New South Wales Rivers
|
|
This page discusses the rivers and hydrography of the State of New South Wales, Australia.
The principal topographic feature of New South Wales is the series of low highlands and plateaus called the Great Dividing Range which extend from north to south roughly parallel to the coast of the Tasman Sea.
The two main categories of rivers in New South Wales, are those which rise in the Great Dividing Range and flow directly eastwards to the sea, and those which rise on the other side of the crest of the range and flow westward towards the desert. Most of the inland rivers eventually combine into the Murray-Darling network of rivers which drains to the sea in South Australia.
In general, the coastal rivers are short, navigable only in their lowest reaches, if at all, subject to flooding in periods of high rainfall. The inland rivers have little water, are also subject to flooding, and their limited resources are extensively used for irrigation in the more arid inland agricultural districts of the State. On all of the significant inland rivers, large dams have been constructed to regulate the water flow and facilitate irrigation.
This is a list of the coastal rivers in New South Wales, in order from north to south:
- Tweed River
- Brunswick River
- Richmond River
- Clarence River
- Bellinger River
- Kalang River
- Nambucca River
- Macleay River
- Hastings River
- Manning River
- Myall River
- Hunter River also Glenbawn Dam
- Wyong River
- Hawkesbury River
- Parramatta River
- Georges River
- Shoalhaven River
- Clyde River
- Moruya River
- Bega River
The inland-flowing rivers in New South Wales can be considered in two groups. In the northern half of the state, a series of rivers rise on the western side of the Great Dividing Range. These rivers flow west and northwest and eventually combine into the Barwon which becomes the Darling River further west near Bourke. The waters of the Darling River then flow south through the arid far west of New South Wales to join the Murray River at Wentworth in the far south-west corner of the State.
The second group of inland-flowing rivers in New South Wales are those which rise in the southern part of the State and combine directly with the Murray River which forms the southern border of New South Wales with Victoria.
- Darling River in the northwestern sector of the state.
- Barwon River
In the southwestern sector of the state:
- Lachlan River also Wyangala Dam
- Murrumbidgee River also Burrinjuck Dam
- Murray River also Hume Weir
- Edward River
See Also
- List of rivers of Australia for an alphabetical listing including rivers in other Australian states