The Proserpine River is a river in

Whitsunday Region The Whitsunday Region is a local government area located in North Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by two previous local government areas with a history extending back to the establishment of regional local government ...

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

The headwaters of the river rise below Mount Quandong in 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 initially flow northwards while being fed by numerous creeks running from the Clarke Range to the west and the Normanby Range to the south. The river enters Lake Proserpine then exits in an easterly direction and flowing past to the south of Foxdale, then to the north of Proserpine. It continues east crossing the

Bruce Highway The Bruce Highway is a major highway in Queensland, Australia. Commencing in the state capital, Brisbane, it passes through areas close to the eastern coast on its way to Cairns in Far North Queensland. The route is part of the Australian Nat ...

then veers south through

Melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of ''Leptospermum''). They range in size f ...

forests and discharges through estuarine wetlands and

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

ecosystems into

Repulse Bay Repulse Bay or Tsin Shui Wan is a bay in the southern part of Hong Kong Island, located in the Southern District, Hong Kong. It is one of the most expensive residential areas in the world. Geography Repulse Bay is located in the southern ...

near Conway Beach and then onto 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 ...

Catchment

The river has a catchment area of of which an area of is composed of

estuarine An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environmen ...

wetlands. The area is predominantly used for grazing cattle with extensive areas also used for

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 ...

production. The estuary functions as a result of river energy with a tide dominated delta. It is in a modified condition as a result of agriculture. It contains of mangroves and of intertidal flats.

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

Gia ''Gia'' is a 1998 American biographical drama television film about the life and times of one of the first supermodels, Gia Carangi. The film stars Angelina Jolie as Gia and Faye Dunaway as Wilhelmina Cooper, with Mercedes Ruehl and Elizabeth Mi ...

and Ngaro peoples, who have inhabited the area for thousands of years. The name of the Proserpine first appeared in 1861 when the Emmerson family acquired the lease for a cattle station which they are thought to have named the Proserpine Creek Run near the river mouth. It is generally believed that the explorer George Dalrymple named the river although it is likely that he would never have traversed the river. The name of the river is an anglicised version of the Roman

Proserpina Proserpina ( , ) or Proserpine ( ) is an ancient Roman goddess whose iconography, functions and myths are virtually identical to those of Greek Persephone. Proserpina replaced or was combined with the ancient Roman fertility goddess Libera, whose ...

, a goddess of

fertility Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Ferti ...

. The Proserpine was rated as the river in Queensland where people were most likely to see a

saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been l ...

from 2000 to 2012, with 151 sightings recorded over the period. In 2015 a nest of up to 30 baby crocodiles were thought to have been stolen from the river, despite crocodiles being a protected species in Queensland. According to a survey conducted from 2016 to 2019, the Proserpine River had the highest density of crocodiles in Queensland, with 5.5 per kilometre (3.4 per mile).

References

{{Rivers of Queensland Rivers of Queensland Whitsunday Region

Course

Catchment

History

See also

References