Thomson River (Victoria) Explained

Thomson
Name Etymology:In honour of Sir Edward Thomson[1]
Pushpin Map:Australia Victoria
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of the Thomson River mouth in Victoria
Subdivision Type1:Country
Subdivision Name1:Australia
Subdivision Type2:State
Subdivision Name2:Victoria
Subdivision Type3:Region
Subdivision Name3:South East Coastal Plain (IBRA), West Gippsland
Subdivision Type4:Local government area
Subdivision Name4:Shire of Wellington
Subdivision Type5:Settlements
Subdivision Name5:,
Length:170km (110miles)
Discharge1 Location:Near mouth
Discharge1 Avg:[2]
Source1:Baw Baw Plateau, Great Dividing Range
Source1 Location:near Newlands
Source1 Coordinates:-37.7458°N 146.1783°W
Source1 Elevation:972m (3,189feet)
Mouth:confluence with the Latrobe River
Mouth Location:near Sale
Mouth Coordinates:-38.1458°N 147.0864°W
Mouth Elevation:2m (07feet)
River System:West Gippsland catchment
Basin Size:[3]
Tributaries Left:Matlock Creek, Jordan River, Aberfeldy River, Stringers Creek, Lammers Creek, Stoney Creek, Macalister River
Custom Label:National park
Extra:[4]

The Thomson River, a perennial river of the West Gippsland catchment, is located in the Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria.

Location and features

The Thomson River rises below Newlands at the north western end of the Baw Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range, where it shares a watershed with the Yarra and Tanjil rivers. From its source, the river flows generally north, then east, then south southeast through its impoundment, then southeast, then east, and finally east by south, joined by seventeen tributaries including the Jordan, Aberfeldy, and Macalister rivers, before reaching its confluence with the Latrobe River near Sale. The river descends over its 170km (110miles) course.[4] [5]

The Thomson Valley was intensively mined for gold during the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Prospector "Ned" Stringer discovered significant quantities of alluvial gold at the junction of what is now known as Stringers Creek. A short distance up that creek the gold mining township of Walhalla was established. The first person to walk the entire length of the river was Ronald Le Sage, father of David Le Sage, who explored its viability for a cattle droving route in 1959.[6] [7]

The river is impounded not far below its source by the Thomson Dam, creating Thomson Reservoir. The reservoir provides around 70% of Melbourne's water storage and supplies about 30% of Melbourne's water needs.[8] This takes about 50% of the river's natural flow, which places a great environmental stress downstream. It particularly affects the Gippsland Lakes, which include Lake Wellington, Lake Victoria and Lake King. This area has international significance as a Ramsar listed wetland site.[9]

Near the town of Cowwarr it is also impounded on a smaller scale at the Cowwarr Weir, supplying water for an irrigated farming district. Immediately below the Cowwarr Weir, the river has since the 1950s split into two channels, with the newer southern channel known as Rainbow Creek. Rainbow Creek was formed in June 1952 after floodwaters were blocked by a bridge on the Thomson River's main channel and cut a new path, which rejoins the original channel a few kilometres downstream.[10] [11] It has since been widened and deepened by subsequent floods, becoming a permanent waterway cutting through existing farms. Conflict between farmers and the state government regarding land rates paid on land affected by the new waterway led to the establishment of a micronation known as the Independent State of Rainbow Creek in the late 1970s.[12]

Diversion tunnel

See main article: article and Thomson River Diversion Tunnel. The 170m (560feet) Victorian heritage-listed diversion tunnel is located on the river near its junction with Coopers Creek (and the locality of Platina), approximately south-west of . Tunnelling commenced in August 1911 and was completed around October 1912; making the diversion tunnel one of thirteen river diversions surviving from the Victorian gold rush.[13]

Etymology

In the Aboriginal Brataualung language the river is given two names: Tambo, with no defined meaning, and Carrang-carrang or Carrang-carrang, meaning "brackish water".

The river was given its English name in 1840 by the colonial pastoralist, Angus McMillan, in honour of Sir Edward Thomson, the Chief Secretary of the Colony of New South Wales, based in Sydney.[14] [1]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Thomson River: 27701: Historical Information . Vicnames . . 24 January 2014 . 9 February 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140222021904/https://services.land.vic.gov.au/vicnames/historicalInformation.html?method=edit&id=6480 . 22 February 2014 . dmy .
  2. Web site: East Coastal Watersheds.
  3. Web site: East Coastal Watersheds.
  4. Web site: Map of Thomson River, VIC . Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia . 9 February 2014 .
  5. Web site: West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority . Department of Sustainability and Environment . Melbourne Water Corporation . Melbourne Water . Southern Rural Water . Thomson River Environmental Flow Requirements and Options to Manage Flow Stress . September 2003 . 8 February 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110301085531/http://www.ourwater.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/28327/Thomson-River.pdf . 1 March 2011 . dmy .
  6. Book: Nash. Robert. New Tapestry: Australian Huguenot Families. 2015. Huguenot Society of Australia Incorporated.
  7. Book: Le Sage. David. Refugees for God: a Genealogy of the Le Sage Family (with Additional Genealogies of the Williams, Totenhöfer, Wallace and Carlsen Families). 2020.
  8. Premier of Victoria . All Water Returned to the Yarra and Thomson Rivers . 24 October 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110219141759/http://www.wgcma.vic.gov.au/the-news/media-releases/213-all-water-returned-to-the-yarra-and-thomson-rivers.html . dead . 19 February 2011 . 8 February 2011 .
  9. http://www.envict.org.au/inform.php?menu=7&submenu=221&item=506 Environment Victoria - Thomson River
  10. Thomson River Coats Flats with Rubble and Shale - Gippsland Times 26 Jun 1952 p.1 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/6108788
  11. Will Thomson River Become Another Eroded Avon? - Gippsland Times 26 Jun 1952 p.2
  12. https://www.pressreader.com/australia/warragul-drouin-gazette/20200714/281767041523003 Warragul-Drouin Gazette, 14 Jul 2020
  13. Web site: Thomson River Diversion Tunnel, Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number H1990, Heritage Overlay Number HO261 . Victorian Heritage Database . Heritage Victoria . 13 September 2010 .
  14. Book: Blake, Les . Place names of Victoria . Adelaide . Rigby . 1977 . 198 . 0-7270-0250-3 .