Nicholson River (Western Australia)

Nicholson River
Map
Location
CountryAustralia
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • elevation388 metres (1,273 ft)[1]
Mouth 
 • location
Ord River
 • elevation
160 metres (525 ft)
Length139 kilometres (86 mi)

The Nicholson River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It takes its name from the Nicholson Plains, named in 1879 by Alexander Forrest after Sir Charles Nicholson, the central figure in the circle of Australian "colonists" in London, and a promoter of the Forrest brothers' explorations. In 1870, Nicholson had presented a paper, entitled On Forrest's Expedition into the Interior of Western Australia, Goyder's Survey of the Neighbourhood of Port Darwin, and on the Recent Progress of Australian Discovery, to a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of London.[2][3][4]

The river rises just north of Koolerong Bore and flows south-west through Nicholson and through Marella Gorge, before turning north and discharging into the Ord River[5] on the eastern edge of Purnululu National Park near Doughboy Hill.

There are eleven tributaries of the Nicholson: 2 Mile Creek, 5 Mile Creek, Bamboo Creek, Bull Creek, Calico Creek, Candy Creek, Clean Skin Creek, Flatstone Creek, Red Bank Creek, Tyson Creek and Wire Creek.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Map of Nicholson River, WA". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  2. ^ "Forrest, Alexander (1849 - 1901)". Australian National Botanic Gardens. Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria. 2 August 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  3. ^ Macmillan, David (1967). "Nicholson, Sir Charles (1808–1903)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 2. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  4. ^ Nicholson, Sir Charles (28 March 1870). "On Forrest's Expedition into the Interior of Western Australia, Goyder's Survey of the Neighbourhood of Port Darwin, and on the Recent Progress of Australian Discovery". Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London. 14 (3). The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers): 190–207. JSTOR 1799048.
  5. ^ "Water and Rivers Commission - Ord River Historic flows" (PDF). 2001. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2008. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  6. ^ "Tributaries of Nicholson River, WA". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 22 February 2024.

17°43′10″S 128°33′56″E / 17.71944°S 128.56556°E / -17.71944; 128.56556


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