Shoalhaven River

Shoalhaven River west of Batemans Bay

The Shoalhaven River is a river in the southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales.

It rises in the southern tablelands of New South Wales and flows near Nowra on the coast of New South Wales in the Tasman Sea.

History

The researcher and sailor George Bass found the mouth of the Shoalhaven River in 1797 down on a trip with his whaling boat of the coast of New South Wales. He named the river Shoals Haven because of the muddy and sandy shoals (English: shoal ), which he found in the mouth. Today, the estuary of Crookhaven River is called.

Geography

The Shoalhaven River rises on the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range approximately 350 km south of Sydney. In the upper reaches, it flows north through grasslands in the highlands near Braidwood. East of Goulburn enters the river in the Morton National Park and turns his course to the east, where he has dug a narrow, inaccessible canyon into the plateau. In Nowra in the Shoalhaven Local Government Area City he pours into the coastal lowlands. There straddles him the historic Nowra Bridge.

Berry Canal

The estuary of the river has two entrances, the southern at Crookhaven Heads, which is always open, and the northern at Shoalhaven Heads, which is to happen only at high tide. The two entrances are located 5 km apart and about 150 km south of Sydney.

A short canal between the Shoalhaven River and the Crookhaven River, was built in June 1882 by a convict group, which was supervised by Hamilton Hume under the direction of Alexander Berry, to facilitate the transport of goods to its European settlement Coolangatta Estate. Through the construction of the canal was Comorong Iceland. The canal was built using simple hand tool and was the first artificial navigable channel in Australia. To date, only one other navigable channel has been added in New South Wales, the Alexandra Canal in Sydney.

Use for water supply

The Lake Yarrunga, which was dammed by the Tullowa Dam, is the only major dam on the Shoalhaven River and part of the Shoalhaven system. It is located on the lower reaches and serves the potable water supply of Greater Sydney. Part of the water from the lake is pumped across the high country in the Lake Burragorang. Plans for a much larger dam at Welcome Reef on the upper reaches of the river were abandoned.

Environment

The Shoalhaven River and its major tributary, the Kangaroo River, were once known as a good fishing waters for Australian bass. Unfortunately, the Tullowa Dam an insurmountable obstacle for migratory fish that spend their youth in the sea or an estuary, such as the Australian bass, dar. The dam denied him access to more than 80 % of its former habitat in the river system Shoalhaven River. The suspension cultured perch in Lake Yarrunga in November 2008 were an attempt to improve this situation .. In August 2009, a fish ladder was installed at Tullowa Dam. The Lake Yarrunga had to suffer under the illegal establishment very harmful, exotic carp now exist in very large numbers there.

River crossings

The following roads and means of transport crossing the Shoalhaven River ( downstream order):

  • The Warri Bridge during the Kings Highway spans the river at Braidwood. At this point, a bridge was first opened on September 23 in 1874 and later replaced by the present bridge.
  • Steward's Crossing is a ford over the Steward 's Crossing Road.
  • Oallen Crossing is a one-lane wooden bridge over the Oallen Ford Road at Nerriga, which was built in 1936.
  • The Nowra Bridge spans the river in the course of the Princes Highway between Bomaderry and Nowra.
  • The Comorong Iceland Ferry takes passengers and cars on Comerong Iceland in the river mouth.

Gallery Images

Shoalhaven River at Nowra

Shoalhaven River with paddle boats

Swell

PC Gehrke, Gilligan DM & M. Barwick: Changes in fish communities of the Shoalhaven River 20 years after construction of Tallowa Dam, Australia. River Research and Applications. Volume 18 (2002). pp. 265-286

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