Araluen Creek

Araluen Creek
The Deep Creek[1]
Perennial stream
Name origin: Aboriginal: a place where water lilies abound[2]
Country Australia
State New South Wales
Regions South East Corner (IBRA), Southern Tablelands, South Coast
Local government area Palerang, Eurobodalla
Part of Moruya River catchment
Tributaries
 - left Bells Creek (Blacktown, New South Wales), Big Oaky Creek
 - right Majors Creek
Source Great Dividing Range
 - location east of Captains Flat
 - elevation 741 m (2,431 ft)
Mouth confluence with the Deua River
 - location south of Monga National Park
 - elevation 104 m (341 ft)
Length 24 km (15 mi)
National park Monga NP
[1][3]

Araluen Creek, a partly perennial stream of the Moruya River catchment, is located in the Southern Tablelands and South Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia.

Course and features

Araluen Creek rises near Gillian Park, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of the village of Majors Creek, on the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range. The river flows generally south southeast, joined by three minor tributaries before reaching its confluence with the Deua River in remote country south of the Monga National Park.[1] The river descends 637 metres (2,090 ft) over its 24 kilometres (15 mi) course.[3]

The village of Araluen lies in the valley of Araluen Creek, that joins the Deua River at roughly the midpoint in its course. The name 'Araluen' means 'water lily' or 'place of the water lilies' in the local Aboriginal dialect.[2] At the time of European settlement Araluen was described as a broad alluvial valley with many natural billabongs covered with water lilies. Unfortunately, no such billabongs exist in the Araluen valley today. As with most river and creek valleys in south-eastern Australia, the natural landscape of Araluen Creek and its valley were completely destroyed by rampant and extremely destructive gold mining in the latter half of the 19th century. This has mobilised thousands of tons of coarse granitic sands and lead to serious sand-slugging or sand siltation of the lower half of the Deua River below the Araluen Creek confluence. Nevertheless, the Deua River supports valuable populations of the threatened Australian grayling and several other native freshwater fish species.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Araluen Creek". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Araluen". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Map of Araluen Creek, NSW". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 30 September 2013.

External links

Coordinates: 35°40′S 149°49′E / 35.667°S 149.817°E / -35.667; 149.817

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 3/7/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.