Lennard River is a river in the Kimberley

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

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 named on 8 June 1879 by the explorer

Alexander Forrest Alexander Forrest CMG (22 September 1849 – 20 June 1901) was an explorer and surveyor of Western Australia, and later also a member of parliament. As a government surveyor, Forrest explored many areas of remote Western Australia, particu ...

, during an expedition in the Kimberley area, after Amy Eliza Barrett-Lennard (1852-1897), who he was to marry on 15 January 1880. The river rises below the

Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges The Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges (formerly between 1879 and 2020, the King Leopold Ranges) are a range of hills in the western Kimberley region of Western Australia. There are two conservation parks within the ranges, the Wunaamin Conservation P ...

and flows in a westerly direction through the Lennard River Gorge and the Windjana Gorge before merging with the

Meda River The Meda River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river is formed when the Lennard River splits into two channels just north of Mount Marmion, the other channel being the May River. Continuing to flow westward the ...

. The tributaries of the Lennard River include

Barker River The Barker River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The headwaters of the river rise north of Mount Matthew and then flow in a southerly direction through Barker Gorge before discharging into the Lennard River, of which ...

Richenda River The Richenda River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The headwaters of the river rise in the Wunaamin-Miliwundi Ranges near Mount Broome and flow in a southerly direction. The river then flows through Richenda gorge an ...

, Mount North Creek, Surprise Creek and Broome Creek. The river has a length of and a catchment area of . The

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

of the area that the river flows through are the

Unggumi The Unggumi, also written ''Ongkomi'', are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australian. Country Norman Tindale estimated that the Unggumi's traditional territorial lands stretch over some , centered on the uppe ...

people.

References

{{Authority control Rivers of the Kimberley region of Western Australia