Kiewa River, a
perennial river that is part of the
Murray catchment within the
Murray-Darling basin, is located in the
Alpine bioregion, in the
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 ...
n
state of
Victoria.
The Kiewa River is also known by several variations on its name in its upper reaches, variously named as Kiewa River East branch and West Kiewa River (or similar).
The name ''Kiewa'' is an
Aboriginal
Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to:
*Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology
* Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area
*One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...
word, derived from ''cy-a-nun-a'', meaning sweet, and ''wher-ra'', meaning water.
[
]
Location and features
The river rises near Clover Power Station, on the slopes of Mount Bogong, the highest mountain in Victoria at . The main river is formed by the 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 ...
of the Kiewa River East branch and West Kiewa River. The Kiewa River flows generally north northwest, joined by eleven minor tributaries, towards its confluence with the Murray River, southeast of Albury and east of Wodonga. The main river descends over its course
Course may refer to:
Directions or navigation
* Course (navigation), the path of travel
* Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...
,[ sedately through cleared farming country downstream of Mount Beauty; while the West Kiewa River descends over its course,][ in near-pristine ash and peppermint forest country where the flow is swift, upstream of the town of Mount Beauty.
Snowfall is common in the upper reaches of the river during winter, with up to precipitation, mainly as snow.]McKay Creek McKay Creek () is a meltwater stream, long, heading on Suess Glacier west-southwest of the west end of Lake Chad at about elevation and flowing east-northeast into Lake Chad in Taylor Valley, Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was named by the Advisory ...
and West Kiewa power stations are the major generating elements of the Scheme, which provides peak load to the Victorian electricity grid.
Within the Kiewa Valley are the towns of Mount Beauty, Tawonga, Tangambalanga
Tangambalanga , or Tangam for short, is a town in north-eastern Victoria, Australia. It is approximately south-east of the regional centre of Wodonga, in the Kiewa Valley, and from the Hume Weir. The residential district located near the int ...
/Kiewa Township, and Yackandandah. The river is crossed by the Murray Valley Highway at Killara, near its mouth. The Kiewa Valley Highway is located adjacent to much of the course of the river.[
File:West branch Kiewa River 01.jpg, West branch of Kiewa River
File:West branch Kiewa River 03.jpg, Fly fishing the west branch
]
Recreation activities
Tawonga Huts, a series of huts and ruins, are located on the lower reaches of the West Kiewa River, within Alpine National Park and are accessible by experienced hikers.fly fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...
stream for local anglers as it holds good populations of wild brown 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 ...
.
The East and West branches of the Kiewa provide important white water paddling opportunities for Victorian kayakers. The most reliable time to paddle is in spring during the snow melt.
The upper reaches of the Kiewa River and the Bogong High Plains are a very popular area for Cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...
through winter and through to the early spring months.
See also
* List of rivers of Victoria
* Skiing in Victoria, Australia
References
External links
* 5.41MB
Paddling Guide
*
{{Authority control
Rivers of Victoria (Australia)
North-East catchment
Rivers of Hume (region)
Tributaries of the Murray River
Victorian Alps
Alpine National Park