Mossman River

Mossman
River
The Mossman River during the wet season, 2010
Name origin: In honour of Hugh Mosman[1]
Country Australia
State Queensland
Regions Far North Queensland, Cape York Peninsula
City Mossman
Landmark Mossman Gorge
Source Great Dividing Range
 - location below Devil's Thumb
 - elevation 1,050 m (3,445 ft)
 - coordinates 16°25′47″S 145°15′3″E / 16.42972°S 145.25083°E / -16.42972; 145.25083
Mouth Trinity Bay, Coral Sea
 - location between Newell and Cooya Beach
 - elevation 0 m (0 ft)
 - coordinates 16°26′04″S 145°24′20″E / 16.43444°S 145.40556°E / -16.43444; 145.40556Coordinates: 16°26′04″S 145°24′20″E / 16.43444°S 145.40556°E / -16.43444; 145.40556
Length 24 km (15 mi)
Basin 472 km2 (182 sq mi)
National park Daintree National Park
Location of Mossman River mouth in Queensland
Wikimedia Commons: Mossman River
[2]

The Mossman River is a river located in the Cape York Peninsula of Far North Queensland, Australia.

The headwaters of the river rise under Devil's Thumb on the Mount Carbine Tableland in the Great Dividing Range. The river flows through a deeply incised valley in the Mount Lewis Forest Reserve in an easterly direction and then through the Mossman Gorge, part of the Daintree National Park,[3] and onto the coastal plain past the township of Mossman, where the river is crossed by the Captain Cook Highway. The river eventually discharges into Trinity Bay and the Coral Sea between Newell and Cooya Beach. The river descends 1,050 metres (3,440 ft) over its 24-kilometre (15 mi) course.[2]

The river has a catchment area of 472 square kilometres (182 sq mi) of which an area of 16 square kilometres (6 sq mi) is composed of estuarine wetlands.[4]

The river was named by the explorer George Dalrymple in 1873 after Hugh Mosman who discovered gold in Charters Towers. Dalrymple wrote "I named this river the Mossman River, after Mossman, an explorer and mining man, member of a very prominent mining family".[1][5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Hodes, Jeremy. "Far North Queensland Place names mo – my". Queensland History. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Map of Mossman River, QLD". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  3. "About Mossman Gorge". Mossman Gorge, Daintree National Park. Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing, Queensland Government. 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  4. "Mossman River drainage basin". WetlandInfo. Queensland Government. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  5. "Nomenclature of Queensland.—200.". The Courier-Mail (Brisbane: National Library of Australia). 21 May 1936. p. 14. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
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