The Burnett River is a

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 ...

located in the Wide Bay–Burnett and

Central Queensland Central Queensland is an ambiguous geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Capricorn Coas ...

regions of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia.

Course and features

The Burnett River rises in the Burnett Range, part 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 ...

, close to Mount Gaeta and east of Monto. It drains a basin covering 33,210 km² which is 1.9% of the total area of Queensland. The river flows generally south past Eidsvold and

Mundubbera Mundubbera ( ) is a town and a locality in the North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Mundubbera had a population of 1261 people. Mundubbera is the self-proclaimed "Citrus Capital of Queensland", although this is disputed by the ...

before heading east, adjacent to the townships of Gayndah and

Wallaville Wallaville is a rural town and locality in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia. It is north of the state capital, Brisbane and south west of the regional centre of Bundaberg. In the , Wallaville had a population of 410 people. Geograph ...

before entering the city of

Bundaberg Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia, and is the tenth largest city in the state. Bundaberg's regional area has a population of 70,921, and is a major centre of the Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region. The B ...

. The river flows into the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...

Burnett Heads Burnett Heads is a coastal town and locality in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Burnett Heads had a population of 2,656 people. Geography The locality of Burnett Heads is on the southern side of the Burnet ...

, roughly from Bundaberg. The river descends over its

course Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

. The Burnett River region is largely given over to growing

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...

and small crops. The river is part of the

Brigalow Belt The Brigalow Belt is a wide band of acacia-wooded grassland that runs between tropical rainforest of the coast and the semi-arid interior of Queensland, Australia. The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) divides the Br ...

and

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. Th ...

bioregions.

Major tributaries

Three Moon Creek

Three Moon Creek rises near

Kroombit Tops National Park Kroombit Tops is a national park in Central Queensland, Australia. It is between Monto and Calliope. It is two parts. The largest part is within the localities of Tablelands, Valentine Plains, Cania and Boyne Valley, while the smaller part i ...

north of Monto and flows south through Monto and Mulgildie, is dammed near Cania Gorge to form Lake Cania, before emptying into the Burnett River south-east of Abercorn.

Nogo River

The Nogo River rises in the hills north-west of Monto, is dammed west of Abercorn to form Wuruma Lake, and flows south-east to join the Burnett near

Ceratodus ''Ceratodus'' (from el, κέρας , 'horn' and el, ὀδούς 'tooth') was a wide-ranging genus of extinct lungfish. Fossil evidence dates back to the Early Triassic. A wide range of fossil species from different time periods have been found ...

Auburn River

The Auburn River rises in the hills about west of Cracow, flows south before swinging to the north-east at its confluence with Johnson Creek, passing through the

Auburn River National Park Auburn River National Park is a protected area in the North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. It is in the north-east of the locality of Hawkwood extending into southern Dykehead. Geography The park is 277 km northwest of Brisbane. ...

, a little-known and untouched piece of pristine bush including Auburn Waterfall, and flows into the Burnett River west of Mundubbera.

Boyne River

The Boyne River rises in the

Bunya Mountains National Park Bunya Mountains is a national park in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. Geography The park includes much of the mountain range called the Bunya Mountains. The park are encompasses the most westerly area of subtropical rainfore ...

south-west of

Kingaroy Kingaroy is a rural town and locality in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. The town is situated on the junction of the D'Aguilar and the Bunya Highways, north-west of the state capital Brisbane and south west of Gympie. As a ...

and flows in a general northerly direction, is dammed near Proston to form Lake Boondooma, emptying into the Burnett River near Mundubbera, only from the Burnett River-Auburn River confluence.

Barambah Creek

Barambah Creek rises in the hills between Kingaroy and the

Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...

, north of Jimna and flows in a general northerly direction, it flows just below the dam wall of Lake Barambah, also known as

Bjelke-Petersen Dam The Bjelke-Petersen Dam is a dam in Moffatdale near Cherbourg in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. The dam impounds Barker Creek and creates Lake Barambah. It is named after the Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen. It is operat ...

, before meeting the Burnett River north-east of Gayndah near Ban Ban Springs.

History

Prehistory

The Burnett River area was historically inhabited by the

Taribelang The Taribelang are an Aboriginal Australian people of central Queensland. Country The Taribelang lived on of territory around Bundaberg, and inland to near Walla, and north as far as Baffle Creek The Baffle Creek is a creek in Central Qu ...

Aboriginal tribe.

European exploration

The river is named after

James Charles Burnett James Charles Burnett (1815—1854) a.k.a. "John" was a surveyor and explorer in New South Wales (including Queensland), Australia. He was the head of the first Survey Office established at Brisbane in 1844. Note, the separation of Queensland ...

, the first European explorer to visit the river in 1847.

Dam construction

Construction of the Paradise Dam on the Burnett River, upstream from Bundaberg, was completed in November 2005. The dam

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contr ...

has a capacity of . Named after the old

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

mining township of

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in para ...

, which is now submerged under the waters of the reservoir, all of the structures and artefacts found at the site were transferred to the nearby town of

Biggenden Biggenden is a rural town and locality in the North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Biggenden had a population of 845 people. Geography Biggenden is on the Isis Highway north-west of the state capital Brisbane, and west of ...

. The design of the dam complies with environmental guidelines and includes a

fish ladder A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass, fish steps, or fish cannon is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration as well as move ...

that allows

fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

such as the Queensland lungfish to travel upstream as well as downstream from the dam wall.

Fish

The Burnett River, together with the nearby Mary River, is home to the

Queensland lungfish The Australian lungfish (''Neoceratodus forsteri''), also known as the Queensland lungfish, Burnett salmon and barramunda, is the only surviving member of the family Neoceratodontidae. It is one of only six extant lungfish species in the world. ...

, one of the most ancient of the extant vertebrate species.

References

External links

Map of Burnett and its tributaries from the Bureau of Meteorology Australia
{{Rivers of Queensland Rivers of Queensland Bundaberg Central Queensland Wide Bay–Burnett