Warrego River
Encyclopedia
The Warrego River is situated in south west 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...

 and north west New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, 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...

. It is the northernmost tributary of the Darling River
Darling River
The Darling River is the third longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth, New South Wales. Including its longest contiguous tributaries it is long, making it the longest river system in Australia.The...

.

The river briefly flows westwards from its source in 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...

 towards Tambo
Tambo, Queensland
Tambo is a town located in central western Queensland, Australia, on the banks of the Barcoo River. Tambo is southeast of the town of Blackall via the Landsborough Highway, and approximately north west of the state capital, Brisbane. At the 2006 census, Tambo had a population of 345.The town was...

, but then turns to flow basically southwards from the Carnarvon Ranges in central Queensland through to its junction with the Darling River, downstream from Bourke
Bourke, New South Wales
-Transportation:Bourke can be reached by the Mitchell Highway, with additional sealed roads from town to the north , east and south . The town is also served by Bourke Airport and has Countrylink bus service to other regional centres, like Dubbo...

. Tributaries of the Warrego River include the Nive
Nive River (Queensland)
The Nive River is a river in the north-eastern Australian state of Queensland. It rises on the western slopes of Mount Playfair south of the Salvador Rosa section of Carnarvon National Park and flows westwards through Long Waterhole to approximately 15 km east of Tambo. There the Nive River flows...

 and Langlo rivers.

The towns of Augathella
Augathella, Queensland
Augathella is a town in western Queensland, Australia, and is part of the Murweh Shire. Augathella lies on the Matilda Highway, is north of the town of Charleville, and west of Brisbane . The town lies on the banks of the Warrego River...

, Charleville
Charleville, Queensland
Charleville is a town in south western Queensland, Australia, 758 kilometres by road west of Brisbane . It is the largest town and administrative centre of the Murweh Shire, which covers an area of 43,905 square kilometres...

, Wyandra
Wyandra, Queensland
Wyandra is a town in outback western Queensland, Australia in the Paroo Shire Local government area. Wyandra is located on the Matilda Highway, 827 kilometres west of the state capital, Brisbane and 110 kilometres north of Cunnamulla...

, and Cunnamulla
Cunnamulla, Queensland
Cunnamulla is a small town that lies on the Warrego River in south west Queensland, Australia, south of Charleville, and approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane....

 are located on the banks of the river. Cunnamulla is the only town with a levee to protect it against flooding.

Warrego is an Aboriginal word meaning "river of sand". Two warships of the Royal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 have been named HMAS Warrego
HMAS Warrego
Two ships of the Royal Australian Navy have been named HMAS Warrego, for the Warrego River in Queensland., a River class torpedo boat destroyer commissioned in 1912 and serving until 1928, a Grimsby class sloop commissioned in 1940 and serving until 1966-Battle honours:Seven battle honours have...

 after the river.

Inflows

Most of the basin of the Warrego is too dry for crop
Crop
Crop may refer to:* Crop, a plant grown and harvested for agricultural use* Crop , part of the alimentary tract of some animals* Crop , a modified whip used in horseback riding or disciplining humans...

ping and has a very erratic rainfall of between 350 and 500 mm (13.8 and 19.7 in). It is covered with a natural vegetation of grassland
Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...

 of more fertile clay soils
Vertisol
In both the FAO and USA soil taxonomy, a vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay known as montmorillonite that forms deep cracks in drier seasons or years. Alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-mulching, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing...

, and saltbush shrubland on less fertile red earths. The predominant land use is low-intensity grazing of sheep and cattle: the river's flow is much too erratic to permit irrigated cropping. The Warrego is essentially an ephemeral
Ephemeral
Ephemeral things are transitory, existing only briefly. Typically the term is used to describe objects found in nature, although it can describe a wide range of things....

 stream: it is not unknown for years to pass without any flow in the basin and substantial amounts of water reach the Darling River only in wet years almost always associated with La Niña
La Niña
La Niña is a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon that is the counterpart of El Niño as part of the broader El Niño-Southern Oscillation climate pattern. During a period of La Niña, the sea surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean will be lower than normal by 3–5 °C...

 events.

Outflows

Below Wyandra the river forms a series of outflowing creeks and anabranches. During floods, the Widgeegoara, Kudnapper and Noorama Creeks allow water to channel into Nebine Creek, a tributary of the Culgoa River
Culgoa River
The Culgoa River is a continuation of one branch of the Balonne River in southern Queensland and flows south-west to join the Darling River near Bourke, New South Wales. It is named for the Aboriginal word meaning "Running Through". Tributaries of the Culgoa include Nebine, Mungallala and Wallam...

. Cuttaburra Creek connects the Warrego to the Paroo River
Paroo River
The Paroo River is a river in Eastern Australia and is often considered to be major tributary of the Darling River in eastern Australia, although its flow generally dissipates before it reaches the Darling...

 via a distribution system that flows through channels, floodways and wetlands. The Irrara Creek anabranch flows into Kerribree Creek which continues into a number of wetlands before filling Utah Lake.

Flooding

When La Niña does strike, flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...

ing is usual along the Warrego: major floods associated with La Niña events occurred in 1950, 1954 to 1956, 1971, 1973, 1998 and 2008. Oddly, the most destructive flood ever recorded on the river took place in the absence of La Niña. In April 1990, as a result of two extremely strong trough
Trough (meteorology)
A trough is an elongated region of relatively low atmospheric pressure, often associated with fronts.Unlike fronts, there is not a universal symbol for a trough on a weather chart. The weather charts in some countries or regions mark troughs by a line. In the United States, a trough may be marked...

 in the easterlies, over 400 millimetres (15.7 in) of rain (more than the annual rainfall in over 60 percent of years) fell in Cunnamulla in two weeks. The river, along with most tributaries of the Darling, reached near-record levels and the towns of Augathella and Charleville were devastated. At Charleville a river height peak of 8.54 m was recorded.

Fauna

The Warrego River is one of a few rivers where silver perch
Silver Perch
Silver perch is a medium sized freshwater fish endemic to the Murray-Darling river system in south-eastern Australia. The scientific name comes from an aboriginal name for the species recorded by Major Mitchell on his 1832 expedition. It is not a perch, being a grunter in the family Terapontidae...

 breed naturally. 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....

 and murray cod
Murray Cod
The Murray cod is a large Australian predatory freshwater fish of the Maccullochella genus and the Percichthyidae family. Although the species is a called cod in the vernacular, it is not related to the northern hemisphere marine cod species...

 are also found on the river. The 590 km2 Carnarvon Station, once a large cattle property at the rivers headwaters, was acquired by the Australian Bush Heritage Fund in 2001 to protect threatened species of birds and animals.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK