The Arrowsmith River lies within the
Mid West
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
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 ...
.
The explorer
George Grey
Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Go ...
found the river on 11 April 1839, on his second expedition along the west coast. He named it after the distinguished English
cartographer John Arrowsmith.
The river commences just south of
Arrino
Arrino is a small town in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The town is located between Mingenew and Three Springs on the Midlands Road.
The name of the town is Aboriginal in origin; it is the name of the local springs, thought to me ...
and north-west of
Three Springs near the Midlands Road and flows in a westerly direction for a length of to the coast and terminates in Arrowsmith Lake, inland from Cliff Head.
The river drops a total of in elevation over the course of its length.
Flood
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
ing in surrounding areas occurred in 1932 following a torrential downpour that caused the river and surrounding creeks to rise and flood a few hours later.
The
salinity levels in the river are often higher than 1000 mg/L due to
brackish
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estu ...
run-off water, but the potential bore yields of the catchment are quite high.
References
Rivers of the Mid West region
{{WesternAustralia-river-stub