Burdekin River

Burdekin
Burdekin River, 2005, taken from the Burdekin Bridge
Burdekin River is located in Queensland
Burdekin River
Location of Burdekin River mouth in Queensland
EtymologyThomas Burdekin
Location
CountryAustralia
StateQueensland
RegionNorth Queensland, Far North Queensland
SettlementsCharters Towers, Home Hill
Physical characteristics
SourceSeaview Range
 • locationnear Ingham
 • coordinates18°42′12″S 145°44′23″E / 18.70333°S 145.73972°E / -18.70333; 145.73972
 • elevation620 m (2,030 ft)
MouthCoral Sea
 • location
Upstart Bay
 • coordinates
19°38′49″S 147°29′14″E / 19.64694°S 147.48722°E / -19.64694; 147.48722
 • elevation
0 m (0 ft)
Length886 km (551 mi)
Basin size129,700 km2 (50,100 sq mi)
Discharge 
 • average380 m3/s (13,000 cu ft/s)
 • minimum0 m3/s (0 cu ft/s)
 • maximum40,000 m3/s (1,400,000 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftRunning River, Fanning River, Kirk River
 • rightDry River (Queensland), Clarke River (Queensland), Basalt River, Broughton River (Queensland), Cape River (Queensland), Suttor River, Bowen River (Queensland), Bogie River
Reservoir and lakesLake Dalrymple; Lamonds Lagoon
[1]

The Burdekin River is a river in North and Far North Queensland, Australia. The river rises on the northern slopes of Boulder Mountain at Valley of Lagoons, part of the western slope of the Seaview Range, and flows into the Coral Sea at Upstart Bay over 200 kilometres (124 mi) to the southeast of the source, with a catchment area of approximately 130,000 square kilometres (50,000 sq mi).[2] The Burdekin River is Australia's largest river by (peak) discharge volume.[3]: 5 

The river was first encountered by Europeans during the expedition led by Ludwig Leichhardt in 1845 and named in honour of Thomas Burdekin, one of the sponsors of the expedition.[4]

  1. ^ "Map of Burdekin River, QLD". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  2. ^ "Flood Warning System for the Burdekin River". Bureau of Meteorology. Australian Government. June 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  3. ^ Mitchell, Alan; Furnas, Miles; De'ath, Glenn; Brodie, Jon; Lewis, Steve (2006). "A report into the water quality condition of the Burdekin River and surrounds based on the AIMS end-of-catchment sampling program" (PDF). Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research. James Cook University. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference qpbs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).