The Oldfield River is an

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

in the Goldfields-Esperance 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 ...

that rises inland from the South Coast at the edge of the

Yilgarn The Yilgarn Craton is a large craton that constitutes the bulk of the Western Australian land mass. It is bounded by a mixture of sedimentary basins and Proterozoic fold and thrust belts. Zircon grains in the Jack Hills, Narryer Terrane have bee ...

plateau. The river starts at above sea level then flows in a south easterly direction crossing the

South Coast Highway South Coast Highway is a Western Australian highway. It is a part of the Highway 1 network. With a length of , it runs from Esperance to Walpole roughly in parallel to Western Australia's south coast. Even then the journey is pretty much i ...

near

Munglinup Munglinup is a small town located in the Shire of Ravensthorpe in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia. The town lies on the South Coast Highway between Ravensthorpe and Esperance and close to the Munglinup River. The river ...

. The river gently undulates through

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

forming gentle valleys with many

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

outcrops, the river then carves deeper valleys through the

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...

before entering the coastal plain. The river is then joined by its

tributary 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 ...

, the

Munglinup River The Munglinup River is an ephemeral river in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. The headwaters of the river rise near Cheadanup Nature Reserve. It flows in a southerly direction through cleared farmland, then crossing the ...

, before flowing into the Oldfield estuary which discharges into the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

. The only other tributary of the Oldfield River is Coujinup Creek. The river is regarded as

saline Saline may refer to: * Saline (medicine), a liquid with salt content to match the human body * Saline water, non-medicinal salt water * Saline, a historical term (especially US) for a salt works or saltern Places * Saline, Calvados, a commune in ...

with high nutrient levels, moderate sedimentation, moderate fringing vegetation and has a low flood risk. Named as Oldfield river by the settler Michael Simon Dempster in a letter written in 1866, the river is thought to have been named after

Augustus Frederick Oldfield Augustus Frederick Oldfield (1821–1887) was an English botanist and zoologist who made large collections of plant specimens in Australia. Oldfield was born on 12 January 1821 in London, England. He made botanical collections in Tasmania, the coa ...

a plant collector who was active around the south coast of Western Australia. The river was most likely named by

Albert Young Hassell Albert Young Hassell (15 November 184120 September 1918) was a prominent Australian pastoralist and politician. Born in Albany, on 15 November 1841, Albert was the second son of pastoralist John Hassell who had pioneered the area around Ken ...

of Jerramungup who explored the area in 1861.

References

{{Authority control Rivers of the Goldfields-Esperance region