Wilsons River (New South Wales)
Wilsons River at the Boatharbour reserve
Wilsons River in Lismore
The Wilsons River is a river in the far northeast of the Australian state of New South Wales. Earlier called Wilson's Creek or river also counted as the northern arm of the Richmond River.
Geography
The river rises in the southern part of Mount Jerusalem National Park and flows first to the south and south-west to Lismore. There he spent his run to the south and ends at Coraki in the Richmond River.
Tributaries with muzzle heights
The Wilsons River has several major tributaries. Worth mentioning is the Leycester Creek, which flows into the river in Lismore. Due to the angle of the mouth, the water is pressed against the most important river banks, which in the case can result from simultaneous floods in Wilsons River and Leycester Creek to severe flooding in Lismore.
The Coopers Creek flows near the village of Boxhill, in Boatharbour Nature Reserve, a state nature reserve, in the river. There are still remnants of the Big Scrub rainforest. Until then also the estuary of the River Wilsons enough.
The source of the Byron Creek is located less than 2 kilometers from the coast of the Pacific away. From there, the creek flows inland and its water only reached after 180 kilometers of the ocean.
- Possum Creek - 41 m
- Stony Creek - 30 m
- Byron Creek - 24 m
- Coopers Creek - 8 m
- Lagoon Creek - 6 m
- Leycester Creek - 5 m
History
The " Wilson Creek " was by William Wilson, the first settlers in Lismore in the years 1844 and 1845, named. In 1976 he was renamed " Wilson River".
Probably used the indigenous population of the area canoes and other boats to navigate the river and to trade on its shores before the first European settlers showed up.
After their arrival, many towns and settlements along the Wilsons River arisen because of the simple and effective way traffic on the waterway, such as Lismore, Wyrallah, Boxhill and Coraki. The Wilsons River was considered the northern arm of the Richmond River. This was named in 1828 by Captain Henry John Rous and mapped. The Wilsons River was the furthest upriver navigable part of the river system and mediated access to the then most valuable resources of the area, the red cedar ( Toona ciliata ). These trees were cut down and thus continued from the Big Scrub ( Tropical Rainforest ) away, which once covered most of the region.
The goods that were transported regularly in the early 20th century on the river were, for example, Ham, corn, eggs, butter, tallow, poultry and sliced tree trunks. The time in use riverboats were such as the Cavamba that Tomki, the City of Grafton and the Wyoming.
The last shipping company whose ships the Richmond River and the Wilson River sailed, closed in 1960.
Environment and Ecology
Because of the exceptionally intensive development of agriculture and settlements in the catchment area of the river that is heavily loaded with sediments, nutrients, heavy dirt and other entries. Efforts of Landcare groups and various government organizations such as the Northern River Catchment Management Authority and Rous Water have been made to rehabilitate sections of the river.
New South Wales Fisheries have records that identify that once the Eastern freshwater cod perch ( Maccullochella Ikei ) was the predominant species. Since this species was not sighted for many years, it is believed that it is eradicated. In the lower reaches of the Wilson River which avowedly for the ecology harmful, introduced fish species carp has become common. In addition, there are a number of harmful aquatic plants, such as alligator weed and Brazilian milfoil.
Floods
At the Wilson River is regularly flood and occasionally Lismore is flooded. Therefore, many houses are equipped in Lismore with elevated foundations, which is called Hiset, and the city has extensive embankments, to protect them from ordinary floods.
The frequent floods are due to several factors. One of them is the relatively high rainfall in the headwaters of the river, for example, shows the measuring point in Rummery Park the highest rainfall in New South Wales. Another reason is the unusual geomorphology: The river leads initially away from the sea, only to return and from Lismore to the south again to drain the sea on the Richmond River in the Tasman Sea. Thus, the water from the source to the ocean has indeed some 180 kilometers to cover, parts of the catchment are but less than 2 kilometers from the coast. In addition, almost the entire catchment area is almost at sea level, which provides limits the slope of the Wilson River and for low flow rates.
The floodplain is relatively large. Its main part begins at the confluence of Byron Creek and extends the entire river to Coraki, where it merges into the floodplain of the Richmond River. Some of these flood plain is several kilometers wide and very fertile, although very loamy. However, the frequent flood limit their use as pasture.
Drinking water supply and irrigation
The Wilsons River serves as a source of drinking water for most of the Byron Shire Local Government Area. The water is diverted at the Laverty's Gap Weir and processed. It is used, for example, as drinking water for the town of Mullumbimby.
Rous Water gets its water from a swimming pool above Lismore as a supplement to that of the Rocky Creek Reservoir, the Byron Shire, Ballina Shire, the, the Richmond Valley Council and Lismore City supplies. The water is pumped to the processing plant at Rocky Creek Dam and then flows by gravity into the water supply systems of communities.
The farmers in the region use the Wilson River and to irrigate their agricultural land (mostly meadows ), for watering livestock and for some home water supplies. The Creek Coopers Creek was earlier tapped over and the use of its water is therefore governed by the water distribution plan of the Government of New South Wales.