Menindee Lakes is a system of 9 large, but relatively shallow lakes, located in south-west New South Wales on the Darling (Barka) River, about 200 km upstream of the Darling River's junction with the River Murray. The Darling River is fed by nine major tributary river systems flowing from south-east Queensland and north and central NSW. The town of Menindee is close to the lakes and the nearest city is Broken Hill.
The Narran Wetlands, also known as the Narran Lakes, contained within the Narran Lake Nature Reserve, comprise a series of protected ephemeral lakes and swamps fed by the Narran River in the north-west of New South Wales, Australia. The 26,480-hectare (65,400-acre) reserve is located approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of Brewarrina.
The Toorale National Park is a protected national park that is located in the far-west region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 30,866-hectare (76,270-acre) national park is located approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) southwest of Bourke, at the junction of the Darling and Warrego rivers. The national park is located adjacent to both the Darling River and the Gundabooka National Park, located to the south-east of the park, and the Toorale State Conservation Area, located to the north-west of the park. The park is jointly managed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and the local indigenous Kurnu-Baakandji people.
The following is a maintained list of contemporary Australian environmental and cultural incidents that have resulted in destroyed, degraded or damaged notable cultural or environmental items.
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