Logan River

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This article is about the river in Queensland, Australia. For the river with the same name in Utah, USA,, see Logan River (Utah).
Logan River

Jimboomba, 2011
Origin Scenic Rim
Mouth Moreton Bay
Basin countries Australia
Basin area 3,740 km² [1]

The Logan River is a river in South East Queensland. The catchment is dominated by urban and agricultural land use. Near the river mouth are mangrove forests and a number of aquaculture farms.[2]

History

Logan Bridge below Tamrookum, 1903
Bridge construction on the Logan River, 1930

The Logan was discovered in August 1826 by Captain Patrick Logan. Logan initially named the river the Darling River, but to avoid confusion, Governor Ralph Darling ordered the name be changed to honour its discoverer.[3]

A toll bridge on the river north of Beenleigh was collecting money by the late 1930s as weekend traffic between Brisbane and the Gold Coast increased.[4]

The flooding in the lower reaches of the river were the worst for the 20th century during the 1974 Brisbane flood.[5]

Course

The river begins in the Mount Barney National Park, near the New South Wales border between Mount Lindesay and Mount Ernest, before heading north, east and eventually flowing into Moreton Bay. The Mount Lindesay Highway crosses the river via Maclean's Bridge.

Its principal tributaries are the Albert River which joins it just east of Beenleigh, Teviot Brook which begins at Mount Superbus and joins the Logan River at Cedar Pocket and Burnett Creek which is subverted by the Maroon Dam west of Rathdowney.

Water harvesting

Maroon Dam subverts Burnnett Creek, and supplies water to the Beaudesert Shire. Maroon is managed by SunWater and covers approximately 106 km². Several projects are underway, to supply water to the Queensland government's Southern Regional Pipeline. The Bromelton off-stream storage facility is currently under construction on the Logan River, outside Beaudesert, as is the Cedar Grove Weir, near Jimboomba.

On 4 July 2006, the Queensland Government decided against the construction of a Logan River dam at Tilley's Bridge in Rathdowney, due to mounting public pressure and high road diversion costs. Instead, the Wyaralong Dam was proposed on Teviot Brook near Boonah, which will inundate 15 properties instead of the 100 for the Tilley's Bridge site.

The Tilley's Bridge dam, if it had been approved, would have inundated the area of land between Tilley's Bridge, just to the south of Rathdowney, and Bigriggan Camping Reserve, some 8 km west, covering a significant section of the Boonah-Rathdowney Road.

Water quality and conservation

Crossing at Jimboomba Lions Park, 2011

The river water is very turbid.[2] The annual Healthy Waterways Report Card for the waterways and catchments of South East Queensland rated the condition of the Logan River as very poor.[6] Much of the environmental degradation has been caused by land clearing, the Bromelton Industrial Estate,[7] nutrient run-off and the pumping of wastewater directly from several wastewater treatment plants in and around the Logan River.[8] In 2009, the Healthy Waterways Ecosystem Health Monitoring Program rated the River's freshwater area at a "D"; its Estuarine area was given an "F".[9]

Community projects in the Logan catchment area aim to improve the quality of the ecosystem. Competitions such as Carp-busters are aimed at reducing the number of carp and hence allowing native species of fish a better chance of survival.

See also


References

  1. ↑ South East Queensland Regional Strategy Group, Strategic Guide to Resource Management in South East Queensland, November 2000. p 112.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dennison, William C.; Eva G. Abal (1999). Moreton Bay Study: A Scientific Basis for the Healthy Waterways Campaign. Brisbane: South East Queensland Regional Water Quality Management Strategy Team. pp. 186—187. ISBN 0-9586368-1-8. 
  3. ↑ Roberts, Beryl (1991). Stories of the Southside. Archerfield, Queensland: Aussie Books. p. 45. ISBN 0-947336-01-X. 
  4. ↑ Longhurst, Robert (1995). Gold Coast:Our heritage in focus. South Brisbane, Queensland: State Library of Queensland. p. 44. ISBN 0-7242-6563-5. 
  5. ↑ "Flood Warning System For The Logan & Albert Rivers". Bureau of Meteorology. November 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2011. 
  6. ↑ EcosystemHealth Monitoring Program, “ReportCard ‘07”, accessed 25 November 2007.
  7. ↑ Ecosystem Health Monitoring Programme, “About SEQ Waterways: Logan – Albert Catchments", accessed on 30 January 2007.
  8. ↑ Queensland Government, Environmental Protection Agency, “Queensland Waterways No. 3, March 2001 – Logan-Nerang Water Quality Study", accessed on 25 November 2007.
  9. ↑ Healthy Waterways, "EcosystemHealth: Monitoring Program: Southern Catchments - Sub-regional Summary. Accessed on 23/07/2010

External links

Media related to Logan River at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 27°43′S 153°18′E / 27.717°S 153.300°E / -27.717; 153.300

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