Oldfield River
Location
Country	Australia
Physical characteristics
Source
• elevation	329 metres (1,079 ft)[1]
Mouth
• location	Oldfield Estuary
Length	95 kilometres (59 mi)
Basin size	2,479 km2 (957 sq mi)[2]
Discharge
• average	6,900 ML/a (0.22 m3/s; 7.7 cu ft/s)

TheOldfield River is anephemeralriver in theGoldfields-Esperance region ofWestern Australia that rises 95 kilometres (59 mi) inland from the South Coast at the edge of theYilgarn plateau. The river starts at 300 metres (984 ft) above sea level then flows in a south easterly direction crossing theSouth Coast Highway nearMunglinup.

The river gently undulates throughsandstone forming gentle valleys with manygranite outcrops, the river then carves deeper valleys through thesiltstone before entering the coastal plain. The river is then joined by itstributary, theMunglinup River, before flowing into the Oldfield estuary which discharges into theSouthern Ocean. The only other tributary of the Oldfield River is Coujinup Creek.

The river is regarded assaline^[3] with high nutrient levels, moderate sedimentation, moderate fringing vegetation and has a low flood risk.

Named as Oldfield river by the settler Michael Simon Dempster in a letter written in 1866, the river is thought to have been named afterAugustus Frederick Oldfield a plant collector who was active around the south coast of Western Australia. The river was most likely named byAlbert Young Hassell ofJerramungup who explored the area in 1861.^[4]

There appears to be some conjecture regarding the European naming of the Oldfield River. One theory is the river was named by the settler Michael Simon Dempster, in a letter written in 1866, after Augustus Frederick Oldfield, a plant collector who was active around the south coast of Western Australia. Another is the river was most likely named by Albert Young Hassell of Jerramungup who explored the area in 1861. However, in early 2022, a staff member at theNational Herbarium of Victoria (MEL) catalogued a specimen of Hibbertia racemosa (Endl.) Gilg., collected on the Oldfield River, with a hand written annotation byFerdinand von Mueller stating "This river was named by me. F.M.", no doubt after his colleagueAugustus Frederick Oldfield.^[5]

33°51′26.39″S120°46′59.21″E / 33.8573306°S 120.7831139°E /-33.8573306; 120.7831139

• Rivers of the Goldfields–Esperance region

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