Yarra River

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Yarra River
Melbourne as seen from the south-east side along the Yarra River, home of many rowers and active crews
Basin countries	Australia
Length	242 km
Basin area	718,000 km²

The Yarra River is a river in southern Victoria, Australia. It is the river on which the city of Melbourne was founded.

1 Name
2 Geography
3 Recreational use
4 Pollution
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading

[edit] Name

The river was called Birrarung by the Wurundjeri people who occupied the Yarra valley prior to British settlement. It was given the name Yarra Yarra in 1835 by John Helder Wedge of the Port Phillip Association, in the mistaken belief that this was the Aboriginal name for the river. Wedge wrote:

'On arriving in sight of the river, the two natives who were with me pointed to the river, and called out at it "Yarra", "Yarra", which at the time I imagined to be its name. But I afterwards learnt that the words were what they used to designate a waterfall, as they gave the same designation to a small fall in the Werribee River, as we crossed it on our way back to Indented Head.'

[edit] Geography

Map of Yarra River and its tributaries.

Yarra River as seen from Princes Bridge

The Yarra's lower reaches travel through central Melbourne. It is approximately 242 kilometres in length, with a mean annual flow of 718,000 megalitres. It is the most westerly snow fed river in Australia. The total catchment area is approximately 4000 square kilometres. Some of the Yarra's major tributaries include the Plenty River, Merri Creek, Darebin Creek, Gardiners Creek and the Moonee Ponds Creek. The Yarra was originally a tributary of the Maribyrnong River.

[edit] Upper reaches

The river's source is a series of swamps in the upper reaches of the Yarra Ranges National Park, directly to the east of the Mt Baw Baw plateau, a thickly forested subalpine park, which is entirely closed-off to all except the employees of Melbourne Water. The park features extensive stands of mountain ash, a very tall eucalypt, tree ferns, as well as patches of remnant rainforest.

The Upper Yarra Dam, one of a number of dams in the Yarra Catchment that supply most of Melbourne's water, is the furthest upstream point on the river visible to the general public (though the dam itself is closed off).

The first settlement the still-young river passes through is the small town of Reefton, but most of the river is surrounded by hills covered temperate forest until the timber and resort town of Warburton. The Woods Point Rd follows the river through this section.

Downstream of Warburton, the Yarra Valley gradually opens out and farms begin to appear, including beef and dairy farms, and by the town of Woori Yallock and the river's turn north increasingly large areas are covered by vineyards, forming the Yarra Valley wine region.

Yarra crossing, Punt Road. by W. Liardet,1840

At Healesville, the river turns west again and the stream bed becomes increasingly silty, reducing the clarity of the water, and by the commuter town of Yarra Glen it begins to take on the brownish colour that the lower reaches are known for.

[edit] Middle reaches

The river enters Melbourne's suburbs proper at Chirnside Park, but virtually all the river's length is surrounded by parkland, much retaining (or having been replanted with) extensive native vegetation. A bicycle and walking trail known as the Main Yarra Trail begins at Warrandyte and becomes the Yarra River Trail, and in the lower reaches, the Capital City Trail. The river is used extensively for kayaking at Templestowe, and canoes can often be seen throughout the suburban section. Whilst the water is not particularly clear, its quality is sufficient for edible fish to swim within it. Some small hobby farms are located in the floodplain area of the river, surprisingly close to central Melbourne and almost completely surrounded by suburbs.

Heidelberg formed the home of the Heidelberg School, widely considered the first European painters to accurately capture the Australian landscape and its distinctive features. The walking trail features placards displaying some of their paintings at the settings they were actually painted; some features depicted remain clearly recognisable today.

View of the Yarra River as it flows through Central Melbourne at night, with the central business district on the left and Southbank on the right

[edit] Lower reaches

Below Dights Falls at Yarra Bend Park in inner Melbourne, the river becomes increasingly estuarine as it passes along the southern side of the central business district. This area forms the venue for the annual "Moomba" festival, which notably features an annual water skiing competition which attracts a huge crowd. The lower stretch of the river from Docklands to the Melbourne Cricket Ground was part of the final path of the Queen's Baton Relay of the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Many of Melbourne's private schools, located close to the river, train their rowing crews on it.

Artificial fish on the Yarra during 2006 Commonwealth Games

The lower reaches feature a number of boat cruises, using especially low-roof boats to go under the many bridges across this section of the Yarra.

Herring Island is a small island at South Yarra which has a punt which takes people on to the park.

The area in front of old Customs House, Melbourne is a former turning basin for ships. It is the point which was once known as "Freshwater Place" and once had a set of cascades which prevented both salt water and larger ships from going further upstream. This series of rocks, originally used to cross the river, and referred to as the "Yarra Falls" was removed using explosives and divers in 1883.

The final section passes through the Port of Melbourne and under the Bolte Bridge and the West Gate Bridge.

The river flows into Port Phillip Bay, the site being extensively altered as part of the Port of Melbourne, Australia's busiest seaport.

[edit] Recreational use

The Yarra River is popular with rowers. There are several rowing sheds along the city stretch east of the Princes Bridge.

The Yarra is also popular for cycling. Two major off-road trails, the Yarra River Trail and Capital City Trail follow the river on its course through the city, while part of the Bayside Trail also connects with the river.

The river is also popular for boaters. In the residential suburb of Toorak, some of the larger mansions have private boat moorings, whilst newer developments in Melbourne Docklands have larger marinas as does Pier 31 at Fisherman's Bend and Newport and Williamstown at the river's mouth.

Cruises go up and down the river. In many of the higher parts of the Yarra fishing is also common.

[edit] Pollution

Much of the inner metropolitan section of the river remains contaminated from industrial and domestic waste dumping, which dates from Melbourne's early settlement. The worst of this was eliminated through the 20th century, and since the 1980s a concerted effort to clean up the river has reduced pollution markedly, though not enough to permit swimming below Dights Falls.

The major source of pollution at present is dog excrement, motor oil and other urban litter being washed into the river following rain. Human sewage leaking from broken pipes, illegal sewer and from overflows during rain is reportedly the current main source of bacterial contamination^[1]^[2].