Greenough River

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Greenough River
Country Australia
Physical characteristics
Main source Jingemarra Station
391 metres (1,283 ft) [1]
River mouth Cape Burney
Length 340 kilometres (211 mi) [2]
Basin features
Basin size 13,200 square kilometres (5,097 sq mi) [3]

The Greenough River /ˈɡrɛnəf/ is a river in the Mid West region of Western Australia.

Mid West (Western Australia) Region in Western Australia

The Mid West region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is a sparsely populated region extending from the west coast of Western Australia, about 200 kilometres (120 mi) north and south of its administrative centre of Geraldton and inland to 450 kilometres (280 mi) east of Wiluna in the Gibson Desert.

Western Australia state in Australia

Western Australia is a state occupying the entire western third of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, and the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a total land area of 2,529,875 square kilometres, and the second-largest country subdivision in the world, surpassed only by Russia's Sakha Republic. The state has about 2.6 million inhabitants – around 11 percent of the national total – of whom the vast majority live in the south-west corner, 79 per cent of the population living in the Perth area, leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated.

Contents

Course

Greenough River has its headwaters near Woojalong Hills on the Yilgarn Plateau. It runs in a south-westerly direction through deep valleys for approximately 340 kilometres (211 mi), passing through the Waterloo Ranges before descending to the coastal plain. A few kilometres from the sea it is obstructed by dunes, and turns to the north-west, running along a dune swale parallel with the coast for about 35 km before finally discharging into the Indian Ocean at Cape Burney, about 9 kilometres (6 mi) south of Geraldton, Western Australia. [4]

Swale (landform) low tract of land

A swale is a shallow channel with gently sloping sides. A swale may be either natural or man-made. Artificial swales are often infiltration basins, designed to manage water runoff, filter pollutants, and increase rainwater infiltration.

Indian Ocean The ocean between Africa, Asia, Australia and Antarctica (or the Southern Ocean)

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering 70,560,000 km2 (27,240,000 sq mi). It is bounded by Asia on the north, on the west by Africa, on the east by Australia, and on the south by the Southern Ocean or, depending on definition, by Antarctica.

The ten tributaries that contribute to the Greenough are Woojalong Brook, Woolbarka Brook, Bangemall Creek, Urawa River, Kolanadgy Gully, Nangerwalla Creek, Wooderarrung River, Wandin Creek, Kockatea Creek and Wicherina Brook.

Tributary stream or river that flows into a main stem river or lake

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater, leading the water out into an ocean.

The lower reaches of the Greenough are estuarine; how far upriver the estuary extends is not certain, but probably about 7 km to near Bootenal Springs. The river mouth is barred from the ocean by a sandbar that breaks only in periods of strong flow. Once open, it usually remains open for several months. The bar has now been reinforced with brushwood on the northern side, to force the bar to open only on the southern side, where the adjacent dune is more stable. [4]

Evidence from wind gaps suggests that, thousands of years ago, the Greenough River turned to the north-west a few kilometres further from the coast than it does at present, at the present-day site of Walkaway. It then ran along the inside of a limestone ridge, following what is now the path of the Geraldton–Dongara railway line, to the vicinity of Rudds Gully. Both watercourses then flowed north to discharge into the Chapman River. Later, Rudds Gully cut its own path to the ocean, and the Greenough River discharged into it; and later still, the Greenough cut its own path through the limestone ridge at Walkaway, thus forming its own course. [4]

Walkaway is a small town in the City of Greater Geraldton local government area of Western Australia. At the 2016 census, Walkaway had a population of 270.

The well-documented strong winds at Greenough have resulted in large mobile dune systems both to the south and north of the Greenough River mouth. Both are gradually moving northwards, and it is estimated that the southern dune will reach the mouth of the Greenough around 2045, at which point the Greenough may well become even more prone to flooding, or be forced to change its course. [4]

Greenough, Western Australia Town in Western Australia

Greenough is a historical settlement situated in a floodplain 400 kilometres north of Perth, Western Australia and 24 kilometres south of Geraldton on the Brand Highway. The settlement's historical buildings are mostly built of local limestone and date to the second half of the 19th century. A sizeable collection of these are owned and managed by the National Trust of Australia. A remarkable feature of the Greenough Flats is its windswept trees, some of which are bent a full 90 degrees due to the prevailing coastal winds.

Hydrology

The river is dry most of the time, but has a number of permanent pools such as Bootenal Spring. However, the entire basin is prone to severe flooding which has periodically devastated local farming communities. The worst on record occurred in 1888: over 50 square kilometres (19 sq mi) was flooded; the water was over 5 metres (16 ft) deep south of Greenough; four people were drowned and many financially ruined; and ultimately the town of Greenough was abandoned. [4]

Another flood occurred in 1953 with the river being reported as 100 yards (91 m) past the width of the floods in 1883. An 8 feet (2 m) wall of water washed down the river then steadily rose until it was 20 feet (6 m) high, completely covering the bridge near Walkaway, Western Australia. The 1953 flood was the biggest in 30 years. [5]

The river water is eutrophic and sediment-laden, and there is evidence that this has affected the ecology of the area, with migratory wading birds no longer visiting the floodplain in numbers as large as previously. [4]

History

The Greenough River was named on 8 April 1839 by the explorer George Grey, while on his second disastrous expedition along the Western Australian coast, after George Bellas Greenough, President of the Royal Geographical Society in 1837 at the time Grey's expedition was equipped. [6] [2]

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References

  1. ↑ "Bonzle Digital Atlas – Map of Greenough River, WA". 2008. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
  2. 1 2 Western Australian Land Information Authority. "History of river names". Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
  3. ↑ "Gindalbie Metals Ltd – Report on European and use and heritage significance of landalong a propose slurry pipeline" (PDF). 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brearley, Anne (2005). Ernest Hodgkin's Swanland: Estuaries and coastal lagoons of Southwestern Australia. University of Western Australia Press. pp. 278–279. ISBN   1-920694-38-2.
  5. ↑ "Driver rescues flood victim". The West Australian . Perth: National Library of Australia. 27 March 1953. p. 8. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Grey, George (1841). Journals of two expeditions of discovery in North-West and Western Australia, during the years 1837, 38, and 39, describing many newly discovered, important, and fertile districts, with observations on the moral and physical condition of the aboriginal inhabitants, etc. etc. 2. London: T. and W. Boone. p. 26. Retrieved 17 March 2012. (entry for 8 April 1839)

Coordinates: 28°51′00″S114°38′00″E / 28.85000°S 114.63333°E / -28.85000; 114.63333

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