The Fitzroy River lies in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Its catchment covers an area of 142,665 square kilometres, making it the largest river catchment flowing to the eastern coast of Australia. The river is formed by the joining of the Mackenzie

Mackenzie River (Queensland)

The Mackenzie River is a seasonal tributary of the Fitzroy River in Queensland, Australia. It is created by the intersection of the Comet and Nogoa rivers flowing from the Expedition Range in Central Queensland....

 and Dawson rivers at Duaringa

Duaringa, Queensland

Duaringa is a small town in central Queensland, Australia. The town lies on the Capricorn Highway, 116 kilometres west of Rockhampton...

. The catchment stretches from the Carnarvon Range

Carnarvon Range

The Carnarvon Range is a mountain range in Central Queensland, Australia. It is a plateau section of the Great Dividing Range. The Carnarvon Range is 160 km in length. It was first explored by Ludwig Leichhardt but named by Thomas Mitchell after the 4th Earl of Carnarvon.North eastern parts of...

s in the west to the rivermouth in Keppel Bay

Keppel Bay

Keppel Bay is a broad bay in Central Queensland, Australia at the mouth of the Fitzroy River. Cape Keppel is at the Eastern end of the bay.The bay and the nearby Keppel Islands were named by Captain Cook when he was there on 27 May 1770, after Admiral Augustus Keppel of the British Royal...

, near Rockhampton

Rockhampton, Queensland

Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....

. It is bounded to the north by the Burdekin River

Burdekin River

The Burdekin River in Queensland, Australia rises on the western slope of the Seaview Range and flows into the Pacific Ocean at Upstart Bay over 200 km to the southeast of the source. The river was first encountered by Europeans during the expedition led by Ludwig Leichhardt in 1845 and named...

 catchment area and to the south by the Burnett River

Burnett River

The Burnett River is a river in central Queensland, Australia that empties into the Pacific Ocean near the city of Bundaberg. The Burnett River region is largely given over to growing sugar cane....

 catchment area.

The Fitzroy was named by Charles and William Archer on 4 May 1853 in honour of Sir Charles FitzRoy

Charles Augustus FitzRoy

Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy, KCH, KCB was a British military officer, politician and member of the aristocracy, who held governorships in several British colonies during the 19th century.-Family and peerage:...

, Governor of the Colony of New South Wales

Governors of New South Wales

The Governor of New South Wales is the state viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who is equally shared with 15 other sovereign nations in a form of personal union, as well as with the eleven other jurisdictions of Australia, and resides predominantly in her...

, as Queensland did not become a separate colony until 1859.

Settlement

The city of Rockhampton is situated 40 kilometres from the coast on the river. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the city was a major port, however rocky bars in the river prevented the Fitzroy from being used for navigation any further inland. As ships became larger, the lower reaches became less viable for commercial traffic, and today only pleasure craft and small commercial fishing boats use the river. Wharves which once lined the town reach at Rockhampton have now almost all disintegrated or been removed. Predominant industries in the catchment are coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 mining, grazing and cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

.

Nowadays, the river has a number of dams and weirs along its length. The Fitzroy Barrage

Barrage (dam)

A barrage is a type of dam which consists of a line of large gates that can be opened or closed to control the amount of water passing the dam. The gates are set between flanking piers which are responsible for supporting the water load...

 at Rockhampton which can hold 61,000 ML when full, provides fresh water to city and surrounds, while the Fairbairn Dam

Fairbairn Dam

Fairbairn Dam is located 25 kilometres southwest of Emerald, in Central Queensland, almost on top of the Tropic of Capricorn line. Fairbairn Dam was constructed in 1972 across the Nogoa River "Gap" creating Lake Maraboon and is Queensland's second largest lake. Maraboon is the Aboriginal for "where...

, on the Nogoa River

Nogoa River

The Nogoa River rises on the Carnarvon Range in the Carnarvon National Park in Central Queensland and flows in a north easterly direction. The river ends where it meets the Comet River north of Comet. From this point the river is called the Mackenzie River....

 (a tributary) and several weirs downstream on the Mackenzie River, provide water for irrigating a wide range of crops including cotton, peanuts, chickpea, corn and horticulture (citrus, table grapes, melons), supplying water for coal mines and domestic use for the town of Emerald

Emerald, Queensland

Emerald is a town located in the Central Highlands district of Central Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Emerald had a population of 10,999. The town is the business centre for the Central Highlands Regional Council....

.

Glenmore Homestead

Glenmore Homestead

The Glenmore Homestead and associated buildings once belonged to pastoral run on the Fitzroy River seven kilometres northwest of Rockhampton, Queensland. It is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register and is operated as a tourist attraction....

 was built at a property on the northern bank of the river seven kilometres northwest of Rockhampton. It was originally settled in 1858, is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register and operates as a tourist attraction today.

Wildlife

The lower reaches of the river are home to salt water crocodile

Saltwater Crocodile

The saltwater crocodile, also known as estuarine or Indo-Pacific crocodile, is the largest of all living reptiles...

s, a recently captured example (2003) being more than 4 metres long. The most diverse range of freshwater fish

Freshwater fish

Freshwater fish are fish that spend some or all of their lives in freshwater, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 0.05%. These environments differ from marine conditions in many ways, the most obvious being the difference in levels of salinity...

 in the country are found within the Fitzroy basin. The prized Australian fish, the barramundi

Barramundi

The Barramundi , also known as Asian Seabass, is a species of catadromous fish in family Latidae of order Perciformes. The native species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific region from the Persian Gulf, through Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea and Northern Australia. Known in Thai...

, breeds in the river along with sooty grunter

Sooty grunter

Named after Tom Eyears sooty grunter is also known as a "sooty", "bream", "grunter", and "blackbream". They can weigh up to . Sooty grunters prefer rivers with clear flowing water and a sandy or rocky substrate, but have a wide range of environmental tolerance.Sooty grunters live in Queensland...

 and a separate genetic strain of golden perch

Golden perch

The golden perch, Macquaria ambigua, is an Australian native freshwater fish, primarily of the Murray-Darling river system. It is not a true perch of the genus Perca....

.

Some 987 km² of the river's floodplain

Floodplain

A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...

 and delta

River delta

A delta is a landform that is formed at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...

 have been classified by BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

 as the Fitzroy Floodplain and Delta Important Bird Area

Important Bird Area

An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...

 (IBA). It regularly supports over 1% of the world population of the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Calidris acuminata is a small wader.- Taxonomy :More recently, a review of new data has indicated that this bird should perhaps better be placed into the genus Philomachus- as P...

 as well as having a resident breeding population of the range-restricted Mangrove Honeyeater

Mangrove Honeyeater

The Mangrove Honeyeater is a species of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. The species was once considered to be conspecific with the Varied Honeyeater, but it is now treated as a separate species...

.

At the mouth of the river researchers have discovered a genetically distinct snubfin dolphins species with a population of just 70 animals. The WWF believes planned coal port on Balaclava Island by Xstrata

Xstrata

Xstrata plc is a global mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is a major producer of coal , copper, nickel, primary vanadium and zinc and the world's largest producer of ferrochrome...

 could wipe out the local snubfin population.

2010–2011 Queensland floods

The Fitzroy river basin is one of those that is part of the extensive flooding occurring during the 2010–2011 Queensland floods

2010–2011 Queensland floods

A series of floods hit Australia, beginning in December 2010, primarily in the state of Queensland including its capital city, Brisbane. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least seventy towns and over 200,000 people were affected. Damage initially was...

.

Tributaries

Tributaries of the Fitzroy include

• Mackenzie River
  Mackenzie River (Queensland)
  The Mackenzie River is a seasonal tributary of the Fitzroy River in Queensland, Australia. It is created by the intersection of the Comet and Nogoa rivers flowing from the Expedition Range in Central Queensland....
  
  
  • Nogoa River
    Nogoa River
    The Nogoa River rises on the Carnarvon Range in the Carnarvon National Park in Central Queensland and flows in a north easterly direction. The river ends where it meets the Comet River north of Comet. From this point the river is called the Mackenzie River....
    
    
  • Comet River
    Comet River
    The Comet River is a river in Central Queensland that starts to the south of Rolleston. It then flows north through Comet towards a confluence with the Nogoa River where they both become known as the Mackenzie River...
    
    
  • Isaac River
    • Connors River
• Dawson River
  • Don River
    • Dee River

External links

• Map of the Fitzroy River catchment area, from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology