Sunrise at Balonne River

Lachlan River

ETA Unknown

The Lachlan River is considered to be the fourth longest river in Australia. Its source is on the Breadalbane Plain near Goulburn, on the Great Dividing Range. From here it flows westwards out onto the fertile plains of the Riverina and onto the semi-arid woodlands. The river ends at the Great Cumbung Swamp. Water will only reach the Murrumbidgee River during large floods.

I used the phrase "considered to be the fourth longest river" based on the approximations provided by GeoAustralia, but from my own analysis it takes third place from the Darling River. Tracing satellite images in QGIS, I calculated that the Lachlan River at 1,549 km if it flows all the way to the Murrumbidgee River, and is 2 km longer than the length calculated for the Darling River. The main discrepancy between the measurements is that the Lachlan River snakes it way down at a much finer level than the Darling River, adding 15% to the estimated length. This distance discrepancy is greatest towards the source.

Guides, Resources and References

This trip is difficult and potentially dangerous with some remote sections in the lower section and hard whitewater in the upper section.

While I am posting this information to assist fellow explorers, you should not rely on anything stated in this guide without first confirming it independently from more reliable sources. This guide is not a substitute for proper training from an accredited training provider.

General Overview and Location Guides

Gear

Refer to the Murray River Gear Section for a discussion about kayaking and camping gear.

Planning

Information to ensure an enjoyable and successful trip.

River and trees

Flow

A look at the flow and management at key locations

More Info

Additional Information

Distance Table

The distances were calculated by manually digitizing the river path from Bing aerial images in QGIS (WGS 84 / UTM Zone 55S).

Distance (KM)
Source
Cowra
Gooloogong
Forbes
Condobolin
Euabalong
Hillston
Booligal
Oxley
Murrumbidgee
 Distance (KM)
Source 0 253 313 416 631 763 1,038 1,240 1,494 1,547 Source
Cowra 253 0 60 162 378 509 785 987 1,241 1,294 Cowra
Gooloogong 313 60 0 103 318 450 725 927 1,181 1,234 Gooloogong
Forbes 416 162 103 0 215 347 623 825 1078 1,132 Forbes
Condobolin 631 378 318 215 0 132 407 609 863 916 Condobolin
Euabalong 763 509 450 347 132 0 276 477 731 785 Euabalong
Hillston 1,038 785 725 623 407 276 0 202 456 509 Hillston
Booligal 1,240 987 927 825 609 477 202 0 254 307 Booligal
Oxley 1,494 1,241 1,181 1,078 863 731 456 254 0 53 Oxley
Murrumbidgee 1,547 1,294 1,234 1,132 916 785 509 307 53 0 Murrumbidgee
Distance (KM)
Source
Cowra
Gooloogong
Forbes
Condobolin
Euabalong
Hillston
Booligal
Oxley
Murrumbidgee
 Distance (KM)

Refer to the distances page for a complete distance table including most weirs and important rivers.