The Young River is a river on the

South coast of Western Australia The south coast of Western Australia comprises the Western Australian coastline from Cape Leeuwin to Eucla. This is a distance of approximately , fronting the Great Australian Bight and the Southern Ocean. Components The Bureau of Meteorology ...

that rises south of the

Frank Hann National Park Frank Hann National Park is a national park in Western Australia, located east-southeast of the capital, Perth in the Shire of Lake Grace. It was named for Frank Hann, an early explorer of the district. The park contains a wide array of flora, ...

then flows in a south easterly direction for a distance of before flowing 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 si ...

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 ...

. It is also passes through 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 ...

. The only two

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 ...

to the river are Cascade Creek and Yerritup Creek.

History

The area around the Young River were used by Aborigines as a travel route through the region. The river provides some permanent water-pools along its course in an otherwise

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

landscape. Many freshwater

soak Soak may refer to: * Steeping * Bathing * Soakage (source of water), a source of water in Australian deserts * Soak dike Soak may refer to: * Steeping * Bathing * Soakage (source of water), a source of water in Australian deserts * Soak dike, d ...

s exist along the banks of the river that acted as popular camp-sites for the Aborigines. Six known sites exist along the water course with several stone artefacts being found. The Young river is thought to be the boundary between two Aboriginal peoples, the Wudjaarri in the west and the Nyungarra to the east.

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 t ...

, the Surveyor General, named the Young river after the Governor of South Australia while on expedition in the area in 1835. Since the 1950s it is estimated that approximately 60% of the land has been cleared in the Young River catchment area for agricultural purposes. The Department of the Environment installed four gauging stations along the river, the first in 1970, to measure discharge and water quality.

References

{{Authority control Rivers of the Goldfields-Esperance region