Hann River

This article is about a river in Western Australia. For a river of the same name in Queensland, see Hann River (Queensland).

Hann River
Map
Location
CountryAustralia
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationbelow Pinnamutta-Murrawong Hill
 • elevation594 metres (1,949 ft)[2]
Mouth 
 • location
confluence with Fitzroy River
 • elevation
251 metres (823 ft)
Length224 kilometres (139 mi)[1]
Discharge 
 • average711,000 ML/a (22.5 m3/s; 796 cu ft/s)[3]

The Hann River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

The traditional owners of the areas around the river are the Wurla.[4]

It was named after the first European to explore the river, Frank Hann, who had seen it during his expedition to the region in 1898 and named it the Phillips River. It was renamed in 1900 by the Surveyor General H F Johnston to honour Hann; a Philips River already existed in the south of the state.

The river rises below Mount Lacy and Sir John Gorge and then flows in a southerly direction past Mount Elizabeth then crossing the Gibb River Road. The river then cuts through the Barnett Range and then passes through the Phillips Range via Moll Gorge and flows through the Talbot Range until it flows into the Fitzroy River, of which it is a tributary, near Pinnamutta-Murrawong Hill.

The Hann has 12 tributaries, including Traine River, Barnett River, Harris Creek, Bella Creek, Macnamara Creek, Crocodile Creek and Grey Mare Creek.

The river has the only known specimens of the grass-like Whiteochloa sp. Hann River, a threatened species of Poaceae, located along its course.[5]

Fish such as the western rainbowfish, the Kimberley archerfish, Greenway's grunter and the false spotted gudgeon have all been found within the river system.[6]

  1. ^ "History of river names – H". Western Australian Land Information Authority. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2008.
  2. ^ "Bonzle Digital Atlas - Map of Hann River, WA". 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  3. ^ "Department of Water - Hann River - Phillips Range". 2008. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2008.
  4. ^ "Ausanthrop - Australian Aboriginal tribal database". 2012. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  5. ^ "Florabase -Whiteochloa Distribution". 2010. Archived from the original on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  6. ^ "National River Trust - Inland fish fauna of the Fitzroy river" (PDF). 2002. Retrieved 15 September 2010.