Snowy River
The Snowy River is a major river in south-eastern Australia. It starts on the slopes of Mount Kosciuszko, Australia's highest mountain. It gets its water from the eastern slopes of the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, and then flows through the Snowy River National Park in Victoria and finally into Bass Strait. Up until the middle of the 20th century, the river was known for the large amount of fresh water it carried, its wide reach and large rapids.
| Snowy | |
|---|---|
 The Snowy River below McKillops Bridge | |
  Location of the mouth of the river in Australia | |
| Etymology | Named by John Lhotsky in 1834[1][2] |
| Nickname(s) | The Snowy |
| Location | |
| Country | Australia |
| States | New South Wales, Victoria |
| Region | South-east Australia |
| Towns | Jindabyne (NSW), Orbost (Vic), Marlo (Vic) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Australian Alps, Great Dividing Range |
| - location | below Mount Stilwell, New South Wales |
| - elevation | 2,200 m (7,200 ft) |
| Mouth | Bass Strait |
| - location | Marlo, Victoria |
| - coordinates | 37°47′S 148°31′E / 37.783°S 148.517°E |
| - elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Length | 352 km (219 mi)[source?] |
| Basin size | 15,779 km2 (6,092 sq mi)4% |
| Discharge | |
| - location | mouth |
| - average | 75 m3/s (2,600 cu ft/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Moonbah River, Maclaughlin River, Jacobs River, Deddick River, Rodger River |
| - right | Delegate River, Wullwye Creek, Pinch River, Suggan Buggan River, Buchan River, Brodribb River |
| Waterfalls | Stone Bridge, Corrowong, Snowy, and Pinch |
| National parks | Kosciuszko NP, Alpine NP, Snowy River NP |
| [3] | |
The river's course and surroundings have not changed very much, as it is protected by the Snowy River National Park. However, its flow of water was almost stopped in the 1950's by the building of the Snowy Mountains Scheme to make hydroelectricity. Four large dams were built, at Guthega, Island Bend, Eucumbene, and Jindabyne, as well as many smaller dams and tunnels. Less than 1% of the river flow, as measured at Jindabyne, New South Wales, continued to flow down the river. Concern over the health of river led to an agreement between the state and federal governments to increase the amount of water released back into the river. From 2002 to 2008 the flow was increased from 1% to 4%. The agreement planned to increase the flow to 15% by 2009 and 21% by 2012.[4]
References
change- ↑ Feeken, Erwin H. J.; Feeken, Gerda E. E. (1970), The discovery and exploration of Australia, Melbourne: Nelson, p. 318, ISBN 0-17-001812-1, cited in Bird (2006)
- ↑ Bird, Eric (12 October 2006). "Place Names on the Coast of Victoria" (PDF). The Australian National Placename Survey (ANPS). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2011.
- ↑ "Map of Snowy River". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
- ↑ "The Snowy River - an historic agreement". Water in the Environment. Victorian Government. Archived from the original on 2009-06-09. Retrieved 2010-06-06.