Ginninderra Creek, a partly perennial stream of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the

Murray–Darling basin The Murray–Darling basin is a large geographical area in the interior of southeastern Australia, encompassing the drainage basin of the tributaries of the Murray River, Australia's longest river, and the Darling River, a right tributary of ...

, is located in the

Capital Country Capital Country was the name of one of the sixteen tourism regions of New South Wales, Australia. This geographical division is made for improving commerce, specifically tourism, in the state. The Capital area is one of the oldest settled are ...

region spanning both the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. ''Ginninderra'' is derived from the Aboriginal word, meaning "sparkling" or "throwing little rays of light". The traditional custodians of the land surrounding Ginninderra Creek are the

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

of the Ngunnawal tribe.

Course

Ginninderra Creek rises on the northern border between the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and New South Wales (NSW), sourced from the Spring Range, located north-east of

Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...

. The creek flows generally south-west across the Ginninderra Plain, through the

Gungahlin The District of Gungahlin () is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory used in land administration. The Gungahlin Region is one of fastest growing regions within Australia. The district is subdivided into di ...

and

Belconnen The District of Belconnen () is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), used in land administration. The district is subdivided into 27 divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. The district of Belconne ...

regions in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, and then heads west crossing the western border between the ACT and flowing into NSW, towards its

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

with the

Murrumbidgee River The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...

. The creek descends over its course. Ginninderra Creek is impounded by Gungahlin Pond and

Lake Ginninderra Lake Ginninderra is an artificial lake located on the Ginninderra Creek in Canberra. It is adjacent to the Belconnen Town Centre. The lake was constructed in 1974 to collect stormwater discharge from a catchment that includes the surrounding s ...

, a man-made lake that was constructed in 1974 to act as a

sedimentation pond A settling basin, settling pond or decant pond is an earthen or concrete structure using sedimentation to remove settleable matter and turbidity from wastewater. The basins are used to control water pollution in diverse industries such as agricul ...

. The creek flows over the Ginninderra Falls, descending , and through Ginninderra Gorge, to its confluence with the Murrumbidgee River. The catchment of Ginninderra Creek covers approximately . The Ginninderra Creek catchment carries approximately a quarter of Canberra's

urban runoff Urban runoff is surface runoff of rainwater, landscape irrigation, and car washing created by urbanization. Impervious surfaces (roads, parking lots and sidewalks) are constructed during land development. During rain , storms and other precipit ...

, and there is considerable risk of runoff from urban areas harming

aquatic ecosystem An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem formed by surrounding a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The tw ...

s in the Murrumbidgee River system.

Recreation

Ginninderra Falls was a popular scenic tourist destination, opened initially as a private tourist park from the late 1990s. John Gale argued that the Ginninderra Falls were so pretty that Canberra should be chosen as the

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, Department (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...

of Australia, rather than the proposal to choose Dalgety as the location for the national capital. From mid-2011 onwards, advocacy began for the establishment of a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

containing the Ginninderra Falls, comprising and covering both ACT and NSW, inclusive of the existing Woodstock Nature Reserve in the ACT.

References

External links

Ginninderra Catchment Group

A Proposal for a Murrumbidgee – Ginninderra Gorges National Park
website {{coord, 35, 13, S, 149, 3, E, display=title, region:AU-ACT_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki Rivers of the Australian Capital Territory Rivers of New South Wales Tributaries of the Murrumbidgee River