Peel River (New South Wales)

For the Canadian River in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, see Peel River (Canada)

The Peel River is a river in New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Murray-Darling Basin.

The Peel rises on the northern slopes of the Liverpool Range south of the village of Nundle. It flows generally north and west through the foothills of the Great Dividing Range, through Woolomin and Piallamore and emerges into the Liverpool Plains near Tamworth. It continues west and flows into the Namoi River just downstream of Keepit Dam. The Cockburn River is a major tributary of the Peel River, joining it at Nemingha east of Tamworth.

The Peel is dammed south of the village of Woolomin by Chaffey Dam, a water supply for Tamworth.

The Peel River was named after Sir Robert Peel who was an important British politician at the time of its discovery by British settlers in Australia.

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 Muray cod his men caught from the river on his 1838 expedition.

See also

• List of rivers in Australia
• Rivers of New South Wales