Fitzroy River (Western Australia)
View of the river from the bridge in Fitzroy Crossing
Alexander Iceland in the Fitzroy River
One channel of the Fitzroy River in the dry season of 2006. Looking north from the Bridge of Willare.
Template: Infobox River / Obsolete
The Fitzroy River is a river in the north of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is located in the Kimberley region.
- 3.1 Flood
- 3.2 dams on the Fitzroy River
Geography
The river rises on the western slopes of Mount Wells in the eastern part of the King Leopold Ranges and flows from there west to the end of the Narrie Range. There he spent his run to the southwest and crosses the city Fitzroy Crossing on the Great Northern Highway. Further south, at the St. Georges range, he turns back to the west and sets its course on the northern edge of the Great Sandy Desert in western and north-western direction continued. In Yeeda, about 40 km south of Derby, he runs into the King Sound, an inlet of the Indian Ocean.
The length of the river is 656 km. The catchment area of the river comprises 93,829 km ².
Tributaries with muzzle heights
- Little Fitzroy River - 337 m
- Collis Creek - 302 m
- Hann River - 252 m
- Roy Creek - 189 m
- Adcock River - 183 m
- Spider Creek - 175 m
- Cowendyne Creek - 173 m
- Stony Creek - 127 m
- Sandy Creek - 123 m
- Pigeon Creek - 118 m
- Margaret River - 113 m
- Starion Creek - 111 m
- Blariyaning Creek - 102 m
- Christmas Creek - 93 m
- Cunninghame River - 80 m
- Nerrima Creek - 41 m
- Geegully Creek - 33 m
- Mudjalla Creek - 29 m
- Minnie River - 10 m
- Yeeda River - 4 m
Flushed lakes
In its lower reaches of the Fitzroy River flows through some permanently water-filled pools:
- Alligator swimming pool - 116 m
- Broken Wagon Pool - 20 m
- Chestnut Pool - 20 m
- Tumblegoodine pool - 12 m
- Jarrananga pool - 6 m
- Snag Pool - 6 m
Geology
The Fitzroy Valley is a distinct physiographic section of the Canningbeckens, which in turn is part of the larger Australian plate.
History
The river was in 1837 by George Grey on a voyage of HMS Beagle discovered. On February 26, 1838, the flow of Lieutenant JL Stokes after Captain Robert FitzRoy was appointed by the Royal Navy. The upper river regions were not thoroughly explored until the late 19th century, for example by Alexander Forrest, who in 1879 traveled to the area in which the Margaret River in the Fitzroy River discharges ( about 10 km south of the discovered four years later Geikie Gorge ). Here was built around the turn of the century initially consisting only of two farms and an inn city Fitzroy Crossing.
Flood
The frequent floods made reliable river crossings necessary. The first bridge over the Fitzroy River was written in 1935 in an easily accessible natural ford at Fitzroy Crossing. This concrete bridge was widened in 1958. Both buildings, however, were low and were flooded for several months a year during the rainy season the water. A new building was built in 1974 about 5 km south of the old site; the Great Northern Highway crosses the river via this bridge.
Extreme floods in 1983, 1986 and 2002 recorded 2002, the water reached a height of 13 m above the level of the original concrete bridge, the highest level since 1914. The then drain amount of at Fitzroy Crossing 15 km wide flood plain was 30,000 m³ / s estimated.
Dams on the Fitzroy River
In the 1950s, the Fitzroy River was diverted as part of the failed Camballin Irrigation Scheme to impound water for the irrigation of cotton, sorghum and other food crops fields. There was a 12 -acre reservoir.
In the past there were also proposals to dam the river in the Dimond Gorge.
In April 2007, the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of Western Australia, Colin Barnett, his plans for damming of the river, which he wanted to realize in the event of his election. His model was the irrigation systems in the Murray -Darling Basin, which often had to fight because of the drought with water scarcity. His 20 -year plan also saw a supply via remote pipes before the water supply of Perth.