| Lachlan River | |
|---|---|
 The Lachlan River atCowra | |
| Location | |
| Country | Australia |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| - location | east ofGunning |
| Mouth | joins theMurrumbidgee River nearOxley |
| Length | 1450 km (901 mi) |
| Basin size | 84,700 km² |
| Discharge | |
| - average | averages 40 m3/sec but extremely erratic |
TheLachlan River is an importantriver in centralNew South Wales,Australia.
The river starts in the central mountains of New South Wales, nearGunning. Other rivers that join the Lachlan River are theBoorowa River, theBelubula River and theAbercrombie River. They join the Lachlan near the town ofCowra.
Wyangala Dam was built near Cowra to control the amount of water in the river. The Lachlan does not get its water from melting snow like theMurrumbidgee River or theMurray River. It does not have a regular amount of water flowing down it. In 1944 the flow was less than 1,000 megalitres (810acre-feet). Six years later (1950) there was a flow of 10,900,000 megalitres (8.8 million acre feet). In dry years, for example April 1944 to April 1945, the Lachlan may have no water flowing in it at all. The Lachlan has flooded every 7 years since 1887 atForbes.[1]
The Lachlan River flows west and then south, finishes in theGreat Cumbung swamp. This swamp is nearOxley betweenHay andBalranald. Water from this big (500km²) swamp finally goes into theMurrumbidgee River. Water from the Lachlan is used for farming.
The Lachlan river is in the area where theaboriginal people called theWiradjuri lived.[2] The Wiradjuri land has been called "the land of the three rivers, the Wambool (Macquarie), the Kalare (Lachlan) and the Murrumbidjeri (Murrumbidgee) . TheMurray River was the south side of Wiradjuri land. The change from forest to opengrassland was the east side."[3]
The firstEuropean to find the Lachlan River in 1815 was Acting-SurveyorGeorge William Evans. He named the river afterLachlan Macquarie, theGovernor ofNew South Wales. The Lachlan River was explored byJohn Oxley in 1817.[4]
In the early days of New South Wales, the south part of the Lachlan was known asFish River. With more exploration it was realized that two rivers were the same river and the name Fish River was dropped.
In 1870 the river flooded. The top of the flood water was measured at 15.9 metres at Cowra.[5] Since 1887, the highest flood level at Forbes was in June 1952. The river got to 10.8m (35 feet 3 inches) at the Forbes Iron Bridge.[1] More than 900 families had to move away. Many were saved from roof-tops by boat andhelicopter.[6] During the flood in August 1990, 132 houses in Forbes were flooded. The water covered their floors.[1] Floods in 1992 were smaller than 1990, but Lachlan Valley farmers lost about 30 percent of theirlucerne crops just before harvest. At least 500 sheep were drowned on farms in the Eugowra/Trundle area. Most of Eugowra's 400 residents were moved for safety.[7] Other big floods were in: 1891, 1916, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1974, 1976, 1993, 1998.[8]
Now indigenous and white people live on the Lachlan river.
More than 100,000 people live in the Lachlan area. 14% of NSW farm goods come from the area which is about 10% of NSW. 24local governments look after the Lachlan area.[2][9]
Major rivers that flow into the Lachlan
Towns along the Lachlan