The Diamantina River is a major river located in
Central West Queensland
Central West Queensland is a remote region in the Australian state of Queensland which covers 396,650.2 km2. The region lies to the north of South West Queensland and south of the Gulf Country. It has a population of approximately 12,387 peo ...
and the far north of
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
.
The river was named by
William Landsborough
William Landsborough (21 February 1825 – 16 March 1886) was an explorer of Australia and notably he was the first explorer to complete a North-to-South crossing of Australia. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council.
Early ...
in 1866 for Lady
Diamantina Bowen
Diamantina, Lady Bowen (; 1832/1833–1893), was a noble from the formerly Venetian Ionian Islands who became the wife of Sir George Bowen, the first Governor of Queensland.
Personal life
The '' Contessa'' Diamantina di Roma was born in 183 ...
(née Roma), wife of Sir
George Bowen
Sir George Ferguson Bowen (; 2 November 1821 – 21 February 1899), was an Irish author and colonial administrator whose appointments included postings to the Ionian Islands, Queensland, New Zealand, Victoria, Mauritius and Hong Kong.R. B. Joy ...
, the first Governor of Queensland.
[Diamantina History]
retrieved 7 May 2008 It has three major tributaries the
Western River,
Mayne River
Mayne may refer to:
People
* Andrew Mayne, magician and filmmaker
* Brent Mayne (born 1968), American Baseball catcher
* Chris Mayne (born 1988), professional Australian rules footballer
* Clarice Mayne (1886–1966), British music hall and var ...
and Farrars Creek.
Geography
Rising north-west of in the
Swords Range in Queensland, the river flows in a south-westerly direction through central Queensland and the
Channel Country
The Channel Country is a region of outback Australia mostly in the state of Queensland but also in parts of South Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales. The name comes from the numerous intertwined rivulets that cross the region ...
to form the
Warburton River
The Warburton River (or Warburton Creek) is a freshwater stream in the far north of South Australia that flows in a south westerly direction and discharges into the eastern side of Lake Eyre. It is one of the state's largest rivers, and is part ...
at its confluence with the
Georgina River
The Georgina River is the north-westernmost of the three major rivers of the Channel Country in Central West Queensland, that also flows through a portion of the Northern Territory, in central Australia. Part of the Lake Eyre basin, the Georgin ...
. In extremely wet years, the Warburton River flows as far as
Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains the ...
. The length of the Diamantina River is approximately , and the basin is approximately , of which are used for agriculture.
Most of the basin of the Diamantina is very flat—even the highest points in the northeast do not reach above sea level and Lake Eyre itself is below sea level. Apart from a few streams near
Winton (the largest town in the basin) almost all rivers in the basin flow southwestwards towards
Birdsville
Birdsville is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Birdsville had a population of 110 people. It is a popular tourist destination with many people using it as a starting point acro ...
. The Diamantina River has no main channel, rather it is a series of wide and relatively shallow channels.
The major feature of the river's sluggish course is
Diamantina National Park
Diamantina National Park is a national park in the Channel Country of South West Queensland, Australia, west of Brisbane. Like the Diamantina River that flows through it, it is named for Lady Diamantina Bowen, wife of Sir George Bowen, the firs ...
about halfway between Winton and Birdsville. Apart from the national park, almost all land in the basin is used for grazing
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...
and
sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...
, though numbers fluctuate greatly and considerable skill is required on the part of graziers.
The variable drought and flood cycles of the area make the river ephemeral with many semi-permanent waterholes. The highest recorded flow rate of the river was at Birdsville in 1974 with was measured.
The Diamantina runs along the northern and eastern rim of a roughly circular zone measuring some 130 km across that has been identified by
Geoscience Australia
Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian Government. It carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on all aspects of geoscience, and custodian of the geographic and geological data and knowl ...
as a
crustal anomaly. Proof is currently lacking as to the cause, but it is believed likely that the anomaly was caused by an
asteroid strike that happened about 300 million years ago.
Environment
Climate
The climate of the basin is hot and
arid
A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...
. In January, temperatures throughout the basin average around during the day and decline only to about at night. In winter, they typically range from during the day to at night. On occasions, however,
frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...
has been reported in all areas of the basin: Winton has recorded minima as low as .
Precipitation
Rainfall is heavily concentrated between December and March: averages for these four months range from at Winton and
Kynuna
Kynuna is an outback town in the Shire of McKinlay and a locality split between the Shire of McKinlay and the Shire of Winton in Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Kynuna had a population of 55 people.
Geography
Kynuna is on the ban ...
to around at Birdsville. In the rest of the year rainfall is very scanty and only on the rarest occasions are significant falls reported: throughout most of the basin the average rainfall between May and September totals around . However, the rainfall of the basin, as with all of the
Lake Eyre Basin
The Lake Eyre basin ( ) is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. It is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about , including much of inland Queensland, large porti ...
, is exceedingly erratic and catastrophic droughts and floods tend to be the normal state of affairs throughout this region. In the northern part of the basin, annual rainfalls as high as were reported in 1894, 1950, 1974 and 2000, whilst even in Birdsville annual totals as high as have been reported. During floods the river can be as wide as across.
In dry years such as 1902, 1905, 1928, 1961, 1965 and 2002, almost the whole basin reported totals . There can also be significant variation from station to station over small areas: although the annual averages and variability at Winton and Kynuna are almost alike, the actual totals at the two stations can differ by as much as in some years due to isolated very heavy rainfalls.
Soils
The soils in the region are mainly grey and brown
vertisol
A vertisol, or vertosol, is a soil type in which there is a high content of expansive clay minerals, many of them known as montmorillonite, that form deep cracks in drier seasons or years. In a phenomenon known as argillipedoturbation, alternat ...
s, with some
fluvent
Entisols are soils defined in USDA soil taxonomy that do not show any profile development other than an A horizon. An entisol has no diagnostic horizons, and most are basically unaltered from their parent material, which can be unconsolidated sedi ...
s in the drier areas. Although they do not have high
phosphate
In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid .
The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...
contents, they have adequate levels of most other nutrients: consequently when rainfall is abundant the grasses within the basin are extremely nutritious, especially in the lower reaches of the river around Birdsville, which is a primary region for cattle fattening in years when rainfall further north is adequate to flood the region.
Wildlife
The
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
of the lower reaches of the Diamantina has been identified as an
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
by
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
because it has been estimated to support at least 450,000
waterbird
A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...
s when in flood, as well as globally significant numbers of the
nankeen night-heron,
royal spoonbill
The royal spoonbill (''Platalea regia'') also known as the black-billed spoonbill, occurs in intertidal flats and shallows of fresh and saltwater wetlands in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. (In New Z ...
,
little curlew
The little curlew (''Numenius minutus'') is a wader in the large bird family Scolopacidae. It is a very small curlew, which breeds in the far north of Siberia. It is closely related to the North American Eskimo curlew.
The word "curlew" is imita ...
,
Australian bustard
The Australian bustard (''Ardeotis australis'') is a large ground dwelling bird which is common in grassland, woodland and open agricultural country across northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It stands at about high, and its wingspan is ...
,
grey grasswren
The grey grasswren (''Amytornis barbatus'') is a passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is found on arid inland floodplains of Australia where it is endemic. The grey grasswren is a rarely seen elusive bird that was first ...
,
inland dotterel
The inland dotterel (''Peltohyas australis'') is an endemic bird of the arid Australian interior. It forms loose flocks in sparsely vegetated gibber plain and claypans in the day where it loafs in the shade and eats shoots of shrubs. It is most o ...
,
cinnamon quail-thrush
The cinnamon quail-thrush (''Cinclosoma cinnamomeum'') is cryptic arid-zone species that is endemic to Australia. This small to medium-sized species of bird is found in the arid and semi-arid regions of central Australia.
Taxonomy
This speci ...
and
pied honeyeater
The pied honeyeater (''Certhionyx variegatus'') is a species of bird in the family of honeyeaters Meliphagidae and the sole species in the genus '' Certhionyx'' (Christidis & Boles 2008). This species is also known as the black and white honeyeat ...
.
History
The river is
ephemeral
Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...
but floods periodically following heavy rainfall events in the catchment. During the floods of 1940 the mailman, Harry Ding, completed his round using a motorboat and
Cooper Creek
The Cooper Creek (formerly Cooper's Creek) is a river in the Australian states of Queensland and South Australia. It was the site of the death of the explorers Burke and Wills in 1861. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its t ...
was measured at around wide. In 1950 flooding covered some , with the river described as a raging torrent wide.
Karuwali (also known as Garuwali, Dieri) is a language of far western Queensland. The Karuwali language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the
Diamantina Shire Council
The Shire of Diamantina is a local government area in Central West Queensland, bordering South Australia and the Northern Territory. Its administrative centre is in the town of Bedourie.
Like most places in Queensland with the "Diamantina" nam ...
, including the localities of
Betoota
Betoota is a ghost town within the locality of Birdsville, in the Shire of Diamantina, in the Channel Country of Central West Queensland, Australia. The last permanent resident, Sigmund Remienko, died in 2004. Betoota is situated on a gibber pla ...
and
Haddon Corner
Haddon Corner is a heritage-listed site in Tanbar, Shire of Barcoo, Queensland, Australia. It is in outback Channel Country at South-West Queensland, on the border corner with South Australia. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register ...
.
See also
*
List of rivers of Australia
This is a list of rivers of Australia. Rivers are ordered alphabetically, by state. The same river may be found in more than one state as many rivers cross state borders.
Longest rivers nationally
Longest river by state or territory
Althoug ...
*
Diamantina River ring feature
The Diamantina River ring feature is a geomorphic feature that consists of a conspicuous near-360° circular drainage pattern that forms the headwaters of the Diamantina River. It is centred near the Woodstock Station west of Winton, Channel Co ...
References
{{Rivers of South Australia, state=autocollapse
Rivers of Queensland
Rivers of South Australia
Floodplains of Australia
Lake Eyre basin
Central West Queensland
Important Bird Areas of Queensland