Richmond River
Richmond River, Casino ( 2006)
The Lynch's Creek, one of the many tributaries of the Richmond River in the valleys north of Kyogle (1994 )
The Richmond River is a river in the far northeast of the Australian state of New South Wales.
Geography
The river rises on the southern slopes of Mount Lindesay in the foothills of the Border Ranges and turns first to the south-east to north of Wiangaree. There it turns south and passes through Kyogle to Casino. There he is once again returning to the southeast as far as Woodburn, about ten miles west of the coast. From there it flows, now parallel to the coast, north-east and terminates in Ballina in the Tasman Sea, a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean.
Its catchment area is 6850 km ², making it the sixth largest in New South Wales. Its flood plain is more than 1,000 km ². Together with the Clarence River in the south and the River Tweed in the north of the Richmond River forms the Northern Rivers, a district in New South Wales.
Tributaries with muzzle heights
- Back Creek - 213 m
- Findon Creek - 109 m
- Rosebery Creek - 97 m
- Grady's Creek - 80 m
- Lynch's Creek - 73 m
- Fawcett's Creek - 53 m
- Horse Creek station - 46 m
- Eden Creek - 27 m
- Shannon Brook - 5 m
- Wilsons River - 4 m
- Bungawalbin Creek - 3 m
- Emigrant Creek - 0 m
History
Captain James Cook overlooked the river on the east coast of Australia up his trip in 1770. Was only discovered in 1828 Captain Henry John Rous the estuary as the first Europeans. He went up the river about 32 km and named it after Charles Gordon - Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond. Later, the botanist Allan Cunningham reached the river on the land.
From the 1840s until well into the 20th century the lower reaches of the Richmond River served as an important anchorage. The first settlers in the area soon realized that the large stocks of red cedar ( Toona ciliata ) in the river valley and immediately began to timber harvesting. The river played an important role as a transport route for the wood.
With its discovery in 1828 until the end of the 1890s the Richmond River had a deceitful mouth with shifting sandbanks. Many ships and lives were lost there. Therefore, it was decided to build two breakwaters, which should regulate the river and early 20th century were completed. The construction of this breakwater also led to the emergence of Shaw 's Bay, after sand had built up behind the present Lighthouse or Main Beach.
1846 resulted in a conflict between the white settlers and the Aboriginal people in the river valley ( the Richmond River massacre ) to the death of about 100 natives.
With the decrease of the voyage because of better roads and railways and the closure of the North Coast Steam Navigation Company in 1954, the river lost its importance as a waterway.
Today's meaning
In recent years, the Richmond River and its role in the history of Ballina and the North Coast was again more appreciated. Although only the lower reaches of the river (approximately up casino ) is navigable, but the most important tributary of Wilson River has a greater significance. He leads among other things, Lismore, the largest city in the region, and is navigable at least to Boatharbour, which is located 12 kilometers upstream from Lismore.
At its entire length of the Richmond River is used for irrigation of the surrounding farmland. Therefore, it is equipped with many weirs, which are also floods, particularly in Casino prevent.
Fauna
The freshwater sections of the Richmond River were once of cod perch of endemic species Richmond River Cod, probably a subspecies of the Eastern freshwater cod perch ( Maccullochella Ikei ) populated. This unique native fish but was eradicated by destruction of its habitat and gross overfishing between the 1930s and 1950s. During the construction of the railway line was even fished with dynamite.
The endangered species of Oxley dwarf perch ( Nannoperca oxleyana ) was also registered in the Richmond River.