Cooper's Creek Flowing Entire Length of Catchment

Desert Channels Queensland has released this great footage to celebrate a landmark event. Cooper's Creek currently has water flowing along the entire length of the catchment. This last time water flowed from the headwaters in North Queensland, through to Lake Eyre was in either 1956 or 1974.

Check out this marvellous story, courtesy of mother nature here.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DesertChannels?feature=mhum

There has been some downtime with the blog, due to technical hitches. However all is resolved, and we are back in action. I thank you for visiting our blog.

There has been a swirl of activity in recent weeks relating to the Queensland Governments Wild Rivers legislation. Minister Robertson is also planning to declare Cooper's Creek as a Wild River in the coming months. This iconic catchment will be the first in the Lake Eyre Basin to be protected under this legislation. So what does this all mean?

In the coming weeks, I will be blogging about the benefits that a Wild Rivers Declaration will bring to Western Queensland, and how the communities of this area have been working together to ensure that the government considers the unique nature of the rivers in Western Queensland.

The Lake Eyre Basin covers 1/7th of Australia, and is the largest internally draining basin in the world. What is an internally draining basin? Most rivers throughout the world run towards the coast, and eventually the water moves out to sea. Not so with the Lake Eyre Basin. The water all runs down into Lake Eyre, and pools there - and eventually evaporates. Whilst this water drains southward into Lake Eyre, it also leaves a magical legacy of floodplains, braids and channels that criss cross the country and provides habitat and food for many species of plants and animals.

Opportunism Outback!

For many years, it was thought that the numerous fish species in the Lake Eyre Basin rivers would breed in summer. However, recent research (undertaken by Wendy Pyper) has shown that a number of species breed right through winter as the floods come through. If the fish have a chance, they will breed and produce good offspring rather than wait for another ten years for a summer flood.

This abundance of fish provides for the many species of birds that gather in good seasons in Western Queensland. Truly, this is a prime example of opportunism on behalf of mother nature............and every fisherman who throws a rod in this winter.

Fat Cattle

There are lots of sleek and fat cattle contentedly meandering around the Western Queensland countryside. However, there are not as many cattle as usual to be seen grazing, as many property managers are yet to restock after a prolonged dry period. These cattle feed naturally on the pastures provided by nature,and truly are organic.

Lake Eyre - The Miracle Strikes Again!

How amazing is it that water is running through to Lake Eyre for the second consecutive year? The water from Cooper's Creek in Western Qld should reach there within in the next few weeks.

Lake Eyre Basin – Liveable, Ephemeral and Biodiverse!

Lake Eyre Basin – Liveable, Ephemeral and Biodiverse!

Close your eyes and image and imagine a unique part of Australia that covers one-sixth of the driest continent on earth and has an abundance of plant and animal life in a natural arid and semi-arid environment that is home to a Yacht Club; premium organic beef breeding properties; large pelican colonies; ancient and rare Waddi trees and an aerial view of an abstract artists canvas of braids and criss-crossy lines that are waterways. Now think of the terms ‘boom and bust’ in relation to rivers and wetlands and drop these into the image you have generated – and title this image with the name “Lake Eyre Basin”.

The Western Rivers Carer was recently priveleged to be in Alice Springs to attend the Lake Eyre Community Advisory Committee and the Scientific Advisory Group meetings where all things that matter to the Lake Eyre Basin were discussed.

The Lake Eyre Basin is one of the largest internally draining river systems in the world, and covers nearly one-sixth of Australia, including areas of South Australia, Queensland, Northern Territory and a small portion of New South Wales. Lake Eyre (a great salt lake) is the terminal point of the drainage system, and the three major river systems that drain into the Lake are the Georgina and Diamantina Rivers and Cooper’s Creek. The Lake Eyre catchment is one of the last unregulated dryland river systems worldwide and is located in arid and semi-arid parts of the driest inhabited content. All tributaries to Lake Eyre are ephemeral in nature, meaning that run off is reduced to one flood or a series of floods in a short period, and there are very long periods when the beds of the rivers are dry.

The rivers and catchments in the Lake Eyre Basin are generally in good condition, and contain intact aquatic ecosystems. These critical aquatic habitats are home for many species and in particular, migratory waterbirds. The permanent water holes are critical refuges for aquatic plants and animals. The rivers fluctuate dramatically between consisting of highly fragmented disconnected water holes and well connected systems encompassing enormous tracts of inundated floodplain. Most of the Lake Eyre Basin overlies the Great Artesian (groundwater) Basin.

Almost all of the non-desert parts of the Lake Eyre Basin are used for low intensity livestock grazing, predominantly beef cattle and sheep. These industries are viewed as having low impacts on the land and diversity. Indigenous communities have maintained their traditional links with the land, and important cultural sites have been protected and preserved. The key threats to the area include introduced pest plants and feral animals and their impacts on waterholes; intensified surface water extraction as a result of development and the impact of climate change.
For more information on the Lake Eyre Basin, please visit www.lakeeyrebasin.org.au.

Loving the Namatjira Look!

Loving the Namatjira Look!

Isn't this an iconic Central Australian scene - made famous by an Aboriginal Artist called Albert Namatjira (1902 - 1959) who painted in an European style? White gum trees and the rugged, raw landscape featured in his numerous paintings. The Western Rivers Carer was reminded of his magnificent works on a recent trip to Alice Springs, when she saw this tree (and many others) whilst exploring the Todd River.

Alice Springs played host last week to 30 amazing people who have an interest in a very special part of Australia that is known as the Lake Eyre Basin (LEB). This is one of the largest internally draining river systems in the world, and covers one sixth of Australia's land mass. The Lake Eyre Basin group and committee consist of a variety of traditional owners, government representatives, scientists, conservationists, community members and business people who are passionate about ensuring this basin is managed in such a way that it can be enjoyed by future generations of people, plant and animal communities.

The Western Rivers Carer was delighted to represent the Australian Floodplain Association and share with the LEB group and committee details of proposed river protection planned for the Queensland catchments of the Georgina and Diamantina Rivers and Cooper's Creek in the LEB.

Cawnpore Lookout

Cawnpore Lookout

Check out this amazingly dramatic landscape? It almost makes you want to reach for the tubes of paint and the canvas, and to reproduce these amazing colours that Mother Nature has thrown together? Or did she throw these together? How did we come to have countryside so spectacular??

This is a picture of Cawnpore Lookout, near Middleton, which is between Boulia and Winton. 95 – 98 million years ago, this area was covered by an inland sea, known as the Eromanga Sea. However, about 95 million years ago, the sediment that was carried to this huge sea by massive inland rivers eventually contracted and reduced the size of the inland sea so that it no longer existed. This landscape which you can see is the sediment that was left behind by the Eromanga Sea.

Interestingly, my mind thinks about the many millions of tonnes of dust whipped up by the dust storm that has blanketed the East Coast of Australia in recent days. This dust is dry sediment from the spectacular floods that inundated the Lake Eyre Basin earlier this year, which is being carried by the winds across the countryside and out to sea – to become part of the ocean. Are their any parallels between what was happening 95 million years ago, and this week?

I invite you to take a look at this Cawnpore Lookout scene, and visualise it as an inland sea. Better still, why not plan a driving holiday, and come out and personally experience the 360 degree vista that Cawnpore provides you with? The Western Rivers Carer truly feels immensely humble when she climbs to the top of a mesa, and imagines the landscape of 95 million years ago.