Peel River, a

watercourse A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams are ...

that is part of the Namoi catchment within the

Murray–Darling basin The Murray–Darling basin is a large geographical area in the interior of southeastern Australia, encompassing the drainage basin of the tributaries of the Murray River, Australia's longest river, and the Darling River, a right tributary of ...

, is located in the North West Slopes and Plains district of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

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 ...

Course and features

The river rises on the northern slopes of the

Liverpool Range The Liverpool Range is a mountain range and a lava-field province in New South Wales, Australia. The eastern peaks of the range were the traditional territory of the Wonnarua people. Geography The Liverpool Range starts from the volcanic plate ...

, at the junction of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

and

Mount Royal Range The Mount Royal Range is a mountain range in the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. Location and features The Mount Royal Range is a spur on the eastern side of the Great Dividing Range. It diverges from the Liverpool Range at a po ...

, south of the village of Nundle, and flows generally north, west and north west and emerges into the

Liverpool Plains The Liverpool Plains are an extensive agricultural area covering about of the north-western slopes of New South Wales in Australia. These plains are a region of prime agricultural land bounded to the east by the Great Dividing Range, to the s ...

near Tamworth. The Peel River is joined by thirteen

tributaries 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 b ...

, including the

Cockburn River Cockburn River ( ) is a perennial river that is part of the Namoi catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, located in the Northern Tablelands district of New South Wales, Australia. The river rises in the west slopes of Moonbi Range, near L ...

, and flows through

Chaffey Dam Chaffey Dam is a minor ungated rock fill with clay core embankment dam with an uncontrolled ''morning glory'' spillway across the Peel River, located upstream of the city of Tamworth, in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Th ...

before reaching its

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

at 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 ...

with the

Namoi River The Namoi River, a major perennial river that is part of the Barwon catchment of the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes districts of New South Wales, Australia. The Namoi River rises on the west ...

; dropping over its course of . From source to mouth, the river passes through or near the villages of Nundle, Woolomin and Piallamore. The Peel River was first discovered by European settlers in

1818 Events January–March * January 1 ** Battle of Koregaon: Troops of the British East India Company score a decisive victory over the Maratha Empire. ** Mary Shelley's ''Frankenstein'' is published anonymously in London. * January 2 – ...

John Oxley John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley (1784 – 25 May 1828) was an explorer and surveyor of Australia in the early period of British colonisation. He served as Surveyor General of New South Wales and is perhaps best known for his two exp ...

and named by Oxley in honour of

Sir Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

, an important British politician at the time of its discovery by British settlers in Australia. At Tamworth, the river is crossed by the Main North line via the

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

Tamworth rail bridge, completed in 1882. The famous Australian freshwater native fish Murray cod, ''Maccullochella peelii'', was named after the Peel River by

Major Mitchell Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (15 June 1792 – 5 October 1855), surveyor and explorer of Southeastern Australia, was born at Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, Scotland. In 1827 he took up an appointment as Assistant Surveyor General of New Sou ...

, who sketched and scientifically described and named one of the numerous Murray cod his men caught from the river on his 1838 expedition.

References

External links

* {{coord, 30, 55, S, 150, 29, E, display=title, region:AU_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki Rivers of New South Wales Murray-Darling basin New England (New South Wales) Great Dividing Range

Course and features

See also

References

External links