darling river
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". Part of the Murray Darling Basin, which covers 1,061,469 square kilometres (14% of the total area of Australia), the Darling River is Australia's longest river flowing 2,739 km. The river has always been an integral part of Aboriginal culture was named the Darling after it was 'discovered' by explorer Charles Sturt in 1829 who named it in honour of Sir Ralph Darling - the then Governor of New South Wales.
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The Darling River meanders through 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 Darling continues its 2,739 km southwest journey across outback NSW to the Menindee Lakes near Broken Hill and on to its confluence with the Mighty Murray River at Wentworth on the NSW/Victoria border. 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. Images of the Darling River are beautiful in color, wonderfully representing the spirit and nature of this vast land, but black and white images of the majestic river present its textures, tones and forms in a unique and inspiring way. |
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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