Peel River (New South Wales)

Peel River
Cockburn River[1]
Watercourse
Peel River at Nundle
Name origin: in honour of Sir Robert Peel[2]
Country Australia
State New South Wales
Region IBRA: New England Tablelands
District Northern Tablelands
Municipalities Tamworth, Gunnedah
Part of Murray–Darling basin
Source Liverpool Range, Great Dividing Range, and Mount Royal Range
 - location south of Nundle
 - elevation 743 m (2,438 ft)
Mouth confluence with the Namoi River
 - location south of Keepit Dam
 - elevation 286 m (938 ft)
Length 210 km (130 mi)
Reservoir Chaffey Dam
Crossings Tamworth rail bridge over the Peel River
[3]

Peel River, a watercourse that is part of the Namoi catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the North West Slopes and Plains district of New South Wales, Australia.

The river rises on the northern slopes of the Liverpool Range, at the junction of the Great Dividing Range and Mount Royal Range, south of the village of Nundle, and flows generally north, west and north west and emerges into the Liverpool Plains near Tamworth. The Peel River is joined by thirteen tributaries, including the Cockburn River, and flows through Chaffey Dam before reaching its mouth at the confluence with the Namoi River; dropping 457 metres (1,499 ft) over its course of 210 kilometres (130 mi).[3]

From source to mouth, the river passes through or near the villages of Nundle, Woolomin and Piallamore.

The Peel River was first discovered by European settlers in 1818 by John Oxley and named by Oxley in honour of Sir Robert Peel, an important British politician at the time of its discovery by British settlers in Australia.[2]

A Tamworth, the river is crossed by the Main North line via the heritage-listed Tamworth rail bridge, completed in 1882.[4]

The famous Australian freshwater native fish Murray cod, Maccullochella peelii, was named after the Peel River by Major Mitchell, who sketched and scientifically described and named one of the numerous Murray cod his men caught from the river on his 1838 expedition.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Peel River (A Section Of)". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Peel River". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Map of Peel River". Bonzle.com. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  4. ↑ "Tamworth rail bridge over Peel River, New South Wales State Heritage Register (NSW SHR) Number H01058". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Office of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  • "Namoi River catchment" (map). Office of Environment and Heritage. Government of New South Wales.

Coordinates: 30°55′S 150°29′E / 30.917°S 150.483°E / -30.917; 150.483

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