The North Para River is a river located in the

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley ( Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major wine-producing region and tourist destinati ...

of the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The river's name is based directly on the

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurn ...

word ''pari'' which means river. The "north" descriptor distinguishes it from the

South Para River The South Para River is a river located in the Mount Lofty Ranges northeast of Adelaide in the Australian state of South Australia. The river's name is based directly on the Kaurna word ''pari'' which means river. The "south" descriptor distin ...

with which it merges.

Course and features

The North Para River rises in the

Barossa Ranges The Barossa Range (Kaurna: ''Yampoori'') is a mountain range located in the Australian state of South Australia. Location The range is a part of the southern Mount Lofty Ranges and the western slopes primarily fall into the Barossa Valley. As ...

near Eden Valley and follows a meandering path through the

, firstly north to the east of Angaston, then arcs around to the

southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

to pass through the towns of Nuriootpa and Tanunda, before merging with the

Gawler Gawler is the oldest country town on the Australian mainland in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the ...

forming the Gawler River. The river descends over its course. The North Para River catchment is one of the key watersheds in the northern

Mount Lofty Ranges The Mount Lofty Ranges are a range of mountains in the Australian state of South Australia which for a small part of its length borders the east of Adelaide. The part of the range in the vicinity of Adelaide is called the Adelaide Hills and ...

. It plays a very important role in the economy of South Australia, providing much of the water used by

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

in the

. Its waters are also used for

livestock production Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of a ...

, cereal cropping and recreation.

References

Rivers of South Australia Barossa Valley {{SouthAustralia-river-stub

Course and features

See also

References