Hastings River ( Birpai: ''Doongang''), an open and

trained Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

intermediate wave dominated barrier estuary, is located in the

Northern Tablelands The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...

and

Mid North Coast The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north-east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region covers the mid northern coast of the state, beginning from Port Stephens north of Sydney, and extending as far north as Woolgoo ...

districts of

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 ...

Course and features

Hastings River rises in the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

, southwest of Kemps Pinnacle, in the area surrounding

Oxley Wild Rivers National Park The Oxley Wild Rivers National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Northern Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia in the Port Macquarie-Hastings City Council and Walcha Shire councils. The park is situated north ...

and

Werrikimbe National Park The Werrikimbe National Park is a protected national park located in the catchment zone of the Upper Hastings River in New South Wales, Australia. Gazetted in 1975, the park is situated approximately north of Sydney, north-west of , and ea ...

and flows generally south, southeast and east, joined by seven

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 ...

including the Tobins,

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

, Ellenborough, Pappinbarra and Thone rivers, before reaching its

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

, flowing into the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...

of the

South Pacific Ocean South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

, at

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...

. The river descends over its course. The course of the river flows adjacent to the settlements Ellenborough, Long Flat, Beechwood, Wauchope and Port Macquarie. The

Oxley Highway Oxley Highway is a rural highway in New South Wales, Australia, linking Nevertire, Gilgandra, Coonabarabran, Tamworth, and Walcha to Port Macquarie, on the coast of the Tasman Sea. It was named to commemorate John Oxley, the first European t ...

is generally aligned with the middle and lower reaches of the river. West of Port Macquarie, the Pacific Highway crosses the Hastings River.

History

The Hastings River has been inhabited by Birpai Aboriginal people for thousands of years, who knew it as ''Doongang''. The river was first charted by European explorers in 1818, after being sighted by

John Oxley John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley (1784 – 25 May 1828) was an explorer and surveyor of Australia in the early period of British colonisation. He served as Surveyor General of New South Wales and is perhaps best known for his two exp ...

. He named the river the Hastings River for the then

Governor-General of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...

Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings, (9 December 175428 November 1826), styled The Honourable Francis Rawdon from birth until 1762, Lord Rawdon between 1762 and 1783, The Lord Rawdon from 1783 to 1793 and The Earl of Moira b ...

. On 19 November 2002, two anglers found the dismembered body of murdered Sydney drug dealer, Terry Falconer. Investigations revealed that Falconer had died three days beforehand, after his corpse had been cut up and dumped in the Hastings River by

Anthony Perish Anthony John Michael "Rooster" Perish (born 4 September 1969) is a convicted Australian murderer from Leppington, New South Wales, who killed a Sydney drug dealer, Terry Falconer, in November 2001. Perish was assisted in the murder of Falconer b ...

and his criminal gang associates. The River flooded in March 2021 during a severe weather event affecting much of New South Wales.

Recreation, flora and fauna

The Hastings River gives its name to the Hastings River wine region and to an endangered species of

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

, the Hastings River Mouse (''Pseudomys oralis''). Fishing opportunities on the Hastings River exist for freshwater bass and catfish in the upper reaches to estuarine species such as bream, flathead and luderick near the river mouth.

Gallery

Hastings R (3).JPG, Hastings River, flooded, west of Ellenborough, 2009. Dennis Bridge from new Pacific Hwy.jpg, Dennis Bridge from the new Pacific Highway bridge to the west New Hastings River Bridge on Pacific Motorway.jpg, New Hastings River Bridge carrying the Pacific Highway

References

External links