The Leichhardt River is a river in north west

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 , established_ ...

, Australia.

Course

The source of the river is in the Selwyn Range under Rifle Creek Hill and fed by Rifle Creek approximately south of the mining town

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...

. It runs in a generally northerly direction almost parallel with the

Diamantina Developmental Road The Diamantina Developmental Road is a gazetted road in Queensland, Australia, that runs from Charleville in the south-central part of the state to Mount Isa in the north-west. Route description The road passes through the towns of Quilpi ...

until it reaches Mount Isa and crosses the

Barkly Highway The Barkly Highway is a national highway of both Queensland and the Northern Territory in Australia. It is the only sealed road between Queensland and the Northern Territory. Description The highway runs between Cloncurry and the junction wi ...

. It continues in a north easterly direction across the Gulf Country passing through

Lake Moondarra Lake Moondarra is an artificial lake on the Leichhardt River in Queensland, Australia, 16 km downstream from the town of Mount Isa. It provides water to the city and the adjacent Mount Isa Mines (MIM) mining lease. Construction began on t ...

past Glenroy Station then through

Lake Julius Lake Julius was formed following the construction of Julius Dam in 1976 for irrigation and town water storage. The dam wall is located just below the junction of the Leichhardt River and Paroo Creek some North East of Mount Isa. With a catchmen ...

. It then bears east then north again almost parallel with the

Burke Developmental Road The Burke Developmental Road is a Queensland (Australia) developmental road. It links Cloncurry and Normanton in a south–north direction, then turns to the north-east north of Normanton for before turning south-east till Dimbulah, where it ...

until crossing it near Nardoo. Continuing north past

Augustus Downs Station Augustus Downs Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Gulf Country of outback Queensland. It is situated south of Burketown and south west of Normanton. The Leichhardt River and numerous tributaries flow thr ...

to its mouth at the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...

. The river is named after the early explorer of Australia,

Ludwig Leichhardt Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt (), known as Ludwig Leichhardt, (23 October 1813 – c. 1848) was a German explorer and naturalist, most famous for his exploration of northern and central Australia.Ken Eastwood,'Cold case: Leichhardt's dis ...

Catchment

Leichhardt River has a

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

of . Primary activities undertaken in the watershed include mining and grazing. The river is

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 ...

and in the

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...

the upstream reaches retract to a series of waterholes. The

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

and river

estuary 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 environment ...

are in a near pristine condition. The river is dammed near Mount Isa to form Lake Moondarra. Other storage facilities in the catchment include

Julius Dam Lake Julius was formed following the construction of Julius Dam in 1976 for irrigation and town water storage. The dam wall is located just below the junction of the Leichhardt River and Paroo Creek some North East of Mount Isa. With a catchmen ...

East Leichhardt Dam East Leichhardt Dam is a dam built in 1961 on the East Leichhardt River which impounds Lake Mary Kathleen, Queensland. The dam is located 25 km east of Mount Isa, Queensland, and 9 km south of the Barkly Highway. The dam was built t ...

and

Rifle Creek Dam Rifle Creek Dam is owned by Mount Isa Mines. A concrete arch dam, it was constructed in 1929 to replace the earlier Experimental Dam (the first arch dam in Queensland, completed in September 1925) as the primary water supply to the town of Mt Isa ...

. Around upstream from its mouth are the

Leichhardt Falls The Leichhardt Falls is a plunge waterfall on the Leichhardt River in the Gulf Country region of North West Queensland, Australia. Location and features The falls are located approximately upstream from the point where the river discharges ...

. As well as Mount Isa, the small community of

Kajabbi Kajabbi is a rural town in the locality of Three Rivers, Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. Geography The town is on the Leichhardt River in the remote north-west of Queensland, north west of the state capital Brisbane. The town is ...

is located on the river. The river has a mean annual discharge of .

History

In 2009

Xstrata Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter of thermal coal), copper, ...

spent $3 million for remediation work involving the removal of 40,000 tonnes of material from the riverbed. Fossil remains have been found along the river's course. In 2011 an unidentified ancient

marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...

was discovered by

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

References

External links

{{Rivers of Queensland Rivers of Queensland North West Queensland Gulf of Carpentaria

Course

Catchment

History

See also

References

External links