Gulf rivers
| River name | Length | |
|---|---|---|
| km | miles | |
 | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (March 2016) |
The principal topographic feature of Queensland is the series of low highlands and plateaus called the Great Dividing Range, which extend from north to south roughly parallel to the coast of the Coral Sea of the South Pacific Ocean. The four main categories of rivers in Queensland are those that rise on the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range and flow eastwards to the sea, the Coastal rivers; those that rise on the other side of the crest of the range and flow north-westward, towards the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Gulf rivers; those that also rise on the other side of the crest of the range and flow south-westward, forming part of the Murray–Darling basin, the Murray–Darling rivers; and those that generally rise in the west of the state and flow south-westward, towards the Lake Eyre basin, the Lake Eyre rivers. One river is isolated and does not flow towards any other basin or sea.
The following rivers are the longest river systems, by length. [1]
| Order | River name | Length | Region(s) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| km | mi | ||||
| 1 | Cooper Creek | 1,113 | 692 | Lake Eyre Basin | River course is located in Queensland and South Australia |
| 2 | Warrego | 1,380 | 857 | ||
| 3 | Paroo | 1,210 | 752 | ||
| 4 | Flinders | 1,004 | 624 | Entire course of the river is located in Queensland. | |
| 5 | Diamantina | 941 | 585 | ||
| River name | Length | |
|---|---|---|
| km | miles | |
| Annan | 66 | 41 |
| Barron | 165 | 103 |
| Bizant | 37 | 23 |
| Black | 33 | 21 |
| Bloomfield | 18 | 11 |
| Bohle | 37 | 23 |
| Boyne | 125 | 78 |
| Brisbane | 344 | 214 |
| Burdekin | 886 | 551 |
| Burnett | 435 | 270 |
| Burrum | 31 | 19 |
| Caboolture | 46 | 29 |
| Calliope | 98 | 61 |
| Chester | 15 | 9 |
| Claudie | 23 | 14 |
| Coomera | 80 | 50 |
| Daintree | 140 | 87 |
| Don | 60 | 37 |
| Elliot | 49 | 30 |
| Elliott | 25 | 16 |
| Endeavour | 140 | 87 |
| Fitzroy | 480 | 298 |
| Gregory | 321 | 199 |
| Herbert | 288 | 179 |
| Haughton | 110 | 68 |
| Howick | 25 | 16 |
| Hull | 21 | 13 |
| Jeannie | 43 | 27 |
| Johnstone | 200 | 124 |
| Kolan | 195 | 121 |
| Lockhart | 36 | 22 |
| Logan | 184 | 114 |
| Marrett | 46 | 29 |
| Maroochy | 26 | 16 |
| Mary | 291 | 181 |
| Mcivor | 65 | 40 |
| Mooloolah | 70 | 43 |
| Moresby | 19 | 12 |
| Mossman | 24 | 15 |
| Mowbray | 13 | 8 |
| Mulgrave | 70 | 43 |
| Murray | 70 | 43 |
| Nerang | 62 | 39 |
| Nesbit | 41 | 25 |
| Noosa | 60 | 37 |
| North Kennedy | 117 | 73 |
| O'Connell | 34 | 21 |
| Olive | 70 | 43 |
| Pascoe | 119 | 74 |
| Pimpama | 80 | 50 |
| Pine | 7 | 4 |
| Pioneer | 120 | 75 |
| Proserpine | 69 | 43 |
| Ross | 49 | 30 |
| Russell | 59 | 37 |
| Seymour | 19 | 12 |
| Starcke | 38 | 24 |
| Stewart | 96 | 60 |
| Styx | 33 | 21 |
| Tully | 133 | 83 |
| River name | Length | |
|---|---|---|
| km | miles | |
| | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (March 2016) |
| River name | Length | |
|---|---|---|
| km | miles | |
| Balonne | 479 | 298 |
| Bokhara | 347 | 216 |
| Boomi | 231 | 144 |
| Condamine | 657 | 408 |
| Culgoa | 489 | 304 |
| Langlo | 440 | 273 |
| Little Weir | 78 | 48 |
| Macintyre | 319 | 198 |
| Maranoa | 519 | 322 |
| Merivale | 250 | 155 |
| Moonie | 542 | 337 |
| Narran | 299 | 186 |
| Nive (Qld) | 263 | 163 |
| Nivelle | 19 | 12 |
| Paroo | 1,210 | 752 |
| Pike Creek (Qld) | 117 | 73 |
| Severn (Qld) | 90 | 56 |
| Ward (Central West Qld) | 455 | 283 |
| Warrego | 1,380 | 857 |
| Weir (Qld) | 470 | 292 |
| River name | Length | |
|---|---|---|
| km | miles | |
| Barcoo | ||
| Burke | ||
| Cooper Creek | 1,113 | 692 |
| Flinders | 1,004 | 624 |
| Georgina | 1,130 | 702 |
| Hamilton | ||
| Ranken | ||
| Thomson | ||
| Torrens | ||
| River name | Length | |
|---|---|---|
| km | miles | |
| Bulloo | 600 | 373 |
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs roughly parallel to the east coast of Australia and forms the fifth-longest land-based mountain chain in the world, and the longest entirely within a single country. It is mainland Australia's most substantial topographic feature and serves as the definitive watershed for the river systems in eastern Australia, hence the name.
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. 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 Barcoo River in western Queensland, Australia rises on the northern slopes of the Warrego Range, flows in a south-westerly direction and unites with the Thomson River to form Cooper Creek. The first European to see the river was Thomas Mitchell in 1846, who named it Victoria River, believing it to be the same river as that named Victoria River by J. C. Wickham in 1839. It was renamed by Edmund Kennedy after a name supplied by local Aborigines.
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 1,200,000 square kilometres (463,323 sq mi), including much of inland Queensland, large portions of South Australia and the Northern Territory, and a part of western New South Wales. The basin is also one of the largest, least-developed arid zone basins with a high degree of variability anywhere. It supports only about 60,000 people and has no major irrigation, diversions or flood-plain developments. Low density grazing that sustains a large amount of wildlife is the major land use, occupying 82% of the total land within the basin. The Lake Eyre basin of precipitation to a great extent geographically overlaps the Great Artesian Basin underneath.
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 southwest 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.
The Cooper 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 tributaries and is one of three major Queensland river systems that flow into the Lake Eyre basin. The flow of the creek depends on monsoonal rains falling months earlier and many hundreds of kilometres away in eastern Queensland. It is 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) in length.
This page discusses the rivers and hydrography of the state of New South Wales, Australia.
The Severn River, a perennial river that forms part of the Border Rivers group, is part of the Macintyre catchment of the Murray–Darling basin, located in the Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales, Australia.
The Namoi River, a major perennial river that is part of the Barwon catchment of the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes districts of New South Wales, Australia.
Stream capture, river capture, river piracy or stream piracy is a geomorphological phenomenon occurring when a stream or river drainage system or watershed is diverted from its own bed, and flows instead down the bed of a neighbouring stream. This can happen for several reasons, including:
The north-east coast drainage division or north-east coast basin is the area of Queensland between the Great Dividing Range and the Pacific Ocean. It lies between Torres Strait and an arbitrary line drawn along the Queensland - New South Wales border. In the north it meets the Gulf of Carpentaria basin to its west while further south lies the Lake Eyre Basin and the Murray-Darling Basin. In the south the Australian south-east coast drainage division continues to the east of the Great Divide.
The Border Rivers are a group of Australian rivers and the associated region near part of the state border between New South Wales and Queensland.
The Bulloo RiverBUUL-oo is an isolated drainage system in western Queensland, central Australia. Its floodplain, which extends into northern New South Wales, is an important area for waterbirds when inundated. It comprises most of the Bulloo-Bancannia drainage basin.
A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not connected to the open sea. Every continent on earth except Antarctica has at least one continental drainage divide; islands, even small ones like Killiniq Island on the Labrador Sea in Canada, may also host part of a continental divide or have their own island-spanning divide. The endpoints of a continental divide may be coastlines of gulfs, seas or oceans, the boundary of an endorheic basin, or another continental divide. One case, the Great Basin Divide, is a closed loop around an endorheic basin. The endpoints where a continental divide meets the coast are not always definite since the exact border between adjacent bodies of water is usually not clearly defined. The International Hydrographic Organization's publication Limits of Oceans and Seas defines exact boundaries of oceans, but it is not universally recognized. Where a continental divide meets an endorheic basin, such as the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming, the continental divide splits and encircles the basin. Where two divides intersect, they form a triple divide, or a tripoint, a junction where three watersheds meet.
The Burke River is an ephemeral river in Central West Queensland, Australia. The river was named in memory of Robert O'Hara Burke of the Burke and Wills expedition.
The Alice River in central Queensland, Australia rises on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range. The river bisects the Shire of Barcaldine, flowing in a south-westerly direction towards Isisford and its confluence with the Barcoo River. The town of Barcaldine is located on the Alice River. The Alice River's tributaries include Jordan Creek and Lagoon Creek. The Alice River is often dry, except after the annual summer rains.
The Campaspe River, an inland intermittent river of the north–central catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the lower Riverina bioregion and Central Highlands and Wimmera regions of the Australian state of Victoria. The headwaters of the Campaspe River rise on the northern slopes of the Great Dividing Range and descend to flow north into the Murray River, Australia's longest river, near Echuca.
The Weir River, a river that is part of the Border Rivers group and also forms part of the Barwon River catchment in the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia.
A triple divide or triple watershed is a point on Earth's surface where three drainage basins meet. A triple divide results from the intersection of two drainage divides. Triple divides range from prominent mountain peaks to minor side peaks, down to simple slope changes on a ridge which are otherwise unremarkable. The elevation of a triple divide can be thousands of meters to barely above sea level. Triple divides are a common hydrographic feature of any terrain that has rivers, streams and/or lakes.
