Gairdner River is a river located in the Great Southern region of

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 ...

. The river was first recorded by Surveyor General

John Septimus Roe John Septimus Roe (8 May 1797 – 28 May 1878) was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia's legislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in t ...

in 1848, when carrying out exploration of the area, noting that natives referred to it and its numerous branches as "Jeer-A-Mung-Up". Roe later named the same river Gairdner River, at its mouth in

Gordon Inlet Gordon Inlet is an estuarine inlet, located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. The inlet is at the south west corner of the Fitzgerald River National Park and approximately north west of the town of Bremer Bay. The estuar ...

, not realising they were the same, after Gordon Gairdner, Senior Clerk of the Australian and Eastern Departments in the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of col ...

, later Chief Clerk of the Colonial Office and Secretary and Registrar of the

Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

. Roe also named Gordon Inlet and Mount Gordon after Gairdner. The river originates in farm land north of the South Coastal Highway between Needilup and Jacup on the Yilgarn plateau at about above sea level. It flows in a south-easterly direction crossing the

South Coast Highway South Coast Highway is a Western Australian highway. It is a part of the Highway 1 network. With a length of , it runs from Esperance to Walpole roughly in parallel to Western Australia's south coast. Even then the journey is pretty much in ...

east of Jerramungup then through the

Fitzgerald River National Park Fitzgerald River National Park is a national park in the Shires of Ravensthorpe and the Jerramungup in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is recognised on Australia's National Heritage List for its outstanding diversity of nativ ...

until it terminates in Gordon Inlet, where it discharges an average of 9,400,000 cubic metres per annum. The

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

that flow into the river are Cobomup Creek, Needilup River, Pingamup River, Spring Creek, Wilgerup Creek, Scott Creek and Duleep Creek. About 60% of the catchment has been cleared for sheep and grains farming and as a result the water quality has become saline. Salinity levels vary from 3

‰ Per mille (from Latin , "in each thousand") is an expression that means parts per thousand. Other recognised spellings include per mil, per mill, permil, permill, or permille. The associated sign is written , which looks like a percent si ...

(3,000 ppm) after rains when the river is flowing to 50‰ (50,000 ppm) during the summer time.

References

Rivers of the Great Southern region {{WesternAustralia-river-stub