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Murrumbidgee River: Difference between revisions

Coordinates: 34°43′43″S 143°13′8″E / 34.72861°S 143.21889°E / -34.72861; 143.21889
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{{short description|Major river in southeastern Australia}}
{{short description|Major river in southeastern Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2013}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2013}}
{{Infobox river
{{Infobox river
| name = Murrumbidgee River
| name = Murrumbidgee River
| native_name =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| native_name_lang =
| name_other =
| name_other =
| name_etymology = [[Indigenous Australians|Aboriginal]] [[Wiradjuri language]]: "big water"<ref name=gnbriver/>
| name_etymology = [[Indigenous Australians|Aboriginal]] [[Wiradjuri language]]: "big water"<ref name=gnbriver/>
| nickname = 'bidgee
| nickname = 'bidgee
<!---------------------- IMAGE & MAP -->
<!---------------------- IMAGE & MAP -->| image = Murrumbidgee River - October 2008.jpg
| image_size = 320
| image = Murrumbidgee River - October 2008.jpg
| image_caption = Murrumbidgee River at [[Wagga Wagga]]
| image_size = 320
| image_caption = Murrumbidgee River at [[Wagga Wagga]]
| map = Darling Lachlan Murrumbidgee Murray Rivers.png
| map_size =
| map = Darling Lachlan Murrumbidgee Murray Rivers.png
| map_caption = The Murrumbidgee is a major tributary of the Murray River
| map_size =
| pushpin_map =
| map_caption = The Murrumbidgee is a major tributary of the Murray River
| pushpin_map =
| pushpin_map_size =
| pushpin_map_caption = <!---------------------- LOCATION -->
| pushpin_map_size =
| subdivision_type1 = Country
| pushpin_map_caption=
| subdivision_name1 = [[Australia]]
<!---------------------- LOCATION -->
| subdivision_type2 = [[States and territories of Australia|State/Territory]]
| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name2 = {{ubl|[[New South Wales]]|[[Australian Capital Territory]]}}
| subdivision_name1 = [[Australia]]
| subdivision_type2 = [[States and territories of Australia|State/Territory]]
| subdivision_type3 = [[Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia|IBRA]]
| subdivision_name2 = {{ubl|[[New South Wales]]|[[Australian Capital Territory]]}}
| subdivision_name3 = {{hlist|[[South Eastern Highlands]]|[[Riverina]]}}
| subdivision_type4 = Districts
| subdivision_type3 = [[Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia|IBRA]]
| subdivision_name3 = {{hlist|[[South Eastern Highlands]]|[[Riverina]]}}
| subdivision_name4 = {{hlist|[[Monaro (New South Wales)|Monaro]]|[[Capital Country]]|[[South Western Slopes]]|[[Riverina]]|[[Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area]]}}
| subdivision_type5 = Municipalities
| subdivision_type4 = Districts
| subdivision_name5 = {{hlist|[[Queanbeyan–Palerang Regional Council|Queanbeyan–Palerang]]|[[Snowy Monaro Regional Council|Snowy Monaro]]|[[Yass Valley Council|Yass Valley]]|[[Snowy Valleys Council|Snowy Valleys]]|[[Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council|Cootamundra-Gundagai]]|[[Junee Shire Council|Junee]]|[[Coolamon Shire Council|Coolamon]]|[[Wagga Wagga City Council|Wagga Wagga]]|[[Narrandera Shire Council|Narrandera]]|[[Leeton Shire Council|Leeton]]|[[City of Griffith|Griffith]]|[[Greater Hume Shire Council|Greater Hume]]|[[Murrumbidgee Council|Murrumbidgee]]}}
| subdivision_name4 = {{hlist|[[Monaro (New South Wales)|Monaro]]|[[Capital Country]]|[[South West Slopes]]|[[Riverina]]|[[Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area]]}}
<!---------------------- PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS -->| length = {{convert|1485|km|mi|abbr=on}}<ref name=GA>{{cite web |url=http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/national-location-information/landforms/longest-rivers#heading-1 |title=Longest Rivers |work=[[Geoscience Australia]] |publisher=Australian Government |date=September 2008 |access-date=18 March 2017 }}</ref>
| subdivision_type5 = Municipalities
| width_min =
| subdivision_name5 = {{hlist|[[Queanbeyan–Palerang Regional Council|Queanbeyan–Palerang]]|[[Snowy Monaro Regional Council|Snowy Monaro]]|[[Yass Valley Council|Yass Valley]]|[[Snowy Valleys Council|Snowy Valleys]]|[[Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council|Cootamundra-Gundagai]]|[[Junee Shire Council|Junee]]|[[Coolamon Shire Council|Coolamon]]|[[Wagga Wagga City Council|Wagga Wagga]]|[[Narrandera Shire Council|Narrandera]]|[[Leeton Shire Council|Leeton]]|[[City of Griffith|Griffith]]|[[Greater Hume Shire Council|Greater Hume]]|[[Murrumbidgee Council|Murrumbidgee]]}}
| width_avg =
<!---------------------- PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS -->
| width_max =
| length = {{convert|1485|km|mi|abbr=on}}<ref name=GA>{{cite web |url=http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/national-location-information/landforms/longest-rivers#heading-1 |title=Longest Rivers |work=[[Geoscience Australia]] |publisher=Australian Government |date=September 2008 |access-date=18 March 2017 }}</ref>
| width_min =
| depth_min =
| width_avg =
| depth_avg =
| width_max =
| depth_max =
| discharge1_location = [[Wagga Wagga]]<ref name=NSWoverview>{{cite book|last1=Green|first1=D|title=Water resources and management overview: Murrumbidgee catchment|date=2011|publisher=NSW Office of Water|url=http://www.water.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/548012/catchment_overview_murrumbidgee.pdf|page=14|access-date=4 April 2016|archive-date=17 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417160524/https://www.water.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/548012/catchment_overview_murrumbidgee.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| depth_min =
| depth_avg =
| discharge1_min =
| discharge1_avg = {{convert|120|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}<ref name=NSWoverview/>
| depth_max =
| discharge1_max =
| discharge1_location= [[Wagga Wagga]]<ref name=NSWoverview>{{cite book|last1=Green|first1=D|title= Water resources and management overview: Murrumbidgee catchment |date=2011|publisher= NSW Office of Water| url=http://www.water.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/548012/catchment_overview_murrumbidgee.pdf |page=14}}</ref>
| discharge2_location = [[Narrandera]]
| discharge1_min =
| discharge2_min =
| discharge1_avg = {{convert|120|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}<ref name=NSWoverview>{{cite book|last1=Green|first1=D|title= Water resources and management overview: Murrumbidgee catchment |date=2011|publisher= NSW Office of Water| url=http://www.water.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/548012/catchment_overview_murrumbidgee.pdf |page=14}}</ref>
| discharge2_avg = {{convert|105|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}
| discharge1_max =
| discharge2_max =
| discharge2_location= [[Narrandera]]
| discharge3_location = [[Balranald]]
| discharge2_min =
| discharge3_min =
| discharge2_avg = {{convert|105|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}
| discharge3_avg = {{convert|27|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}
| discharge2_max =
| discharge3_max = <!---------------------- BASIN FEATURES -->
| discharge3_location= [[Balranald]]
| source1 = [[Peppercorn Hill]]
| discharge3_min =
| source1_location = [[Snowy Mountains]], [[New South Wales|NSW]]
| discharge3_avg = {{convert|27|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}
| source1_coordinates = {{coord|35|35|7|S|148|36|5|E|display=inline}}
| discharge3_max =
| source1_elevation = {{convert|1560|m|abbr=on}}
<!---------------------- BASIN FEATURES -->
| mouth = [[confluence]] with [[Murray River]]
| source1 = [[Peppercorn Hill]]
| source1_location = [[Snowy Mountains]], [[New South Wales|NSW]]
| mouth_location = near [[Boundary Bend, Victoria|Boundary Bend]], [[New South Wales|NSW]]/[[Victoria (state)|Vic]]
| source1_coordinates= {{coord|35|35|7|S|148|36|5|E|display=inline}}
| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|34|43|43|S|143|13|8|E|display=inline,title}}
| source1_elevation = {{convert|1560|m|abbr=on}}
| mouth_elevation = {{convert|55|m|abbr=on}}
| progression =
| mouth = [[confluence]] with [[Murray River]]
| waterfalls =
| mouth_location = near [[Boundary Bend, Victoria|Boundary Bend]], [[New South Wales|NSW]]/[[Victoria (Australia)|Vic]]
| river_system = [[Murray River]], [[Murray–Darling basin]]
| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|34|43|43|S|143|13|8|E|display=inline,title}}
| mouth_elevation = {{convert|55|m|abbr=on}}
| basin_size = {{convert|84917|km2|abbr=on}}
| tributaries_left = [[Gudgenby River]], [[Cotter River]], [[Goodradigbee River]], [[Tumut River]]
| progression =
| tributaries_right = [[Numeralla River]], [[Bredbo River]], [[Molonglo River]], [[Yass River]], [[Lachlan River]]
| waterfalls =
| custom_label = [[Reservoir]]s
| river_system = [[Murray River]], [[Murray-Darling basin]]
| custom_data = [[Tantangara Reservoir]], [[Burrinjuck Dam|Lake Burrinjuck]]
| basin_size = {{convert|84917|km2|abbr=on}}
| extra =<ref name=MCMA>{{cite web |url=http://www.murrumbidgee.cma.nsw.gov.au/about/catchment.aspx |title=Our Catchment |work=Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority |publisher=Government of New South Wales |year=2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140127051947/http://www.murrumbidgee.cma.nsw.gov.au/about/catchment.aspx|archive-date=27 January 2014|access-date=22 January 2013}}</ref><ref name=bonzle>{{cite web |url=http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&cmd=sp&p=213097&st=&s=murrumbidgee |title=Map of Murrumbidgee River |work=Bonzle.com |access-date=22 January 2013}}</ref>
| tributaries_left = [[Gudgenby River]], [[Cotter River]], [[Goodradigbee River]], [[Tumut River]]
| tributaries_right = [[Bredbo River]], [[Molonglo River]], [[Yass River]], [[Lachlan River]]
| custom_label = [[Reservoir]]s
| custom_data = [[Tantangara Reservoir]], [[Burrinjuck Dam|Lake Burrinjuck]]
| extra = <ref name=MCMA>{{cite web |url=http://www.murrumbidgee.cma.nsw.gov.au/about/catchment.aspx |title=Our Catchment |work=Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority |publisher=Government of New South Wales |year=2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140127051947/http://www.murrumbidgee.cma.nsw.gov.au/about/catchment.aspx|archive-date=27 January 2014|access-date=22 January 2013}}</ref><ref name=bonzle>{{cite web |url=http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&cmd=sp&p=213097&st=&s=murrumbidgee |title=Map of Murrumbidgee River |work=Bonzle.com |access-date=22 January 2013}}</ref>
}}
}}


The '''Murrumbidgee River''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ʌr|ə|m|ˈ|b|ɪ|dʒ|i}}<ref>{{cite book | title = Macquarie ABC Dictionary | publisher = The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd | year = 2003 | pages = 647, 853 | isbn = 1-876429-37-2}}</ref>) 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 {{convert|1500|m}} over {{convert|1485|km|mi|0}},<ref name=GA/> 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, Victoria|Boundary Bend]].
The '''Murrumbidgee River''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ʌr|ə|m|ˈ|b|ɪ|dʒ|i}}<ref>{{cite book | title = Macquarie ABC Dictionary | publisher = The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd | year = 2003 | pages = 647, 853 | isbn = 1-876429-37-2}}</ref>) 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 {{convert|1500|m}} over {{convert|1485|km|mi|0}},<ref name=GA/> 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, Victoria|Boundary Bend]].


The word ''Murrumbidgee'' or ''Marrmabidya'' means "big water" in the [[Wiradjuri language]], one of the local [[Australian Aboriginal languages]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Marrambidya Wetland|url=https://visitwagga.com/blog/wetland-wanderings|access-date=2021-12-17|website=Visit Wagga|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Booth|first=Alison|date=2021-05-08|title=An affecting tale of dispossession|url=https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7235813/an-affecting-tale-of-dispossession/|access-date=2021-12-17|website=The Canberra Times|language=en-AU}}</ref><ref name=gnbriver>{{NSW GNR|id=ujjLjzxOIt|title=Murrumbidgee River|access-date=8 June 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PzIer-wYbnQC&pg=PA246|title=Placenames of the World|page=246|publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland]]|year=2003|isbn=0-7864-1814-1|last=Room|first=Adrian}}</ref> The river itself flows through several traditional [[Aboriginal Australian]] lands, home to various [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal peoples]]. In the Australian Capital Territory, the river is bordered by a narrow strip of land on each side; these are managed as the Murrumbidgee River Corridor (MRC).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/609630/Murrumbidgee-River-Corridor-Brochure.pdf|title=Murrumbidgee River Corridor|website=Territory and Municipal Services|access-date=23 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413015152/http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/609630/Murrumbidgee-River-Corridor-Brochure.pdf|archive-date=13 April 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> This land includes many [[nature reserve]]s, eight recreation reserves, a European heritage conservation zone and rural leases.
The word ''Murrumbidgee'' or ''Marrambidya'' means "big water" in the [[Wiradjuri language]], one of the local [[Australian Aboriginal languages]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Marrambidya Wetland|url=https://visitwagga.com/blog/wetland-wanderings|access-date=2021-12-17|website=Visit Wagga}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Booth|first=Alison|date=2021-05-08|title=An affecting tale of dispossession|url=https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7235813/an-affecting-tale-of-dispossession/|access-date=2021-12-17|website=[[The Canberra Times]]}}</ref><ref name=gnbriver>{{NSW GNR|id=ujjLjzxOIt|title=Murrumbidgee River|access-date=8 June 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PzIer-wYbnQC&pg=PA246|title=Placenames of the World|page=246|publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland]]|year=2003|isbn=0-7864-1814-1|last=Room|first=Adrian}}</ref> The river itself flows through several traditional [[Aboriginal Australian]] lands, home to various Aboriginal peoples. In the Australian Capital Territory, the river is bordered by a narrow strip of land on each side; these are managed as the Murrumbidgee River Corridor (MRC).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/609630/Murrumbidgee-River-Corridor-Brochure.pdf|title=Murrumbidgee River Corridor|website=[[Transport Canberra & City Services|Territory & Municipal Services]]|access-date=23 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413015152/http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/609630/Murrumbidgee-River-Corridor-Brochure.pdf|archive-date=13 April 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> This land includes many [[nature reserve]]s, eight recreation reserves, a European heritage conservation zone and rural leases.


== Flow ==
== Flow ==
The mainstream of the river system flows for {{Convert|900|km|mi}}.<ref name="NSWDeptEnvAndCnsrvtn">{{cite web |year=1995 |url=http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/soe/95/9_4.htm |title= Murrumbidgee River Catchment |work=Catchment Case Studies |publisher=NSW Department of Environment and Conservation |access-date=13 July 2006 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060419004701/http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/soe/95/9_4.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=19 April 2006}}</ref> The river's headwaters arise from the wet heath and bog at the foot of Peppercorn Hill situated along [[Long Plain]] which is within the Fiery Range of the [[Snowy Mountains]]; and about {{convert|50|km}} north of [[Kiandra, New South Wales|Kiandra]]. From its headwaters it flows to its confluence with the [[Murray River]]. The river flows for {{Convert|66|km|mi}} through the Australian Capital Territory near [[Canberra]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/13321/interimrecreationstrategy0804.pdf |title=Interim recreation study for the natural areas of the ACT |publisher=[[ACT Government]] |page=23|date=April 2004|access-date=8 June 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080726144013/http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/13321/interimrecreationstrategy0804.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=26 July 2008}}</ref> picking up the important tributaries of the Gudgenby, [[Queanbeyan River|Queanbeyan]], [[Molonglo River|Molonglo]] and [[Cotter River]]s. The Murrumbidgee drains much of southern New South Wales and all of the Australian Capital Territory, and is an important source of irrigation water for the [[Riverina]] farming area.
The mainstream of the river system flows for {{Convert|900|km|mi}}.<ref name="NSWDeptEnvAndCnsrvtn">{{cite web |year=1995 |url=http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/soe/95/9_4.htm |title= Murrumbidgee River Catchment |work=Catchment Case Studies |publisher=NSW Department of Environment and Conservation |access-date=13 July 2006 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060419004701/http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/soe/95/9_4.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=19 April 2006}}</ref> The river's headwaters arise from the wet heath and bog at the foot of Peppercorn Hill situated along [[Long Plain]] which is within the Fiery Range of the [[Snowy Mountains]]; and about {{convert|50|km}} north of [[Kiandra, New South Wales|Kiandra]]. From its headwaters it flows to its confluence with the [[Murray River]]. The river flows for {{Convert|66|km|mi}} through the Australian Capital Territory near [[Canberra]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/13321/interimrecreationstrategy0804.pdf |title=Interim recreation study for the natural areas of the ACT |publisher=[[ACT Government]] |page=23|date=April 2004|access-date=8 June 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080726144013/http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/13321/interimrecreationstrategy0804.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=26 July 2008}}</ref> picking up the important tributaries of the [[Gudgenby River|Gudgenby]], [[Queanbeyan River|Queanbeyan]], [[Molonglo River|Molonglo]] and [[Cotter River]]s. The Murrumbidgee drains much of southern New South Wales and all of the Australian Capital Territory, and is an important source of irrigation water for the [[Riverina]] farming area.


The reaches of the Murrumbidgee in the [[Australian Capital Territory]] (ACT) are affected by the complete elimination of large spring snow melt flows and a reduction of average annual flows of almost 50%, due to [[Tantangara Dam]].<ref name="eflow panel 1997">{{cite report|title = Expert panel environmental flow assessment of the upper Murrumbidgee River|publisher =NSW Environmental Protection Authority|year =1997}}</ref> Tantangara Dam was completed in 1960 on the headwaters of Murrumbidgee River and diverts approximately 99% of the river's flow at that point into [[Lake Eucumbene]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Lintermans |first=Mark |title=The re-establishment of endangered Macquarie perch Macquaria australasica in the Queanbeyan River, New South Wales, with an examination of dietary overlap with alien trout |publisher=Environment ACT and Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology |url=http://freshwater.canberra.edu.au/publications.nsf/f8748e6acfab1b7fca256f1e001536e1/9ffa733471131b0aca25725f00244a04/$FILE/Macq%20Perch%20reintrod%20Qbyn%20R%20-%20Web%202006.pdf |access-date=8 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807000955/http://freshwater.canberra.edu.au/publications.nsf/f8748e6acfab1b7fca256f1e001536e1/9ffa733471131b0aca25725f00244a04/$FILE/Macq%20Perch%20reintrod%20Qbyn%20R%20-%20Web%202006.pdf |archive-date=7 August 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">"eflow panel 1997"</ref> This has extremely serious effects on native fish populations and other native aquatic life and has led to serious siltation, stream contraction, fish habitat loss and other problems. The Murrumbidgee where it enters the ACT is effectively half the river it used to be.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{Cite book | author1=Lintermans, Mark | author2=Australian Capital Territory. Department of Urban Services | author3=Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology (Australia) | author4=Australian Capital Territory. Environment ACT | title=The status of fish in the Australian Capital Territory : a review of current knowledge and management requirements | date=2000 | publisher=Environment ACT | isbn=978-1-86331-473-2 }}</ref>
The reaches of the Murrumbidgee in the [[Australian Capital Territory]] (ACT) are affected by the complete elimination of large spring snowmelt flows and a reduction of average annual flows of almost 50%, due to [[Tantangara Dam]].<ref name="eflow panel 1997">{{cite report|title = Expert panel environmental flow assessment of the upper Murrumbidgee River|publisher =NSW Environmental Protection Authority|year =1997}}</ref> Tantangara Dam was completed in 1960 on the headwaters of Murrumbidgee River and diverted approximately 99% of the river's flow at that point into [[Lake Eucumbene]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Lintermans |first=Mark |title=The re-establishment of endangered Macquarie perch Macquaria australasica in the Queanbeyan River, New South Wales, with an examination of dietary overlap with alien trout |publisher=Environment ACT and Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology |url=http://freshwater.canberra.edu.au/publications.nsf/f8748e6acfab1b7fca256f1e001536e1/9ffa733471131b0aca25725f00244a04/$FILE/Macq%20Perch%20reintrod%20Qbyn%20R%20-%20Web%202006.pdf |access-date=8 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807000955/http://freshwater.canberra.edu.au/publications.nsf/f8748e6acfab1b7fca256f1e001536e1/9ffa733471131b0aca25725f00244a04/$FILE/Macq%20Perch%20reintrod%20Qbyn%20R%20-%20Web%202006.pdf |archive-date=7 August 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">"eflow panel 1997"</ref> This has extremely serious effects on native fish populations and other native aquatic life and has led to serious siltation, stream contraction, fish habitat loss, and other problems. The Murrumbidgee where it enters the ACT is effectively half the river it used to be.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{Cite book | author1=Lintermans, Mark | author2=Australian Capital Territory. Department of Urban Services | author3=Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology (Australia) | author4=Australian Capital Territory. Environment ACT | title=The status of fish in the Australian Capital Territory : a review of current knowledge and management requirements | date=2000 | publisher=Environment ACT | isbn=978-1-86331-473-2 }}</ref> The reduced and significantly modified flow of the river is further exacerbated by dams on its tributaries, such as [[Scrivener Dam]], [[Cotter Dam]], and [[Googong Dam]].


A study suggests a section of the upper river's channels are relatively new in geological terms, dating from the early [[Miocene]] (the Miocene era being from 23 to 5 million years ago). It is suggested that the Upper Murrumbidgee is an [[anabranch]] of the [[Tumut River]] (that once continued north along Mutta Mutta Creek) when geological uplift near [[Adaminaby, New South Wales|Adaminaby]] diverted its flow. From [[Gundagai, New South Wales|Gundagai]] onwards the rivers flow within its ancestral channel.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Sharp, K. R. |title=Cenozoic volcanism, tectonism, and stream derangement in the Snowy Mountains and northern Monaro of New South Wales |journal=Australian Journal of Earth Sciences |year=2004 |volume=51 |pages=67–83 |doi=10.1046/j.1400-0952.2003.01045.x}}</ref>
A study suggests a section of the upper river's channels are relatively new in geological terms, dating from the early [[Miocene]] (the Miocene era being from 23 to 5 million years ago). It is suggested that the Upper Murrumbidgee is an [[anabranch]] of the [[Tumut River]] (that once continued north along Mutta Mutta Creek) when geological uplift near [[Adaminaby]] diverted its flow. From [[Gundagai, New South Wales|Gundagai]] onwards the rivers flow within its ancestral channel.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Sharp, K. R. |title=Cenozoic volcanism, tectonism, and stream derangement in the Snowy Mountains and northern Monaro of New South Wales |journal=Australian Journal of Earth Sciences |year=2004 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=67–83 |doi=10.1046/j.1400-0952.2003.01045.x|bibcode=2004AuJES..51...67S }}</ref>


In June 2008 the [[Murray-Darling Basin Commission]] released a report on the condition of the [[Murray-Darling basin]], with the [[Goulburn River (Victoria)|Goulburn]] and Murrumbidgee Rivers rated in a very poor condition in the Murray-Darling basin with fish stocks in both rivers were also rated as extremely poor, with only 13 of the original 22 native fish species still found in the Murrumbidgee River.<ref>{{cite conference |title=Sustainable Rivers Audit |pages=14, 50 |publisher=Murray-Darling Basin Commission |date=June 2008 |url=http://www.mdbc.gov.au/__data/page/2260/34373_MDBC_SRA_Report_Web.pdf |access-date=21 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719164235/http://mdbc.gov.au/__data/page/2260/34373_MDBC_SRA_Report_Web.pdf |archive-date=19 July 2008 }}</ref>
In June 2008 the [[Murray-Darling Basin Commission]] released a report on the condition of the [[Murray–Darling basin]], with the [[Goulburn River (Victoria)|Goulburn]] and Murrumbidgee Rivers rated in a very poor condition in the Murray-Darling basin with fish stocks in both rivers were also rated as extremely poor, with only 13 of the original 22 native fish species still found in the Murrumbidgee River.<ref>{{cite conference |title=Sustainable Rivers Audit |pages=14, 50 |publisher=Murray-Darling Basin Commission |date=June 2008 |url=http://www.mdbc.gov.au/__data/page/2260/34373_MDBC_SRA_Report_Web.pdf |access-date=21 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719164235/http://mdbc.gov.au/__data/page/2260/34373_MDBC_SRA_Report_Web.pdf |archive-date=19 July 2008 }}</ref>


== History ==
== History ==
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== Exploration ==
== Exploration ==


The Murrumbidgee River was known to Europeans before it was first recorded by them.&nbsp; In 1820 the explorer [[Charles Throsby]] informed the Governor of New South Wales that he anticipated finding "a considerable river of salt water (except at very wet seasons), called by the natives Mur-rum-big-gee". In the expedition journal, Throsby wrote as a marginal note: ''"This river or stream is called by the natives Yeal-am-bid-gie ..."''.<ref>Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1931 (ABS cat. no. 1301.0)</ref> The river he had stumbled upon was in fact the [[Molonglo River]], Throsby reached the actual river in April 1821.<ref>Reed, A. W., ''Place-names of New South Wales: Their Origins and Meanings'', (Reed: 1969).</ref>
The Murrumbidgee River was known to Europeans before they first recorded it.&nbsp; In 1820 the explorer [[Charles Throsby]] informed the Governor of New South Wales that he anticipated finding "a considerable river of salt water (except at very wet seasons), called by the natives Mur-rum-big-gee". In the expedition journal, Throsby wrote as a marginal note: ''"This river or stream is called by the natives Yeal-am-bid-gie ..."''.<ref>Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1931 (ABS cat. no. 1301.0)</ref> The river he had stumbled upon was in fact the [[Molonglo River]], Throsby reached the actual river in April 1821.<ref>Reed, A. W., ''Place-names of New South Wales: Their Origins and Meanings'', (Reed: 1969).</ref>


In 1823, [[John Ovens|Brigade-Major John Ovens]] and Captain [[Mark John Currie|Mark Currie]] reached the upper Murrumbidgee when exploring south of [[Lake George (New South Wales)|Lake George]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cooma.nsw.gov.au/culturalmap/history/historyfirstpage.htm |title=Discovery of the Monaro |website=Cooma-Monaro Shire Council|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018064926/http://www.cooma.nsw.gov.au/culturalmap/history/historyfirstpage.htm|archive-date=18 October 2015}}</ref> In 1829, [[Charles Sturt]] and his party rowed down the lower half of the Murrumbidgee River in a stoutly built, large row-boat, from Narrandera to the Murray River, and then down the Murray River to the sea. They then rowed back upstream, against the current, to their starting point.<ref>{{cite book | last = Sturt| first = Charles| author-link = Charles Sturt | title = Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia | orig-year = 1833 | url = http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4330/4330.txt | format = txt | access-date = 2006-08-26 | year = 2004 | publisher = Project Gutenberg EBook }}</ref> Sturt's description of their passage through the junction of the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers is dramatic. His description of wild strong currents in the Murrumbidgee—''in the middle of summer'' (14 January 1830), when flows are declining and close to the seasonal summer/autumn minimum, are in contrast to the reduced flow seen at the junction today in mid-summer:
In 1823, [[John Ovens|Brigade-Major John Ovens]] and Captain [[Mark John Currie|Mark Currie]] reached the upper Murrumbidgee when exploring south of [[Lake George (New South Wales)|Lake George]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cooma.nsw.gov.au/culturalmap/history/historyfirstpage.htm |title=Discovery of the Monaro |website=Cooma-Monaro Shire Council|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018064926/http://www.cooma.nsw.gov.au/culturalmap/history/historyfirstpage.htm|archive-date=18 October 2015}}</ref> In 1829, [[Charles Sturt]] and his party rowed down the lower half of the Murrumbidgee River in a stoutly built, large row-boat, from Narrandera to the Murray River, and then down the Murray River to the sea. They rowed back upstream, against the current to their starting point.<ref>{{cite book | last = Sturt| first = Charles| author-link = Charles Sturt | title = Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia | orig-year = 1833 | url = http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4330/4330.txt | format = txt | access-date = 2006-08-26 | year = 2004 | via = Project Gutenberg }}</ref> Sturt's description of their passage through the junction of the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers is dramatic. His description of wild strong currents in the Murrumbidgee—''in the middle of summer'' (14 January 1830), when flows are declining and close to the seasonal summer/autumn minimum, is in contrast to the reduced flow seen at the junction today in mid-summer:


<blockquote>The men looked anxiously out ahead; for the singular change in the river had impressed on them an idea, that we were approaching its termination ... '''We were carried at a fearful rate down its gloomy and contracted banks''' ... At 3 p.m., Hopkinson called out that we were approaching a junction, and in less than a minute afterwards, we were hurried into a broad and noble river ... '''such was the force with which we had been shot out of the Morumbidgee, that we were carried nearly to the bank opposite its embouchure''', whilst we continued to gaze in silent astonishment on the capacious channel [of the Murray River] we had entered ...</blockquote>
<blockquote>The men looked anxiously out ahead; for the singular change in the river had impressed on them an idea, that we were approaching its termination ... '''We were carried at a fearful rate down its gloomy and contracted banks''' ... At 3 p.m., Hopkinson called out that we were approaching a junction, and in less than a minute afterwards, we were hurried into a broad and noble river ... '''such was the force with which we had been shot out of the Morumbidgee, that we were carried nearly to the bank opposite its embouchure''', whilst we continued to gaze in silent astonishment on the capacious channel [of the Murray River] we had entered ...</blockquote>
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The Murrumbidgee basin was opened to settlement in the 1830s and soon became an important farming area.
The Murrumbidgee basin was opened to settlement in the 1830s and soon became an important farming area.


[[File:Charles Sturt Monument.jpg|thumb|right|Charles Sturt Monument located at Wagga Beach in [[Wagga Wagga, New South Wales|Wagga Wagga]]]]
[[File:Charles Sturt Monument.jpg|thumb|right|Charles Sturt Monument located at Wagga Beach in [[Wagga Wagga]]]]


[[Ernest Favenc]], when writing on Australian exploration, commented on the relatively tardy European discovery of the river and that the river retained a name used by [[Indigenous Australians]]:
[[Ernest Favenc]], when writing on Australian exploration, commented on the relatively tardy European discovery of the river and that the river retained a name used by [[Indigenous Australians]]:


<blockquote>Here we may remark on the tenacity with which the Murrumbidgee River long eluded the eye of the white man. It is scarcely probable that Meehan and Hume, who on this occasion were within comparatively easy reach of the head waters, could have seen a new inland river at that time without mentioning the fact, but there is no record traceable anywhere as to the date of its discovery, or the name of its finder. When in 1823 Captain Currie and Major Ovens were led along its bank on to the beautiful Maneroo country by Joseph Wild, the stream was then familiar to the early settlers and called the Morumbidgee. Even in 1821, when Hume found the Yass Plains, almost on its bank, he makes no special mention of the river. From all this we may deduce the extremely probable fact that the position of the river was shown to some stockrider by a native, who also confided the aboriginal name, and so it gradually worked the knowledge of its identity into general belief. This theory is the more feasible as the river has retained its native name. If a white man of any known position had made the discovery, it would at once have received the name of some person holding official sway.<ref>{{cite book | last = Favenc | first = Ernest | author-link = Ernest Favenc | title = The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work | orig-year = 1908 | url = http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10840/10840.txt | format = txt | access-date = 2006-08-26 | year = 2004 | publisher = Project Gutenberg EBook | chapter = Chapter 4}}</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>Here we may remark on the tenacity with which the Murrumbidgee River long eluded the eye of the white man. It is scarcely probable that Meehan and Hume, who on this occasion were within comparatively easy reach of the head waters, could have seen a new inland river at that time without mentioning the fact, but there is no record traceable anywhere as to the date of its discovery, or the name of its finder. When in 1823 Captain Currie and Major Ovens were led along its bank on to the beautiful Maneroo country by Joseph Wild, the stream was then familiar to the early settlers and called the Morumbidgee. Even in 1821, when Hume found the Yass Plains, almost on its bank, he makes no special mention of the river. From all this we may deduce the extremely probable fact that the position of the river was shown to some stockrider by a native, who also confided the aboriginal name, and so it gradually worked the knowledge of its identity into general belief. This theory is the more feasible as the river has retained its native name. If a white man of any known position had made the discovery, it would at once have received the name of some person holding official sway.<ref>{{cite book | last = Favenc | first = Ernest | author-link = Ernest Favenc | title = The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work | orig-year = 1908 | url = http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10840/10840.txt | format = txt | access-date = 2006-08-26 | year = 2004 | via = Project Gutenberg | chapter = Chapter 4}}</ref></blockquote>


== Navigation ==
== Navigation ==
The river was once used as a transport route, with paddle steamers navigating the river as far as [[Gundagai#Riverboat trade|Gundagai]]. The river trade declined with the coming of the railways. Paddle steamers last used the Murrumbidgee in the 1930s. To allow the steamers and towed barges to pass, there were opening bridges at [[Hay Bridge, New South Wales|Hay]] , [[Balranald#Developments to 1900|Balranald]], and [[Murrumbidgee River bridge, Carrathool|Carathool]]<ref>{{Cite web|date=September 1973|title="New bridges" (PDF). Main Roads: Journal of the Department of Main Roads, New South Wales. NSW 39 (1): 1–3. Retrieved 7 April 2020.|url=https://media.opengov.nsw.gov.au/pairtree_root/ab/fb/bf/4e/9a/11/4d/d3/94/fd/bf/d4/d3/35/39/ec/obj/Sep_1973.pdf|series=39 (1)|publisher=Department of Main Roads; Government of New South Wales.}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|author=GHD Group|author-link=GHD Group|date=n.d.|title=Volume 2: Bascule and Swing Span Bridges – Movable Span Bridge Study|url=https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/documents/about/environment/protecting-heritage/moveable-span-bridge-study-volume-2-bascule-and-swing-span-bridges-part-2.pdf|access-date=7 April 2020|website=[[Roads and Maritime Services]]|pages=144, 147, 148, 149}}</ref>
The river was once used as a transport route, with paddle steamers navigating the river as far as [[Gundagai#Riverboat trade|Gundagai]]. The river trade declined with the coming of the railways. Paddle steamers last used the Murrumbidgee in the 1930s. To allow the steamers and towed barges to pass, there were opening bridges at [[Hay Bridge, New South Wales|Hay]], [[Balranald#Developments to 1900|Balranald]], and [[Murrumbidgee River bridge, Carrathool|Carathool]]<ref>[https://media.opengov.nsw.gov.au/pairtree_root/ab/fb/bf/4e/9a/11/4d/d3/94/fd/bf/d4/d3/35/39/ec/obj/Sep_1973.pdf New bridges] ''[[Main Roads (periodical)|Main Roads]]'' September 1979 pages 3-5</ref><ref name=":0">[https://web.archive.org/web/20160203132748/https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/documents/about/environment/protecting-heritage/moveable-span-bridge-study-volume-2-bascule-and-swing-span-bridges-part-2.pdf Bascule and Swing Span Bridges – Movable Span Bridge Study] [[GHD Group]] pages 144, 147-149</ref>


== Floods ==
== Floods ==
[[File:Murrumbidgee River in major flood and historic maker showing the '74 flood 1.jpg|thumb|Murrumbidgee River in major flood in December 2010 and flood marker showing the height of the 1974 floods in Wagga Wagga]]
[[File:Murrumbidgee River in major flood and historic maker showing the '74 flood 1.jpg|thumb|Murrumbidgee River in major flood in December 2010 and flood marker showing the height of the 1974 floods in [[Wagga Wagga]]]]

The river has risen above {{Convert|7|m|ft|0}} at Gundagai nine times between 1852 and 2010, an average of just under once every eleven years. Since 1925, flooding has been minor with the exception of floods in 1974 and in December 2010, when the river rose to {{Convert|10.2|m|ft|0}} at Gundagai.<ref>{{cite news |title=Evacuation begins |url=http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/news/local/news/general/evacuation-begins/2016788.aspx |access-date=5 December 2010 |work=The Daily Advertiser |date=5 December 2010}}</ref> In the 1852 disaster, the river rose to just over {{Convert|12.2|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}. The following year the river again rose to just over {{Convert|12.5|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}. The construction of [[Burrinjuck Dam]] from 1907 has significantly reduced flooding but, despite the dam, there were major floods in 1925, 1950, 1974 and 2012.<ref>{{cite book |last=Butcher |first=Cliff |year=2002 |title=Gundagai: A track winding back |publisher=A. C. Butcher |location=Gundagai, NSW, Australia |isbn=0-9586200-0-8 | pages = 84–98 |chapter=Chapter 9 Floods}}</ref><ref name="WWCC">{{cite web |title=Murrumbidgee River & Floods |url=http://www.wagga.nsw.gov.au/city-of-wagga-wagga/wagga-wagga/murrumbidgee-river-and-floods |publisher=[[City of Wagga Wagga|Wagga Wagga City Council]] |access-date=11 March 2012}}</ref>
The river has risen above {{Convert|7|m|ft|0}} at Gundagai nine times between 1852 and 2010, an average of just under once every eleven years. Since 1925, flooding has been minor with the exception of floods in 1974 and in December 2010, when the river rose to {{Convert|10.2|m|ft|0}} at Gundagai.<ref>{{cite news |title=Evacuation begins |url=http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/news/local/news/general/evacuation-begins/2016788.aspx |access-date=5 December 2010 |work=The Daily Advertiser |date=5 December 2010}}</ref> In the 1852 disaster, the river rose to just over {{Convert|12.2|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}. The following year the river again rose to just over {{Convert|12.5|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}. The construction of [[Burrinjuck Dam]] from 1907 has significantly reduced flooding but, despite the dam, there were major floods in 1925, 1950, 1974 and 2012.<ref>{{cite book |last=Butcher |first=Cliff |year=2002 |title=Gundagai: A track winding back |publisher=A. C. Butcher |location=Gundagai, NSW, Australia |isbn=0-9586200-0-8 | pages = 84–98 |chapter=Chapter 9 Floods}}</ref><ref name="WWCC">{{cite web |title=Murrumbidgee River & Floods |url=http://www.wagga.nsw.gov.au/city-of-wagga-wagga/wagga-wagga/murrumbidgee-river-and-floods |publisher=[[City of Wagga Wagga|Wagga Wagga City Council]] |access-date=11 March 2012}}</ref>


The most notable flood was in 1852 when the town of [[Gundagai, New South Wales|Gundagai]] was swept away and 89 people, a third of the town's population, were killed. The town was rebuilt on higher ground.<ref>{{cite web|title=1852, June, Gundagai flood|url=http://www.emergency.nsw.gov.au/content.php/636.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110327144603/http://www.emergency.nsw.gov.au/content.php/636.html|archive-date=27 March 2011|website=Emergency New South Wales|publisher=Ministry of Police and Emergency Services|access-date=23 April 2013}}</ref>
The most notable flood was in 1852 when the town of [[Gundagai]] was swept away and 89 people, a third of the town's population, were killed. The town was rebuilt on higher ground.<ref>{{cite web|title=1852, June, Gundagai flood|url=http://www.emergency.nsw.gov.au/content.php/636.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110327144603/http://www.emergency.nsw.gov.au/content.php/636.html|archive-date=27 March 2011|website=Emergency New South Wales|publisher=Ministry of Police and Emergency Services|access-date=23 April 2013}}</ref>


In 1925, four people died and the flooding lasted for eight days.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2121432 |title=Disastrous Floods. – Many Families Homeless – Four Men Drowned |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=29 May 1925 |access-date=18 July 2014 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2121442 |title=HEAVY LOSSES AT GUNDAGAI. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=29 May 1925 |access-date=20 February 2016 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>[http://www.ema.gov.au/ema/emadisasters.nsf/6a1bf6b4b60f6f05ca256d1200179a5b/f8472dcf9b9c1767ca256d3300058003?OpenDocument Australian Government Emergency Management database] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060924053953/http://www.ema.gov.au/ema/emadisasters.nsf/6a1bf6b4b60f6f05ca256d1200179a5b/f8472dcf9b9c1767ca256d3300058003?OpenDocument |date=24 September 2006 }}</ref>
In 1925, four people died and the flooding lasted for eight days.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2121432 |title=Disastrous Floods. – Many Families Homeless – Four Men Drowned |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=29 May 1925 |access-date=18 July 2014 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2121442 |title=HEAVY LOSSES AT GUNDAGAI. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=29 May 1925 |access-date=20 February 2016 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>[http://www.ema.gov.au/ema/emadisasters.nsf/6a1bf6b4b60f6f05ca256d1200179a5b/f8472dcf9b9c1767ca256d3300058003?OpenDocument Australian Government Emergency Management database] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060924053953/http://www.ema.gov.au/ema/emadisasters.nsf/6a1bf6b4b60f6f05ca256d1200179a5b/f8472dcf9b9c1767ca256d3300058003?OpenDocument |date=24 September 2006 }}</ref>


The reduction in floods has consequences for wildlife, particularly birds and trees. There has been a decline in bird populations and [[Eucalyptus largiflorens|black box]] flood plain eucalypt forest trees are starting to lose their crowns.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2001/s398444.htm |author=Troy, Michael |date=23 October 2001 |publisher=[[ABC1]] |location=Australia |format=transcript |title=Report warns of damage to Murrumbidgee River |work=7.30 Report |access-date=22 January 2013}}</ref>
The reduction in floods has consequences for wildlife, particularly birds and trees. There has been a decline in bird populations and [[Eucalyptus largiflorens|black box]] flood plain eucalypt forest trees are starting{{when|date=October 2022}} to lose their crowns.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2001/s398444.htm |author=Troy, Michael |date=23 October 2001 |publisher=[[ABC1]] |location=Australia |format=transcript |title=Report warns of damage to Murrumbidgee River |work=7.30 Report |access-date=22 January 2013}}</ref>


Major flooding occurred during March 2012 along the Murrumbidgee River including Wagga Wagga, where the river peaked at {{convert|10.56|m|ft}} on 6 March 2012.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kwek|first=Glenda|title=Wagga 'dodges a bullet' as severe weather warning issued for Sydney|url=http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/wagga-dodges-a-bullet-as-severe-weather-warning-issued-for-sydney-20120307-1uj2d.html|access-date=11 March 2012|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=7 March 2012}}</ref> This peak was {{convert|0.18|m|ft}} below the 1974 flood level of {{convert|10.74|m|ft}}.<ref name="WWCC"/>
Major flooding occurred during March 2012 along the Murrumbidgee River including Wagga Wagga, where the river peaked at {{convert|10.56|m|ft}} on 6 March 2012.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kwek|first=Glenda|title=Wagga 'dodges a bullet' as severe weather warning issued for Sydney|url=http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/wagga-dodges-a-bullet-as-severe-weather-warning-issued-for-sydney-20120307-1uj2d.html|access-date=11 March 2012|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=7 March 2012}}</ref> This peak was {{convert|0.18|m|ft}} below the 1974 flood level of {{convert|10.74|m|ft}}.<ref name="WWCC"/>


== Wetlands ==
== Wetlands ==
Line 132: Line 129:
{{main|Tributaries of the Murrumbidgee River}}
{{main|Tributaries of the Murrumbidgee River}}
{{GeoGroup}}
{{GeoGroup}}
[[File:CarrathoolBridge.JPG|thumb|Bridge over the Murrumbidgee at [[Carrathool, New South Wales]].]]
[[File:CarrathoolBridge.JPG|thumb|Bridge over the Murrumbidgee at [[Carrathool]].]]
[[File:HayMurrumbidgeeRiver.JPG|thumb|Swimming hole on the Murrumbidgee at [[Hay, New South Wales]]]]
[[File:HayMurrumbidgeeRiver.JPG|thumb|Swimming hole on the Murrumbidgee at [[Hay, New South Wales|Hay]]]]
[[File:Tuggeranong Murrumbidgee.jpg|thumb|Aerial photo of [[Tuggeranong Town Centre]], with Murrumbidgee River behind, Bullen Range is behind and [[Tidbinbilla]] Tracking Station is visible too.]]
[[File:Tuggeranong Murrumbidgee.jpg|thumb|Aerial photo of [[Tuggeranong Town Centre]], with Murrumbidgee River behind, Bullen Range is behind and [[Tidbinbilla]] Tracking Station is visible too.]]
The Murrumbidgee River has about 90 named [[tributary|tributaries]] in total; 24 rivers, and numerous creeks and gullies. The ordering of the basin, from source to mouth, of the major tributaries is:
The Murrumbidgee River has about 90 named [[tributary|tributaries]] in total; 24 rivers, and numerous creeks and gullies. The ordering of the basin, from source to mouth, of the major tributaries is:
Line 210: Line 207:


== Population centres ==
== Population centres ==
* [[Tharwa, Australian Capital Territory|Tharwa]]
* [[Tharwa]]
* [[Canberra]] particularly [[Tuggeranong]]
* [[Canberra]] particularly [[Tuggeranong]]
* [[Jugiong, New South Wales|Jugiong]]
* [[Jugiong]]
* [[Gundagai, New South Wales|Gundagai]]
* [[Gundagai]]
* [[Wantabadgery, New South Wales|Wantabadgery]]
* [[Wantabadgery]]
* [[Wagga Wagga, New South Wales|Wagga Wagga]]
* [[Wagga Wagga]]
* [[Narrandera, New South Wales|Narrandera]]
* [[Narrandera]]
* [[Yanco, New South Wales|Yanco]]
* [[Yanco]]
* [[Leeton, New South Wales|Leeton]]
* [[Leeton, New South Wales|Leeton]]
* [[Darlington Point, New South Wales|Darlington Point]]
* [[Darlington Point]]
* [[Hay, New South Wales|Hay]]
* [[Hay, New South Wales|Hay]]
* [[Balranald, New South Wales|Balranald]]
* [[Balranald]]


== River crossings ==
== River crossings ==
Line 231: Line 228:
! Crossing !! Image !! Coordinates !! Built !! Location !! Description !! Notes
! Crossing !! Image !! Coordinates !! Built !! Location !! Description !! Notes
|-
|-
| Balranald Bridge|| [[File:Balranald Bridge 005.JPG|150px]] ||{{coord|34|38|47.2|S|143|33|56.6|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}} ||1973||[[Balranald, New South Wales|Balranald]]||[[Sturt Highway]]|| <!-- Example -->
| Balranald Bridge|| [[File:Balranald Bridge 005.JPG|150px]] ||{{coord|34|38|47.2|S|143|33|56.6|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}} ||1973||[[Balranald]]||[[Sturt Highway]]|| <!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| Matthews Bridge|| [[File:Matthews Bridge at Maude.JPG|150px]] ||{{coord|34|28|40|S|144|18|03.4|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}} ||1957 ||[[Maude, New South Wales|Maude]]||<!--description-->|| <!-- Example -->
| Matthews Bridge|| [[File:Matthews Bridge at Maude.JPG|150px]] ||{{coord|34|28|40|S|144|18|03.4|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}} ||1957 ||[[Maude, New South Wales|Maude]]||<!--description-->|| Work started on
a replacement for

this bridge in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |title=New Bridge for Maude |url=https://www.hay.nsw.gov.au/Inside-Hay-Shire-Council/News-Council-Updates/ArtMID/580/ArticleID/360/New-Bridge-for-Maude |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=Hay Shire Council}}</ref><!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| [[Hay Bridge, New South Wales|Hay Bridge]]||[[File:HayMurrumbidgeeRiverBridge.JPG|150px]] ||{{coord|34|30|58.4|S|144|50|32.4|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}|| 1973||[[Hay, New South Wales|Hay]]||[[Cobb Highway]] || <!-- Example -->
| [[Hay Bridge, New South Wales|Hay Bridge]]||[[File:HayMurrumbidgeeRiverBridge.JPG|150px]] ||{{coord|34|30|58.4|S|144|50|32.4|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}|| 1973||[[Hay, New South Wales|Hay]]||[[Cobb Highway]] || <!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| [[Carrathool Bridge]] || [[File:CarrathoolBridge004.JPG|150px]] ||{{coord|34|26|57.4|S|145|25|02.3|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}} ||1924 ||[[Carrathool, New South Wales|Carrathool]]||<!--description-->|| <!-- Example -->
| [[Carrathool Bridge]] || [[File:CarrathoolBridge004.JPG|150px]] ||{{coord|34|26|57.4|S|145|25|02.3|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}} ||1924 ||[[Carrathool]]||<!--description-->|| <!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| Darlington Point Bridge || [[File:DarlingtonPointBridge.JPG|150px]] || {{coord|34|34|01.2|S|146|00|09.5|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}} ||1979 ||[[Darlington Point, New South Wales|Darlington Point]]||[[Kidman Way]] || <!-- Example -->
| Darlington Point Bridge || [[File:DarlingtonPointBridge.JPG|150px]] || {{coord|34|34|01.2|S|146|00|09.5|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}} ||1979 ||[[Darlington Point]]||[[Kidman Way]] || <!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| Euroley Bridge ||<!--image--> ||{{coord|34|38|19.6|S|146|22|25.8|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}} || 2003 ||[[Yanco, New South Wales|Yanco]]||<!--description-->|| <!-- Example -->
| Euroley Bridge ||<!--image--> ||{{coord|34|38|19.6|S|146|22|25.8|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}} || 2003 ||[[Yanco]]||<!--description-->|| <!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| [[Murrumbidgee River railway bridge, Narrandera|Narrandera Rail Bridge]]|| [[File:Murrumbidgee River railway bridge, Narrandera.jpg|151x151px]]||{{coord|34|45|30.7|S|146|32|08.5|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||1885|| rowspan=2|[[Narrandera, New South Wales|Narrandera]]||[[Tocumwal railway line, New South Wales|Tocumwal railway line]]|| Not in use<ref>{{Cite web|title=Narrandera Rail Bridge|website=Narrandera Tourism|publisher=Narrandera Shire Council|url=https://narrandera.com.au/project/narrandera-rail-bridge/|access-date=2020-07-22}}</ref>
| [[Murrumbidgee River railway bridge, Narrandera|Narrandera Rail Bridge]]|| [[File:Murrumbidgee River railway bridge, Narrandera.jpg|151x151px]]||{{coord|34|45|30.7|S|146|32|08.5|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||1885|| rowspan=2|[[Narrandera]]||[[Tocumwal railway line, New South Wales|Tocumwal railway line]]|| Not in use<ref>{{Cite web|title=Narrandera Rail Bridge|website=Narrandera Tourism|publisher=Narrandera Shire Council|url=https://narrandera.com.au/project/narrandera-rail-bridge/|access-date=2020-07-22}}</ref>
|-
|-
| Narrandera Bridge || [[File:NarranderaMurrumbidgeeBridge.JPG|150px]] || {{coord|34|45|20.8|S|146|32|53.7|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||<!--Built-->||[[Newell Highway]]|| <!-- Example -->
| Narrandera Bridge || [[File:NarranderaMurrumbidgeeBridge.JPG|150px]] || {{coord|34|45|20.8|S|146|32|53.7|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||<!--Built-->||[[Newell Highway]]|| <!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| Collingullie Bridge || [[File:BridgeOverMurrumbidgeeRiverNearCollingullie.jpg|150px]] || {{coord|35|01|59.3|S|147|06|29.6|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||<!--Built-->||[[Collingullie, New South Wales|Collingullie]]||<!--description-->|| <!-- Example -->
| Collingullie Bridge || [[File:BridgeOverMurrumbidgeeRiverNearCollingullie.jpg|150px]] || {{coord|35|01|59.3|S|147|06|29.6|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||<!--Built-->||[[Collingullie]]||<!--description-->|| <!-- Example -->
|}
|}


Line 263: Line 263:
| [[File:Hampden bridge-wagga1.jpg|150px]] || <!--{{coord|00|00|00|S|00|00|00|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}--> ||1895||Demolished in 2014|| <ref>{{cite news|last1=Owen|first1=Brodie|title=Hampden Bridge erased from Wagga's landscape|url=http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/story/2501941/hampden-bridge-erased-from-waggas-landscape/?cs=148|access-date=20 August 2014|work=The Daily Advertiser|date=20 August 2014}}</ref>
| [[File:Hampden bridge-wagga1.jpg|150px]] || <!--{{coord|00|00|00|S|00|00|00|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}--> ||1895||Demolished in 2014|| <ref>{{cite news|last1=Owen|first1=Brodie|title=Hampden Bridge erased from Wagga's landscape|url=http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/story/2501941/hampden-bridge-erased-from-waggas-landscape/?cs=148|access-date=20 August 2014|work=The Daily Advertiser|date=20 August 2014}}</ref>
|-
|-
| [[Murrumbidgee River Railway Bridge|Murrumbidgee River<br />Rail Bridge]] || [[File:Aerial view of the Murrumbidgee River Railway Bridge in Wagga Wagga.jpg|150x150px]]||<!--{{coord|00|00|00|S|00|00|00|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}-->||2006||[[Main Southern railway line, New South Wales|Main Southern railway line]]. Replaced the previous bridge built in 1881||<!--example-->
| [[Murrumbidgee River Railway Bridge|Murrumbidgee River<br />Rail Bridge]] || [[File:Aerial view of the Murrumbidgee River Railway Bridge in Wagga Wagga.jpg|150x150px]]||<!--{{coord|00|00|00|S|00|00|00|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}-->||2006||[[Main Southern railway line]]. Replaced the previous bridge built in 1881||<!--example-->
|-
|-
| Eunony Bridge|| [[File:Aerial view of the Eunony Bridge over the Murrumbidgee River, post redevelopment works (2).jpg|150x150px]]||<!--{{coord|00|00|00|S|00|00|00|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}-->||1975
| Eunony Bridge|| [[File:Aerial view of the Eunony Bridge over the Murrumbidgee River, post redevelopment works (2).jpg|150x150px]]||<!--{{coord|00|00|00|S|00|00|00|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}-->||1975
Line 271: Line 271:
|Eunony Bridge Road, top bridge decking replaced in 2020 with the original pylons||<!-- Example -->
|Eunony Bridge Road, top bridge decking replaced in 2020 with the original pylons||<!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| Low Bridge|| [[File:Mundarlo - Murrumbidgee River Crossing.jpg|150px]] || {{coord|35|04|42.3|S|147|49|17.7|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||<!--Built-->||[[Mundarlo, New South Wales|Mundarlo]]||<!--description-->|| <!-- Example -->
| Low Bridge|| [[File:Mundarlo - Murrumbidgee River Crossing.jpg|150px]] || {{coord|35|04|42.3|S|147|49|17.7|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||<!--Built-->||[[Mundarlo]]||<!--description-->|| <!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| [[Sheahan Bridge]]|| [[File:Aerial view of Sheahan Bridge.jpg|150x150px]]|| {{coord|35|04|05.9|S|148|05|42.8|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||1977
| [[Sheahan Bridge]]|| [[File:Aerial view of Sheahan Bridge.jpg|150x150px]]|| {{coord|35|04|05.9|S|148|05|42.8|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||1977
Line 277: Line 277:


2009
2009
| rowspan="3" |[[Gundagai, New South Wales|Gundagai]]||The bridge was duplicated in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Transport for NSW|first=N. S. W.|title=Sheahan Bridge duplication|url=https://roads-waterways.transport.nsw.gov.au/about/environment/protecting-heritage/hume-highway-duplication/history/sheahan-bridge.html|access-date=2021-04-27|website=Transport for NSW|language=en}}</ref> Photograph shows [[Hume Highway]]; looking south from Gundagai, bridge in mid distance.||<!-- Example -->
| rowspan="3" |[[Gundagai]]||The bridge was duplicated in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Transport for NSW|first=N. S. W.|title=Sheahan Bridge duplication|url=https://roads-waterways.transport.nsw.gov.au/about/environment/protecting-heritage/hume-highway-duplication/history/sheahan-bridge.html|access-date=2021-04-27|website=Transport for NSW}}</ref> Photograph shows [[Hume Highway]]; looking south from Gundagai, bridge in mid distance.||<!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| [[Murrumbidgee River railway bridge, Gundagai|Gundagai Rail Bridge]]|| [[File:Aerial view of the Murrumbidgee River Railway Bridge and Prince Alfred Bridge.jpg|150x150px]]|| {{coord|35|04|23.7|S|148|06|16.2|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||1902||[[Tumut and Kunama railway lines, New South Wales|Tumut railway line]], now disused|| <!-- Example -->
| [[Murrumbidgee River railway bridge, Gundagai|Gundagai Rail Bridge]]|| [[File:Aerial view of the Murrumbidgee River Railway Bridge and Prince Alfred Bridge.jpg|150x150px]]|| {{coord|35|04|23.7|S|148|06|16.2|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||1902||[[Tumut and Kunama railway lines, New South Wales|Tumut railway line]], now disused|| <!-- Example -->
Line 283: Line 283:
| [[Prince Alfred Bridge]] || [[File:Prince Alfred Bridge over the Murrumbidgee River in Gundagai.jpg|150x150px]]|| {{coord|35|04|27.8|S|148|06|24.8|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||1867||Prince Alfred Road, former Hume Highway. Main iron spans at southern end still in use for local traffic. Northern wooden spans now disused and in dilapidated condition.||<!-- Example -->
| [[Prince Alfred Bridge]] || [[File:Prince Alfred Bridge over the Murrumbidgee River in Gundagai.jpg|150x150px]]|| {{coord|35|04|27.8|S|148|06|24.8|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||1867||Prince Alfred Road, former Hume Highway. Main iron spans at southern end still in use for local traffic. Northern wooden spans now disused and in dilapidated condition.||<!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| Gobarralong Bridge|| [[File:Gobarralong Bridge, Murrumbidgee River, New South Wales.JPG|150px]] || {{coord|34|59|34.2|S|148|14|13.2|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||<!--Built-->||[[Gobarralong, New South Wales|Gobarralong]]||<!--description-->|| <!-- Example -->
| Gobarralong Bridge|| [[File:Gobarralong Bridge, Murrumbidgee River, New South Wales.JPG|150px]] || {{coord|34|59|34.2|S|148|14|13.2|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||<!--Built-->||[[Gobarralong]]||<!--description-->|| <!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| Jugiong Bridge || [[File:Murrumbidgee River at Jugiong, NSW, Australia (Bundarbo Road Bridge).JPG|150px]] || {{coord|34|49|30.3|S|148|19|55.6|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||<!--Built-->||[[Jugiong, New South Wales|Jugiong]]||<!--description-->|| <!-- Example -->
| Jugiong Bridge || [[File:Murrumbidgee River at Jugiong, NSW, Australia (Bundarbo Road Bridge).JPG|150px]] || {{coord|34|49|30.3|S|148|19|55.6|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||<!--Built-->||[[Jugiong]]||<!--description-->|| <!-- Example -->
|-
|-
|}
|}
Line 316: Line 316:
| Billilingra Bridge|| [[File:Bridge across Murrumbidgee River, Billilingra Road, Billingra, NSW.JPG|150px]]|| {{coord|36|00|04.2|S|149|07|59.6|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||[[Billilingra]]||<!--Built-->||Billilingra Road| <!-- Example -->
| Billilingra Bridge|| [[File:Bridge across Murrumbidgee River, Billilingra Road, Billingra, NSW.JPG|150px]]|| {{coord|36|00|04.2|S|149|07|59.6|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}||[[Billilingra]]||<!--Built-->||Billilingra Road| <!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| Binjura Bridge || [[File:Bridge across Murrumbidgee River, Mittagang Road, near Cooma, NSW.jpg|150px]] || {{coord|36|10|13.4|S|149|05|28.1|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}|| [[Binjura, New South Wales|Binjura]]||<!--Built-->||Mittagang-Shannons Flat Road| <!-- Example -->
| Binjura Bridge || [[File:Bridge across Murrumbidgee River, Mittagang Road, near Cooma, NSW.jpg|150px]] || {{coord|36|10|13.4|S|149|05|28.1|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}|| [[Binjura]]||<!--Built-->||Mittagang-Shannons Flat Road| <!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| Bolaro Bridge|| [[File:Bridge across Murrumbidgee River, Bolaro, New South Wales.JPG|150px]] || {{coord|35|58|50.0|S|148|50|24.5|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}|| [[Bolaro, New South Wales|Bolaro]]||<!--Built-->||Bolaro Road| <!-- Example -->
| Bolaro Bridge|| [[File:Bridge across Murrumbidgee River, Bolaro, New South Wales.JPG|150px]] || {{coord|35|58|50.0|S|148|50|24.5|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}|| [[Bolaro]]||<!--Built-->||Bolaro Road| <!-- Example -->
|-
|-
| Yaouk Bridge|| [[File:Murrumbidgee River at Yaouk, NSW, Australia.JPG|150px]] || {{coord|35|49|34.1|S|148|48|10.9|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}|| [[Yaouk]]||<!--Built-->||Yaouk Road| <!-- Example -->
| Yaouk Bridge|| [[File:Murrumbidgee River at Yaouk, NSW, Australia.JPG|150px]] || {{coord|35|49|34.1|S|148|48|10.9|E|type:landmark_region:AU|display=inline}}|| [[Yaouk]]||<!--Built-->||Yaouk Road| <!-- Example -->
Line 345: Line 345:
File:Murrumbidgee River at Jugiong, NSW, Australia (Bundarbo Road Bridge).JPG|Jugiong Bridge
File:Murrumbidgee River at Jugiong, NSW, Australia (Bundarbo Road Bridge).JPG|Jugiong Bridge
File:Gundagai bridge 1885.jpg|The Prince Alfred bridge crosses the Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai, photographed c. 1885
File:Gundagai bridge 1885.jpg|The Prince Alfred bridge crosses the Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai, photographed c. 1885
File:MurrumbidgeeAtGundagai.jpg|The Murrumbidgee at [[Gundagai, New South Wales|Gundagai]]
File:MurrumbidgeeAtGundagai.jpg|The Murrumbidgee at [[Gundagai]]
File:Mundarlo - Murrumbidgee River Crossing.jpg|Murrumbidgee River Crossing at Mundarlo
File:Mundarlo - Murrumbidgee River Crossing.jpg|Murrumbidgee River Crossing at Mundarlo
File:Eunony Bridge viewed from Eunanoreenya.jpg|Eunony Bridge viewed from Eunanoreenya looking towards [[Gumly Gumly, New South Wales|Gumly Gumly]]
File:Eunony Bridge viewed from Eunanoreenya.jpg|Eunony Bridge viewed from Eunanoreenya looking towards [[Gumly Gumly]]
File:Wagga-railway-bridge.jpg|Former [[Murrumbidgee River Railway Bridge|Wagga Wagga railway bridge]]
File:Wagga-railway-bridge.jpg|Former [[Murrumbidgee River Railway Bridge|Wagga Wagga railway bridge]]
File:Murrumbidgee Railway Bridge.jpg|New concrete railway bridge at Wagga Wagga
File:Murrumbidgee Railway Bridge.jpg|New concrete railway bridge at Wagga Wagga
Line 357: Line 357:


== Distances along the river ==
== Distances along the river ==
* [[Gundagai, New South Wales|Gundagai]] to [[Wagga Wagga, New South Wales|Wagga Wagga]] – {{Convert|138|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* [[Gundagai]] to [[Wagga Wagga]] – {{Convert|138|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Wagga Wagga to [[Yarragundy, New South Wales|Yarragundy]] – {{Convert|37|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Wagga Wagga to [[Yarragundy]] – {{Convert|37|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Yarragundy to [[Yiorkibitto, New South Wales|Yiorkibitto]] – {{Convert|77|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Yarragundy to [[Yiorkibitto]] – {{Convert|77|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Yiorkibitto to [[Grong Grong, New South Wales|Grong Grong]] – {{Convert|58|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Yiorkibitto to [[Grong Grong]] – {{Convert|58|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Grong Grong to [[Narrandera, New South Wales|Narrandera]] – {{Convert|21|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Grong Grong to [[Narrandera]] – {{Convert|21|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Narrandera to [[Yanco, New South Wales|Yanco]] or [[Bedithera, New South Wales|Bedithera]] – {{Convert|18|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Narrandera to [[Yanco]] or [[Bedithera]] – {{Convert|18|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Yanco to [[Yanco Station, New South Wales|Yanco Station]] – {{Convert|29|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Yanco to [[Yanco Station, New South Wales|Yanco Station]] – {{Convert|29|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Yanco to [[Gogeldrie, New South Wales|Gogeldrie]] – {{Convert|21|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Yanco to [[Gogeldrie]] – {{Convert|21|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Gogeldrie to [[Tubbo, New South Wales|Tubbo]] – {{Convert|24|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Gogeldrie to [[Tubbo, New South Wales|Tubbo]] – {{Convert|24|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Tubbo to [[Cararburry, New South Wales|Cararburry]] – {{Convert|55|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Tubbo to [[Cararburry]] – {{Convert|55|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Cararbury to [[Carrathool]] – {{Convert|66|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Cararbury to [[Carrathool]] – {{Convert|66|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Carrathool to [[Burrabogie, New South Wales|Burrabogie]] – {{Convert|56|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Carrathool to [[Burrabogie]] – {{Convert|56|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Burrabogie to [[Illilliwa, New South Wales|Illilliwa]] – {{Convert|42|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Burrabogie to [[Illilliwa]] – {{Convert|42|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Illilliwa to [[Hay, New South Wales|Hay]] – {{Convert|22|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Illilliwa to [[Hay, New South Wales|Hay]] – {{Convert|22|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Hay to [[Toogambie, New South Wales|Toogambie]] – {{Convert|63|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Hay to [[Toogambie]] – {{Convert|63|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Toogambie to [[Maude, New South Wales|Maude]] – {{Convert|40|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Toogambie to [[Maude, New South Wales|Maude]] – {{Convert|40|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Maude to [[Lachlan Junction, New South Wales|Lachlan Junction]] – {{Convert|71|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Maude to [[Lachlan Junction]] – {{Convert|71|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Lachlan Junction to [[Balranald, New South Wales|Balranald]] – {{Convert|137|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Lachlan Junction to [[Balranald]] – {{Convert|137|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Balranald to [[Canally, New South Wales|Canally]] – {{Convert|42|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Balranald to [[Canally]] – {{Convert|42|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Canally to [[Weimby,New South Wales|Weimby]], [[Murray Junction, New South Wales|Murray Junction]] – {{Convert|61|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Canally to [[Weimby]], [[Murray Junction]] – {{Convert|61|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
* Total distance from Gundagai to [[Murrumbidgee Junction, New South Wales|Murrumbidgee Junction]] – {{Convert|1078|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}<ref>Heaton, J. H., 1984, ''The Bedside Book of Colonial Doings'', Published in 1879 as ''Australian Dictionary of Dates containing the History of Australasia from 1542 to May, 1879'', Angus & Robertson Publishers Sydney, pp.215-216</ref>
* Total distance from Gundagai to [[Murrumbidgee Junction]] – {{Convert|1078|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}<ref>Heaton, J. H., 1984, ''The Bedside Book of Colonial Doings'', Published in 1879 as ''Australian Dictionary of Dates containing the History of Australasia from 1542 to May, 1879'', Angus & Robertson Publishers Sydney, pp.215-216</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
{{Portal|New South Wales|Australia|Water|Environment}}
{{Portal|New South Wales|Australia|Water|Environment}}
* [[List of rivers of Australia#New South Wales|List of rivers of New South Wales]]
* {{Section link|List of rivers of Australia|New South Wales}}
* [[List of rivers of Australia#Australian Capital Territory|List of rivers of the Australian Capital Territory]]
* {{Section link|List of rivers of Australia|Australian Capital Territory}}
* [[List of Murrumbidgee River distances]]
* [[List of Murrumbidgee River distances]]
* [[List of Darling River distances]]
* [[List of Darling River distances]]
* [[List of Murray River crossings]]
* [[List of crossings of the Murray River]]
* [[List of Murray River distances]]
* [[List of Murray River distances]]
* [[Murray–Darling basin]] includes useful chart of tributaries
* [[Murray–Darling basin]] includes useful chart of tributaries
Line 395: Line 395:
{{Commons category|Murrumbidgee River}}
{{Commons category|Murrumbidgee River}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050310103629/http://www.riob.org/ag2002/Murray-Darling-Murrumbidgee-HELP1.htm Nomination of Lower Murrumbidgee Catchment for UNESCO's HELP Pilot Demonstration Status by CSIRO]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050310103629/http://www.riob.org/ag2002/Murray-Darling-Murrumbidgee-HELP1.htm Nomination of Lower Murrumbidgee Catchment for UNESCO's HELP Pilot Demonstration Status by CSIRO]
*[http://waterinfo.nsw.gov.au/drr/murrumbidgee.shtml Murrumbidgee River Flows recorded by NSW Water]
*[http://waterinfo.nsw.gov.au/drr/murrumbidgee.shtml Murrumbidgee River Flows recorded by NSW Water] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180611203424/http://waterinfo.nsw.gov.au/drr/murrumbidgee.shtml |date=11 June 2018 }}
*[http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-erpc1 River pilot maps 1880-1918] / Echuca Historical Society
*[http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-erpc1 River pilot maps 1880-1918] / Echuca Historical Society
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100503012941/http://www.water.nsw.gov.au/Water-Management/Monitoring/Snowy-River/default.aspx Snowy Flow Response Monitoring and Modelling]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100503012941/http://www.water.nsw.gov.au/Water-Management/Monitoring/Snowy-River/default.aspx Snowy Flow Response Monitoring and Modelling]
*[http://www.murrumbidgee.cma.nsw.gov.au/default.aspx Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority] website
*[http://www.murrumbidgee.cma.nsw.gov.au/default.aspx Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140126054039/http://www.murrumbidgee.cma.nsw.gov.au/default.aspx |date=26 January 2014 }} website
*[http://upperbidgeereach.org.au/ Upper Murrumbidgee Demonstration Reach] {{cite web|url= http://upperbidgeereach.org.au/files/UMDR-diagram.pdf |title=Map }}<small>&nbsp;1.22MB</small>
*[http://upperbidgeereach.org.au/ Upper Murrumbidgee Demonstration Reach] {{cite web |url= http://upperbidgeereach.org.au/files/UMDR-diagram.pdf |title= Map |access-date= 17 February 2013 |archive-date= 3 April 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220403133539/http://upperbidgeereach.org.au/files/UMDR-diagram.pdf |url-status= dead }}<small>&nbsp;1.22MB</small>
* {{cite web|url=http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/ieo/Murrumbidgee/maplg.htm|title=Murrumbidgee and Lake George catchments|format=map|work=Office of Environment and Heritage|publisher=[[Government of New South Wales]]}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/ieo/Murrumbidgee/maplg.htm|title=Murrumbidgee and Lake George catchments|format=map|work=[[Office of Environment & Heritage]]|publisher=[[Government of New South Wales]]}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/ieo/Murray/maplg.htm|title=Murray River catchment (NSW)|format=map|work=Office of Environment and Heritage|publisher=[[Government of New South Wales]]}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/ieo/Murray/maplg.htm|title=Murray River catchment (NSW)|format=map|work=Office of Environment & Heritage|publisher=[[Government of New South Wales]]}}


{{Rivers of the Murrumbidgee River catchment |state=autocollapse}}
{{Rivers of the Murrumbidgee River catchment |state=autocollapse}}

Latest revision as of 11:22, 29 December 2024

Murrumbidgee River
Murrumbidgee River at Wagga Wagga
The Murrumbidgee is a major tributary of the Murray River
EtymologyAboriginal Wiradjuri language: "big water"[1]
Nickname(s)'bidgee
Location
CountryAustralia
State/Territory
IBRA
Districts
Municipalities
Physical characteristics
SourcePeppercorn Hill
 • locationSnowy Mountains, NSW
 • coordinates35°35′7″S 148°36′5″E / 35.58528°S 148.60139°E / -35.58528; 148.60139
 • elevation1,560 m (5,120 ft)
Mouthconfluence with Murray River
 • location
near Boundary Bend, NSW/Vic
 • coordinates
34°43′43″S 143°13′8″E / 34.72861°S 143.21889°E / -34.72861; 143.21889
 • elevation
55 m (180 ft)
Length1,485 km (923 mi)[2]
Basin size84,917 km2 (32,787 sq mi)
Discharge 
 • locationWagga Wagga[3]
 • average120 m3/s (4,200 cu ft/s)[3]
Discharge 
 • locationNarrandera
 • average105 m3/s (3,700 cu ft/s)
Discharge 
 • locationBalranald
 • average27 m3/s (950 cu ft/s)
Basin features
River systemMurray River, Murray–Darling basin
Tributaries 
 • leftGudgenby River, Cotter River, Goodradigbee River, Tumut River
 • rightNumeralla River, Bredbo River, Molonglo River, Yass River, Lachlan River
ReservoirsTantangara Reservoir, Lake Burrinjuck
[4][5]

The Murrumbidgee River (/mʌrəmˈbɪi/[6]) 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),[2] 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 word Murrumbidgee or Marrambidya means "big water" in the Wiradjuri language, one of the local Australian Aboriginal languages.[7][8][1][9] The river itself flows through several traditional Aboriginal Australian lands, home to various Aboriginal peoples. In the Australian Capital Territory, the river is bordered by a narrow strip of land on each side; these are managed as the Murrumbidgee River Corridor (MRC).[10] This land includes many nature reserves, eight recreation reserves, a European heritage conservation zone and rural leases.

Flow

[edit]

The mainstream of the river system flows for 900 kilometres (560 mi).[11] The river's headwaters arise from the wet heath and bog at the foot of Peppercorn Hill situated along Long Plain which is within the Fiery Range of the Snowy Mountains; and about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Kiandra. From its headwaters it flows to its confluence with the Murray River. The river flows for 66 kilometres (41 mi) through the Australian Capital Territory near Canberra,[12] picking up the important tributaries of the Gudgenby, Queanbeyan, Molonglo and Cotter Rivers. The Murrumbidgee drains much of southern New South Wales and all of the Australian Capital Territory, and is an important source of irrigation water for the Riverina farming area.

The reaches of the Murrumbidgee in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) are affected by the complete elimination of large spring snowmelt flows and a reduction of average annual flows of almost 50%, due to Tantangara Dam.[13] Tantangara Dam was completed in 1960 on the headwaters of Murrumbidgee River and diverted approximately 99% of the river's flow at that point into Lake Eucumbene.[14][15] This has extremely serious effects on native fish populations and other native aquatic life and has led to serious siltation, stream contraction, fish habitat loss, and other problems. The Murrumbidgee where it enters the ACT is effectively half the river it used to be.[15][16] The reduced and significantly modified flow of the river is further exacerbated by dams on its tributaries, such as Scrivener Dam, Cotter Dam, and Googong Dam.

A study suggests a section of the upper river's channels are relatively new in geological terms, dating from the early Miocene (the Miocene era being from 23 to 5 million years ago). It is suggested that the Upper Murrumbidgee is an anabranch of the Tumut River (that once continued north along Mutta Mutta Creek) when geological uplift near Adaminaby diverted its flow. From Gundagai onwards the rivers flow within its ancestral channel.[17]

In June 2008 the Murray-Darling Basin Commission released a report on the condition of the Murray–Darling basin, with the Goulburn and Murrumbidgee Rivers rated in a very poor condition in the Murray-Darling basin with fish stocks in both rivers were also rated as extremely poor, with only 13 of the original 22 native fish species still found in the Murrumbidgee River.[18]

History

[edit]

The Murrumbidgee River runs through the traditional lands of the Ngarigo, Ngunnawal, Wiradjuri, Nari Nari and Muthi Muthi Aboriginal peoples.[citation needed]

Exploration

[edit]

The Murrumbidgee River was known to Europeans before they first recorded it.  In 1820 the explorer Charles Throsby informed the Governor of New South Wales that he anticipated finding "a considerable river of salt water (except at very wet seasons), called by the natives Mur-rum-big-gee". In the expedition journal, Throsby wrote as a marginal note: "This river or stream is called by the natives Yeal-am-bid-gie ...".[19] The river he had stumbled upon was in fact the Molonglo River, Throsby reached the actual river in April 1821.[20]

In 1823, Brigade-Major John Ovens and Captain Mark Currie reached the upper Murrumbidgee when exploring south of Lake George.[21] In 1829, Charles Sturt and his party rowed down the lower half of the Murrumbidgee River in a stoutly built, large row-boat, from Narrandera to the Murray River, and then down the Murray River to the sea. They rowed back upstream, against the current to their starting point.[22] Sturt's description of their passage through the junction of the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers is dramatic. His description of wild strong currents in the Murrumbidgee—in the middle of summer (14 January 1830), when flows are declining and close to the seasonal summer/autumn minimum, is in contrast to the reduced flow seen at the junction today in mid-summer:

The men looked anxiously out ahead; for the singular change in the river had impressed on them an idea, that we were approaching its termination ... We were carried at a fearful rate down its gloomy and contracted banks ... At 3 p.m., Hopkinson called out that we were approaching a junction, and in less than a minute afterwards, we were hurried into a broad and noble river ... such was the force with which we had been shot out of the Morumbidgee, that we were carried nearly to the bank opposite its embouchure, whilst we continued to gaze in silent astonishment on the capacious channel [of the Murray River] we had entered ...

The Murrumbidgee basin was opened to settlement in the 1830s and soon became an important farming area.

Charles Sturt Monument located at Wagga Beach in Wagga Wagga

Ernest Favenc, when writing on Australian exploration, commented on the relatively tardy European discovery of the river and that the river retained a name used by Indigenous Australians:

Here we may remark on the tenacity with which the Murrumbidgee River long eluded the eye of the white man. It is scarcely probable that Meehan and Hume, who on this occasion were within comparatively easy reach of the head waters, could have seen a new inland river at that time without mentioning the fact, but there is no record traceable anywhere as to the date of its discovery, or the name of its finder. When in 1823 Captain Currie and Major Ovens were led along its bank on to the beautiful Maneroo country by Joseph Wild, the stream was then familiar to the early settlers and called the Morumbidgee. Even in 1821, when Hume found the Yass Plains, almost on its bank, he makes no special mention of the river. From all this we may deduce the extremely probable fact that the position of the river was shown to some stockrider by a native, who also confided the aboriginal name, and so it gradually worked the knowledge of its identity into general belief. This theory is the more feasible as the river has retained its native name. If a white man of any known position had made the discovery, it would at once have received the name of some person holding official sway.[23]

[edit]

The river was once used as a transport route, with paddle steamers navigating the river as far as Gundagai. The river trade declined with the coming of the railways. Paddle steamers last used the Murrumbidgee in the 1930s. To allow the steamers and towed barges to pass, there were opening bridges at Hay, Balranald, and Carathool[24][25]

Floods

[edit]
Murrumbidgee River in major flood in December 2010 and flood marker showing the height of the 1974 floods in Wagga Wagga

The river has risen above 7 metres (23 ft) at Gundagai nine times between 1852 and 2010, an average of just under once every eleven years. Since 1925, flooding has been minor with the exception of floods in 1974 and in December 2010, when the river rose to 10.2 metres (33 ft) at Gundagai.[26] In the 1852 disaster, the river rose to just over 12.2 m (40 ft). The following year the river again rose to just over 12.5 m (41 ft). The construction of Burrinjuck Dam from 1907 has significantly reduced flooding but, despite the dam, there were major floods in 1925, 1950, 1974 and 2012.[27][28]

The most notable flood was in 1852 when the town of Gundagai was swept away and 89 people, a third of the town's population, were killed. The town was rebuilt on higher ground.[29]

In 1925, four people died and the flooding lasted for eight days.[30][31][32]

The reduction in floods has consequences for wildlife, particularly birds and trees. There has been a decline in bird populations and black box flood plain eucalypt forest trees are starting[when?] to lose their crowns.[33]

Major flooding occurred during March 2012 along the Murrumbidgee River including Wagga Wagga, where the river peaked at 10.56 metres (34.6 ft) on 6 March 2012.[34] This peak was 0.18 metres (0.59 ft) below the 1974 flood level of 10.74 metres (35.2 ft).[28]

Wetlands

[edit]

Major wetlands along the Murrumbidgee or associated with the Murrumbidgee catchment include:[35]

Tributaries

[edit]
Bridge over the Murrumbidgee at Carrathool.
Swimming hole on the Murrumbidgee at Hay
Aerial photo of Tuggeranong Town Centre, with Murrumbidgee River behind, Bullen Range is behind and Tidbinbilla Tracking Station is visible too.

The Murrumbidgee River has about 90 named tributaries in total; 24 rivers, and numerous creeks and gullies. The ordering of the basin, from source to mouth, of the major tributaries is:

Rivers of the Murrumbidgee River basin
Catchment river Elevation at
confluence[36]
River mouth Coordinates[37][38] River length[36]
Tributary
Tributary
Tributary
Murrumbidgee River 55 m (180 ft) Murray 34°43′43″S 143°13′8″E / 34.72861°S 143.21889°E / -34.72861; 143.21889 (Murrumbidgee River) ~900 km (559 mi)
Numeralla River 706 m (2,316 ft) Murrumbidgee 36°3′56″S 149°9′1″E / 36.06556°S 149.15028°E / -36.06556; 149.15028 (Numeralla River) 94 km (58 mi)
Kybeyan River 745 m (2,444 ft) Numeralla 36°13′13″S 149°21′25″E / 36.22028°S 149.35694°E / -36.22028; 149.35694 (Kybeyan River) 36 km (22 mi)
Big Badja River 735 m (2,411 ft) Numeralla 36°10′27″S 149°20′52″E / 36.17417°S 149.34778°E / -36.17417; 149.34778 (Big Badja River) 94 km (58 mi)
Bredbo River Murrumbidgee
Strike-a-Light River Bredbo
Gudgenby River Murrumbidgee
Naas River Gudgenby
Orroral River Gudgenby
Cotter River Murrumbidgee
Paddys River Cotter
Tidbinbilla River Paddys
Gibraltar Creek Paddys
Molonglo River Murrumbidgee
Jerrabomberra Creek Molonglo
Sullivans Creek Molonglo
Queanbeyan River Molonglo
Goodradigbee River 345 m (1,132 ft) Murrumbidgee 35°00′S 148°38′E / 35.000°S 148.633°E / -35.000; 148.633 (Goodradigbee River) 105 km (65 mi)
Yass River 345 m (1,132 ft) Murrumbidgee 34°52′36″S 148°46′55″E / 34.87667°S 148.78194°E / -34.87667; 148.78194 (Yass River) 139 km (86 mi)
Tumut River 220 m (722 ft) Murrumbidgee 35°1′18″S 148°10′51″E / 35.02167°S 148.18083°E / -35.02167; 148.18083 (Tumut River) 182 km (113 mi)
Goobarragandra River 272 m (892 ft) Tumut 35°20′S 148°15′E / 35.333°S 148.250°E / -35.333; 148.250 (Goobarragandra River) 56 km (35 mi)
Doubtful Creek 1,290 m (4,232 ft) Tumut 36°06′S 148°26′E / 36.100°S 148.433°E / -36.100; 148.433 (Doubtful Creek) 15 km (9 mi)
Lachlan River 68 m (223 ft) Murrumbidgee 34°22′S 143°47′E / 34.367°S 143.783°E / -34.367; 143.783 (Lachlan River) ~1,440 km (895 mi)
Crookwell River 430 m (1,411 ft) Lachlan 34°16′39″S 149°7′53″E / 34.27750°S 149.13139°E / -34.27750; 149.13139 (Crookwell River) 78 km (48 mi)
Abercrombie River 378 m (1,240 ft) Lachlan 34°01′S 149°28′E / 34.017°S 149.467°E / -34.017; 149.467 (Abercrombie River) 130 km (81 mi)
Bolong River 569 m (1,867 ft) Abercrombie 34°08′S 149°37′E / 34.133°S 149.617°E / -34.133; 149.617 (Bolong River) 60 km (37 mi)
Isabella River 479 m (1,572 ft) Abercrombie 34°00′S 149°39′E / 34.000°S 149.650°E / -34.000; 149.650 (Isabella River) 51 km (32 mi)
Boorowa River 303 m (994 ft) Lachlan 33°57′S 148°50′E / 33.950°S 148.833°E / -33.950; 148.833 (Boorowa River) 134 km (83 mi)
Belubula River 263 m (863 ft) Lachlan 33°33′S 148°28′E / 33.550°S 148.467°E / -33.550; 148.467 (Belubula River) 165 km (103 mi)

Population centres

[edit]

River crossings

[edit]

The list below notes past and present bridges that cross over the Murrumbidgee River. There were numerous other crossings before the bridges were constructed and many of these still exist today.

Downstream from Wagga Wagga

[edit]
Crossing Image Coordinates Built Location Description Notes
Balranald Bridge 34°38′47.2″S 143°33′56.6″E / 34.646444°S 143.565722°E / -34.646444; 143.565722 1973 Balranald Sturt Highway
Matthews Bridge 34°28′40″S 144°18′03.4″E / 34.47778°S 144.300944°E / -34.47778; 144.300944 1957 Maude Work started on

a replacement for

this bridge in 2020.[39]

Hay Bridge 34°30′58.4″S 144°50′32.4″E / 34.516222°S 144.842333°E / -34.516222; 144.842333 1973 Hay Cobb Highway
Carrathool Bridge 34°26′57.4″S 145°25′02.3″E / 34.449278°S 145.417306°E / -34.449278; 145.417306 1924 Carrathool
Darlington Point Bridge 34°34′01.2″S 146°00′09.5″E / 34.567000°S 146.002639°E / -34.567000; 146.002639 1979 Darlington Point Kidman Way
Euroley Bridge 34°38′19.6″S 146°22′25.8″E / 34.638778°S 146.373833°E / -34.638778; 146.373833 2003 Yanco
Narrandera Rail Bridge 34°45′30.7″S 146°32′08.5″E / 34.758528°S 146.535694°E / -34.758528; 146.535694 1885 Narrandera Tocumwal railway line Not in use[40]
Narrandera Bridge 34°45′20.8″S 146°32′53.7″E / 34.755778°S 146.548250°E / -34.755778; 146.548250 Newell Highway
Collingullie Bridge 35°01′59.3″S 147°06′29.6″E / 35.033139°S 147.108222°E / -35.033139; 147.108222 Collingullie

Wagga Wagga to Burrinjuck

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Crossing Image Coordinates Built Location Description Notes
Gobbagombalin Bridge 1997 Wagga Wagga Olympic Highway [41]
Wiradjuri Bridge 1995 Hampden Avenue, replaced the Hampden Bridge
Hampden Bridge 1895 Demolished in 2014 [42]
Murrumbidgee River
Rail Bridge
2006 Main Southern railway line. Replaced the previous bridge built in 1881
Eunony Bridge 1975

and

2020

Eunony Bridge Road, top bridge decking replaced in 2020 with the original pylons
Low Bridge 35°04′42.3″S 147°49′17.7″E / 35.078417°S 147.821583°E / -35.078417; 147.821583 Mundarlo
Sheahan Bridge 35°04′05.9″S 148°05′42.8″E / 35.068306°S 148.095222°E / -35.068306; 148.095222 1977

and

2009

Gundagai The bridge was duplicated in 2009.[43] Photograph shows Hume Highway; looking south from Gundagai, bridge in mid distance.
Gundagai Rail Bridge 35°04′23.7″S 148°06′16.2″E / 35.073250°S 148.104500°E / -35.073250; 148.104500 1902 Tumut railway line, now disused
Prince Alfred Bridge 35°04′27.8″S 148°06′24.8″E / 35.074389°S 148.106889°E / -35.074389; 148.106889 1867 Prince Alfred Road, former Hume Highway. Main iron spans at southern end still in use for local traffic. Northern wooden spans now disused and in dilapidated condition.
Gobarralong Bridge 34°59′34.2″S 148°14′13.2″E / 34.992833°S 148.237000°E / -34.992833; 148.237000 Gobarralong
Jugiong Bridge 34°49′30.3″S 148°19′55.6″E / 34.825083°S 148.332111°E / -34.825083; 148.332111 Jugiong

Upstream from Burrinjuck

[edit]
Crossing Image Coordinates Location Description Notes
Taemas Bridge 35°00′12.7″S 148°50′53.2″E / 35.003528°S 148.848111°E / -35.003528; 148.848111 Wee Jasper 1930
Uriarra Crossing 35°14′38.0″S 148°57′07.1″E / 35.243889°S 148.951972°E / -35.243889; 148.951972 Uriarra
Cotter Road bridge 35°19′22.2″S 148°57′01.4″E / 35.322833°S 148.950389°E / -35.322833; 148.950389 Australian Capital Territory Cotter Road, near the confluence with the Cotter River
Point Hut crossing 35°27′07.1″S 149°04′25.4″E / 35.451972°S 149.073722°E / -35.451972; 149.073722 Gordon
Tharwa Bridge 35°30′30.9″S 149°04′13.9″E / 35.508583°S 149.070528°E / -35.508583; 149.070528 Tharwa 1895
Angle Crossing 35°34′59.0″S 149°06′32.6″E / 35.583056°S 149.109056°E / -35.583056; 149.109056 Williamsdale Angle Crossing Road, a ford
Bumbalong Bridge 35°51′31.266″S 149°08′4.780″E / 35.85868500°S 149.13466111°E / -35.85868500; 149.13466111 Colinton Little known and little used, low-level bridge that links the otherwise isolated locality of Bumbalong to the locality of Colinton. Bumbalong Road connects the local road from the bridge to the Monaro Highway at Colinton.
Billilingra Bridge 36°00′04.2″S 149°07′59.6″E / 36.001167°S 149.133222°E / -36.001167; 149.133222 Billilingra
Binjura Bridge 36°10′13.4″S 149°05′28.1″E / 36.170389°S 149.091139°E / -36.170389; 149.091139 Binjura
Bolaro Bridge 35°58′50.0″S 148°50′24.5″E / 35.980556°S 148.840139°E / -35.980556; 148.840139 Bolaro
Yaouk Bridge 35°49′34.1″S 148°48′10.9″E / 35.826139°S 148.803028°E / -35.826139; 148.803028 Yaouk
Tantangara Bridge 35°47′58.2″S 00°40′34.0″E / 35.799500°S 0.676111°E / -35.799500; 0.676111 Tantangara Tantangara Road, immediately downstream from the Tantangara Reservoir wall
Tantangara Dam 35°47′43.7″S 148°39′47.5″E / 35.795472°S 148.663194°E / -35.795472; 148.663194 Tantangara Tantangara Reservoir was constructed between 1958 and 1960. No public access to the dam to cross the river.
Long Plain Bridge Long Plain

Images

[edit]

Distances along the river

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Murrumbidgee River". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 8 June 2008. Edit this at Wikidata
  2. ^ a b "Longest Rivers". Geoscience Australia. Australian Government. September 2008. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  3. ^ a b Green, D (2011). Water resources and management overview: Murrumbidgee catchment (PDF). NSW Office of Water. p. 14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  4. ^ "Our Catchment". Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority. Government of New South Wales. 2013. Archived from the original on 27 January 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  5. ^ "Map of Murrumbidgee River". Bonzle.com. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  6. ^ Macquarie ABC Dictionary. The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd. 2003. pp. 647, 853. ISBN 1-876429-37-2.
  7. ^ "Marrambidya Wetland". Visit Wagga. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  8. ^ Booth, Alison (8 May 2021). "An affecting tale of dispossession". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  9. ^ Room, Adrian (2003). Placenames of the World. McFarland. p. 246. ISBN 0-7864-1814-1.
  10. ^ "Murrumbidgee River Corridor" (PDF). Territory & Municipal Services. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 April 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  11. ^ "Murrumbidgee River Catchment". Catchment Case Studies. NSW Department of Environment and Conservation. 1995. Archived from the original on 19 April 2006. Retrieved 13 July 2006.
  12. ^ "Interim recreation study for the natural areas of the ACT" (PDF). ACT Government. April 2004. p. 23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 July 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
  13. ^ Expert panel environmental flow assessment of the upper Murrumbidgee River (Report). NSW Environmental Protection Authority. 1997.
  14. ^ Lintermans, Mark. "The re-establishment of endangered Macquarie perch Macquaria australasica in the Queanbeyan River, New South Wales, with an examination of dietary overlap with alien trout" (PDF). Environment ACT and Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
  15. ^ a b "eflow panel 1997"
  16. ^ Lintermans, Mark; Australian Capital Territory. Department of Urban Services; Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology (Australia); Australian Capital Territory. Environment ACT (2000). The status of fish in the Australian Capital Territory : a review of current knowledge and management requirements. Environment ACT. ISBN 978-1-86331-473-2.
  17. ^ Sharp, K. R. (2004). "Cenozoic volcanism, tectonism, and stream derangement in the Snowy Mountains and northern Monaro of New South Wales". Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. 51 (1): 67–83. Bibcode:2004AuJES..51...67S. doi:10.1046/j.1400-0952.2003.01045.x.
  18. ^ Sustainable Rivers Audit (PDF). Murray-Darling Basin Commission. June 2008. pp. 14, 50. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 21 June 2008.
  19. ^ Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1931 (ABS cat. no. 1301.0)
  20. ^ Reed, A. W., Place-names of New South Wales: Their Origins and Meanings, (Reed: 1969).
  21. ^ "Discovery of the Monaro". Cooma-Monaro Shire Council. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015.
  22. ^ Sturt, Charles (2004) [1833]. Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia (txt). Retrieved 26 August 2006 – via Project Gutenberg.
  23. ^ Favenc, Ernest (2004) [1908]. "Chapter 4". The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work (txt). Retrieved 26 August 2006 – via Project Gutenberg.
  24. ^ New bridges Main Roads September 1979 pages 3-5
  25. ^ Bascule and Swing Span Bridges – Movable Span Bridge Study GHD Group pages 144, 147-149
  26. ^ "Evacuation begins". The Daily Advertiser. 5 December 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  27. ^ Butcher, Cliff (2002). "Chapter 9 Floods". Gundagai: A track winding back. Gundagai, NSW, Australia: A. C. Butcher. pp. 84–98. ISBN 0-9586200-0-8.
  28. ^ a b "Murrumbidgee River & Floods". Wagga Wagga City Council. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  29. ^ "1852, June, Gundagai flood". Emergency New South Wales. Ministry of Police and Emergency Services. Archived from the original on 27 March 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  30. ^ "Disastrous Floods. – Many Families Homeless – Four Men Drowned". The Argus. Melbourne. 29 May 1925. p. 11. Retrieved 18 July 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  31. ^ "HEAVY LOSSES AT GUNDAGAI". The Argus. Melbourne. 29 May 1925. p. 11. Retrieved 20 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  32. ^ Australian Government Emergency Management database Archived 24 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  33. ^ Troy, Michael (23 October 2001). "Report warns of damage to Murrumbidgee River" (transcript). 7.30 Report. Australia: ABC1. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  34. ^ Kwek, Glenda (7 March 2012). "Wagga 'dodges a bullet' as severe weather warning issued for Sydney". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  35. ^ NSW Department of Natural Resources Murrumbidgee Region Archived 23 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  36. ^ a b "Search Rivers and Creeks". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia.
  37. ^ "Place name search". Geographical Name Register. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales.
  38. ^ "Gazetteer of Australia Place Name Search". Geoscience Australia. Australian Government.
  39. ^ "New Bridge for Maude". Hay Shire Council. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  40. ^ "Narrandera Rail Bridge". Narrandera Tourism. Narrandera Shire Council. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  41. ^ "Wagga's Gobbagombalin bridge proves its worth". The Daily Advertiser. 9 December 2010. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  42. ^ Owen, Brodie (20 August 2014). "Hampden Bridge erased from Wagga's landscape". The Daily Advertiser. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  43. ^ Transport for NSW, N. S. W. "Sheahan Bridge duplication". Transport for NSW. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  44. ^ Heaton, J. H., 1984, The Bedside Book of Colonial Doings, Published in 1879 as Australian Dictionary of Dates containing the History of Australasia from 1542 to May, 1879, Angus & Robertson Publishers Sydney, pp.215-216
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