Lort River is a river located in the Goldfields-Esperance region and the

Eastern Mallee Eastern Mallee is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) subregion in southern Western Australia. Geography Eastern Mallee is roughly defined as the eastern half of the Mallee biogeographic region. It has an area of aroun ...

sub-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 ...

. Lort River was named in 1848 by

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 ...

the

Surveyor General of Western Australia The Surveyor General of Western Australia is the person nominally responsible for government surveying in Western Australia. In the early history of Western Australia, the office of surveyor general was one of the most important public office ...

while leading a five-man exploration expedition along the coast, commemorating

John Lort Stokes Admiral John Lort Stokes, RN (1 August 1811 – 11 June 1885)Although 1812 is frequently given as Stokes's year of birth, it has been argued by author Marsden Hordern that Stokes was born in 1811, citing a letter by fellow naval officer Crawford ...

' work on surveying the Western Australian coast. The headwaters of the Lort River begin in the

Peak Charles National Park Peak Charles National Park is a national park in Western Australia, east of Perth and north west of Esperance. The park is named for one of the main features, Peak Charles, which is an ancient granite peak with an elevation of that dominates ...

and its surrounding vacant Crown land. The river flows in a south-westerly direction and enters farmland area for a distance of with a reserve that is an average of wide containing riparian vegetation. The river then enters the

Stokes National Park Stokes National Park is a national park in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, 538 km south-east of Perth. The National Park is located west of Esperance on the southern coast. The park was named after Stokes Inlet, whi ...

before discharging into

Stokes Inlet Stokes Inlet is an inlet in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. The inlet is situated west of Esperance in Stokes National Park and is set is a large river valley with permanent deep water and high dunes located on either s ...

. Both the river and the inlet were named by

while exploring and surveying the area in 1848 after his friend Admiral

. The catchment of the river has been extensively cleared for Agricultural purposes. It is estimated that 60% of the catchment has been cleared; this has led to increased

sedimentation Sedimentation is the deposition of sediments. It takes place when particles in suspension settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to the ...

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

and salinity levels of the river.

References

Rivers of the Goldfields-Esperance region Shire of Esperance {{WesternAustralia-river-stub