The Young River is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 that rises south of the Frank Hann National Park

Frank Hann National Park

Frank Hann National Park is a national park in Western Australia , located east-southeast of the capital, Perth in the Shire of Lake Grace. It was named for Frank Hann, an early explorer of the district...

 then flows in a south easterly direction for a distance of 95 kilometres (59 mi) before flowing into Stokes Inlet

Stokes Inlet

Stokes Inlet is an inlet in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia.The inlet is situated from Esperance in Stokes National Park and is set is a large river valley with permanent deep water and high dunes located on either side. Thick bushland and paperbark trees surround the inlet...

 which discharges into the Southern Ocean

Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...

.

The only two tributaries

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 to the river are Cascade Creek and Yerritup Creek.

History

The area around the Young River were used by Aborigine

Australian Aborigines

Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...

s as a travel route through the region. The river provides some permanent water-pools along its course in an otherwise semi-arid

Semi-arid

A semi-arid climate or steppe climate describes climatic regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not extremely...

 landscape.
Many freshwater soak

Soakage

A soakage, or soak, is a source of water in Australian deserts.It is called thus because the water generally seeps into the sand, and is stored below, sometimes as part of an ephemeral river or creek system.-Aboriginal water source:...

s exist along the banks of the river that acted as popular camp-sites for the Aborigines. Six known sites exist along the water course with several stone artefacts being found.
The Young river is thought to be the boundary between two Aboriginal peoples, the Wudjaarri in the west and the Nyungarra to the east.

John Septimus Roe

John Septimus Roe

John Septimus Roe was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, and a Member of Western Australia's Legislative and Executive Councils for nearly 40 years.-Early life:...

, the Surveyor General, named the Young river after the Governor of South Australia while on expedition in the area in 1835.

Since the 1950's it is estimated that approximately 60% of the land has been cleared in the Young River catxhment area for agricultural purposes.

The Department of the Environment installed four gauging stations along the river, the first in 1970, to measure discharge and water quality.