More on the Darling River:
 images of the darling river and bourke |
darling river (black & white images) |
| images of the darling river |
the darling river run |
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The magnificent and iconic Darling River is one of the best examples of what Dorothy Mackellar was alluding to in her famous poem 'My Country', " I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains".
The river meanders through Outback NSW from its origins in Queensland's Darling Downs - via the Warrego and Culgoa Rivers - and from the northern NSW tributaries of Barwon, Gwydir, Namoi, Castlereagh and Bogan rivers.
The best way to experience the river is to travel the Darling River Run from Lightning Ridge and Bourke down to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth.
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Old Dog (1) |
Old Dog (2) |
Flow |
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Bourke Bridge |
High Flow Tree |
River Dusk #1 |
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River Dusk # |
High Flow |
In the Middle |
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Bourke Wier |
Bourke Wier Reach |
Menindee Tree |
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Kinchega Bend |
Kinchega Reach |
Holding On |
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End of a Day (1) |
End of a Day (1) |
High Water |
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Menindee Cloud |
The Jandra |
Peery Lake |
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Darling Beauty (b) |
Darling Beauty (a) |
Razor Grass |
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River Reds |
Copi Hollow |
Menindee Lakes (b) |
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Menindee Lakes (a) |
Menindee Trees |
Part of the Murray Darling Basin, which covers 1,061,469 square kilometres (14% of the total area of Australia), the river is Australia's longest river flowing 2,739 km. The river has always been an integral part of Aboriginal culture and was named after being 'discovered' by explorer Charles Sturt in 1829 who named it in honour of Sir Ralph Darling - the then Governor of New South Wales.
The river flows south-west though outback NSW through the Menindee Lakes on towards the confluence with the Mighty Murray River at Wentworth on the NSW/Victoria border. From there the Murray continues to flow through South Australia onto Lake Alexandrina and into The Southern Ocean.
Long before European settlement and their search to find the 'inland sea' of Australia, the region was home the first Australians and indigenous culture in the area is said to go back over 45,000 years with more than an estimated 15 Aboriginal language groups.
The relative newcomers to the area, the Europeans, believed that the rivers of eastern Australian all ran into a vast inland sea. Early explorers were correct in thinking there was an inland sea but they were about 50 million years too late when the climate was vastly different during the Cretaceous period.
There are many things that define Australia and the Australian spirit; and one of the major ones is the Darling River. This is self evident to those that venture to outback NSW and experience the real beauty of this iconic Australian waterway.
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