Macumba River (

Arabana The Arabana, also known as the Ngarabana, are an Aboriginal Australian people of South Australia. Name The older tribal Exonym and endonym, autonym was Ngarabana, which may have been misheard by white settlers as Arabana, the term now generall ...

: ''Maka-Wimpa''; Arrernte: ''Ura-Ingka''), once known as Treuer 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 ...

freshwater stream in the far north of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, that is part of the

Lake Eyre Basin The Lake Eyre basin ( ) is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. It is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about , including much of inland Queensland, large porti ...

Course and features

The river rises at the base of Macumba Hill and where the Alberga River joins with Hamilton and Currallulla creeks, it then flows in a south easterly direction entering the

Kalamurina Sanctuary Kalamurina Sanctuary is a nature reserve in arid north-eastern South Australia. The land was established as a sheep station sometime before 1994 and then a cattle station until the early 2000s, called Kalamurina Station. It occupies . It wa ...

and eventually discharges into the Warburton River near the north eastern side of

Lake Eyre Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains th ...

. The Macumba is situated in an arid region, the

Simpson Desert The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth-largest Australian desert, with an area of . The desert is underlain by the ...

and flows only very rarely. Even in years that Lake Eyre fills, such as 2010, most of the water comes from the east, the

Channel Country The Channel Country is a region of outback Australia mostly in the state of Queensland but also in parts of South Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales. The name comes from the numerous intertwined rivulets that cross the region, ...

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 ...

. The Finke River normally drains into the Simpson Desert to the north west of the Macumba, but in the first decade of the 20th century it is thought that the Finke flowed directly into the Macumba. It is thought that the Finke has flowed to Lake Eyre via the Macumba in 1909, 1938, and 1945. The Macumba is part of the western rivers catchment of the Lake Eyre Drainange basin along with the Peake Creek and Neales River. The western rivers catchment is composed of sandplains, Acacia scrub,

gibber A desert pavement, also called reg (in the western Sahara), serir (eastern Sahara), gibber (in Australia), or saï (central Asia) is a desert surface covered with closely packed, interlocking angular or rounded rock fragments of pebble and cob ...

plains and dissected residuals. Along with its tributaries the river has a catchment area of . The river passes through a number of permanent and semi-permanent waterholes including Ross waterhole, Walkinna waterhole, Tidnabucca waterhole, Ullabarracoola waterhole and Christmas waterhole. Eleven

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 drainag ...

join the Macumba including the Alberga River, Stevenson Creek, Coomparana Creek, and Yardaparinna Creek.

History

The

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have right ...

of the area are the

and Arrernte peoples, both of whom belong to the Central Australian Desert language group. The Macumba features in the Emu

story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...

, which is told in 80 verses. The Arabana word for the Macumba is ''Maka-Wimpa'' which means fire track, the Arrernte word is ''Ura-Ingka'' which also means fire track, named so as the river bed would be the path followed by

bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

in the area. ''

Wangkangurru The Wangkangurru, also written Wongkanguru and Wangkanguru, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Simpson Desert area in the state of South Australia. They also refer to themselves as Nharla. Country Norman Tindale estimated their tribal sw ...

(''also known as ''Arabana/Wangkangurru, Wangganguru, Wanggangurru, Wongkangurru)'' is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken on Wangkangurru country. It is closely related to Arabana language of

. The Wangkangurru language region was traditionally in the South Australian-Queensland border region taking in

Birdsville Birdsville is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Birdsville had a population of 110 people. It is a popular tourist destination with many people using it as a starting point acro ...

and extending south towards Innamincka and

, including the local government areas of the

Shire of Diamantina The Shire of Diamantina is a local government area in Central West Queensland, bordering South Australia and the Northern Territory. Its administrative centre is in the town of Bedourie. Like most places in Queensland with the "Diamantina" na ...

as well as the

Outback Communities Authority The Outback Communities Authority (OCA) is a statutory authority in South Australia (SA) created under the ''Outback Communities (Administration and Management) Act 2009''. It has been established to "manage the provision of public services and ...

of South Australia''.'' John McDouall Stuart was the first

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an to explore the area in 1859 when he conducted an expedition to the west of Lake Eyre. In 1870, the Australian Overland Telegraph, which crosses the river near

Oodnadatta Oodnadatta is a small, remote outback town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia, located north-north-west of the state capital of Adelaide by road or direct, at an altitude of . The unsealed Oodnadatta Track, an outback roa ...

, was being built. In 1984, the Macumba, along with Neales River and the other western tributaries, filled Lake Eyre south and partially filled Lake Eyre north from their discharge following heavy rains in central Australia. The river flooded in both 2011 and 2012 with waters discharging into Lake Eyre each time.

References

{{coord, 27.832645, S, 137.237023, E, region:AU-SA_type:waterbody_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title, format=dms Rivers of South Australia Lake Eyre basin Far North (South Australia)

Course and features

History

See also

References