The Donnelly River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

in the

South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Its main tributaries are Barlee Brook and Carey Brook. The river runs primarily through

state forest A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign or federated state, or territory. Background The precise application of the terms vary by jurisdiction. For example: * In Australia, a ...

reserves, although 25 private landholdings are situated along the length of the river. Clearing of the

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

is estimated at 20% with the land mostly being used for viticulture,

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

, grazing and tourism.

History

The first European to sight the river was

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

William Preston in 1831. The river was named by James Stirling, the

Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutional ...

, in the 1830s after Admiral Sir Ross Donnelly, a friend of Stirling's father-in-law James Mangles MP. Bannister had stood in for Mangles at Stirling's wedding to Ellen Mangles.

Fauna

The Donnelly is one of the few catchments left in the state that contains all of the region's endemic freshwater fishes. Native freshwater species include salamanderfish (''Lepidogalaxias salamandroides''), freshwater cobbler (''Tandanus bostocki''), western minnow (''Galaxias occidentalis''), western mud minnow (''Galaxiella munda''), black-stripe minnow (''Galaxiella nigrostriata''), western pygmy perch (''Nannoperca vittata''), Balston's pygmy perch (''Nannatherina balstoni''),

nightfish The nightfish (''Bostockia porosa'') is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, a temperate perch from the Family (biology), family Percichthyidae which is endemism, endemic to southwestern Australia. Taxonomy The nightfish was first formally ...

(''Bostockia porosa''), and

pouched lamprey The pouched lamprey (''Geotria australis''), also known as the korokoro or wide-mouthed lamprey, is a species in the genus ''Geotria'', which is the only genus in the family Geotriidae. The second species in the genus is the Argentinian lamprey ...

(''Geotria australis''). Locals have reported sightings of an elusive pod of freshwater dolphins, though their existence has never been confirmed. Many

estuarine fish Coastal fish, also called inshore fish or neritic fish, inhabit the sea between the shoreline and the edge of the continental shelf. Since the continental shelf is usually less than deep, it follows that pelagic coastal fish are generally ep ...

are found close to the mouth of the river, these include

black bream Black bream may refer to one of several fish species: * Black drummer, ''Girella elevata'' * Black seabream, ''Spondyliosoma cantharus'', a silvery fish found in northern Europe and the Mediterranean * Galjoen, ''Dichistius capensis'', the nation ...

(''Acanthopagrus butcheri''),

flathead mullet The flathead grey mullet (''Mugil cephalus'') is an important food fish species in the mullet family Mugilidae. It is found in coastal tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. Its length is typically . It is known with numerous English names, ...

(''Mugil cephalus''),

yellow-eye mullet Yellow-eye mullet (''Aldrichetta forsteri''), also known as Coorong mullet (after the Coorong area of South Australia), conmuri, estuary mullet, Forster's mullet, freshwater mullet, pilch, pilchard, Victor Harbor mullet, yelloweye, yellow-eyed ...

(''Aldrichetta forsteri''),

Australian herring The Australian herring (''Arripis georgianus''), also known as the ruff, tommy ruff, or Australian ruff, is one of four Australasian fish species within the genus '' Arripis''. It closely resembles its sister species, the Australian salmon, alth ...

(''Arripis georgianus''), and freshwater cobbler (''Tandanus bostocki''). Several species have been introduced into the river, including

eastern mosquitofish The eastern mosquitofish (''Gambusia holbrooki'') is a species of freshwater fish, closely related to the western mosquitofish, ''Gambusia affinis''. It is a member of the family Poeciliidae of order Cyprinodontiformes. The eastern mosquitofish ...

(''Gambusia holbrooki''),

European perch The European perch (''Perca fluviatilis''), also known as the common perch, redfin perch, big-scaled redfin, English perch, Euro perch, Eurasian perch, Eurasian river perch, Hatch, poor man’s rockfish or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply th ...

(''Perca fluviatilis''), and

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

(''Oncorhynchus mykiss''). The latter is the most common, being specifically introduced for angling purposes, with over 500,000 being stocked into the system between 1999 and 2004.

Flora

The river originates in an area of open

jarrah ''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with roug ...

- marri forest east of Yornup, between

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Island ...

and Manjimup. The area contains an understorey composed of such species as bull banksia (''Banksia grandis''),

sheoak The Casuarinaceae are a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of four genera and 91 species of trees and shrubs native to eastern Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, Malesia, Papuasia, and the Pacific ...

(''Allocasuarina fraseriana''), snottygobble (''Persoonia longifolia''), prickly moses (''Acacia pulchella''),

zamia palm ''Macrozamia riedlei'', commonly known as a zamia or zamia palm, is a species of cycad in the plant family Zamiaceae. It is endemic to southwest Australia and often occurs in jarrah forests. It may only attain a height of half a metre or form an ...

(''Macrozamia reidlei''),

balga Balga (russian: замок Бальга; german: Burg Balga; lt, Balga; pl, Balga) was a medieval castle of the Teutonic Knights in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. The castle ruins are located on the shore of the Vistula Lagoon, north of Mamonovo ...

(''Xanthorrhoea preissii''), and graceful grass tree (''Xanthorrhoea gracilis''). The river then flows through a large area of tall

karri ''Eucalyptus diversicolor'', commonly known as karri, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is Endemism, endemic to the Southwest Australia, south-west of Western Australia. It is a tall tree with smooth light grey to cre ...

forests. The understorey includes karri sheoak (''Allocasuarina decussata''), oakleaf thomasia (''Thomasia quercifolia'') and Western Australian peppermint (''Agonis flexuosa''). Toward the coast the floral composition changes as the soils change to swampy flats and consolidated dunes. Species such as stout paperbark (''Melaleuca preissiana''), swamp paperbark (''Melaleuca rhaphiophylla''),

yate Yate is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England. It lies just to the southwest of the Cotswolds, Cotswold Hills and is northeast of Bristol city centre and from the centre of Bath, Somerset, Bath, with regular rail services ...

(''Eucalyptus cornuta''), Warren River cedar (''Taxandria juniperina''), wonnich (''Callistachys lanceolata''), and various

banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and fruiting "cones" and heads. ''Banksias'' range i ...

s start to dominate.

References

{{Authority control Rivers of the South West region South coast of Western Australia