Warrego River
River of Sand
The Warrego River is an ephemeral river that flows from near Mount Ka Ka Mundi near where Kelly Gully and Dooloogarah Creeks join, on the western side of the Carnarvon Range (Great Dividing Range). The river flows down to the confluence with Darling River between Bourke and Louth.
It will rarely flow outside of la Niña wet seasons and maybe cyclone driven weather events.
The longest tributary appears to be Dooloogarah Creek that forms from the confluences of Sunday and Ralph Creeks. Sunday Creek and / or its tributaries appear to have the longest and these lead to Mount Sugarloaf, the highest and the most prominent mountain in the Carnarvon Range.
Key Waypoints
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(~100 km)
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0 km
Warrego River
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214 km
Augathella
Sitting on the Landsborough Highway the town is served by Greyhound Buses (Mt Isa to Brisbane route).
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300 km
-
422 km
Wyanda
-
532 km
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708 km
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884 km
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1,378 km
Wilcannia
First semi-major town on the Darling River with public transport options.
River Map
Key locations and towns along the river are shown below.
- Mount Sugarloaf
- Sunday and Ralph Creek Confluences
- Dooloogarah Confluence
- Augathella
- Charleville
- Wyanda
- Cunnamulla
- Lower Lila Dam
- Six Mile Dam
- Gumbelie Dam
- Twenty Mile Dam
- Boera Dam
- Booka Dam
- Keernie Dam
- Peoples Dam
- Darling River Confluence
- Louth
- Tilpa
- Wilcannia
Distance Table
The distances were calculated by manually digitising the river path from Bing aerial images in QGIS (WGS 84 / UTM Zone 55S).
| Distances (KM) | Sunday |
Dooloogarah |
Warrego |
Augathella |
Charleville |
Wyanda |
Cunnamulla |
Fords Br |
Darling |
Louth |
Tilpa |
Wilcannia |
Distances (KM) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday Ck | 0 | 41 | 86 | 300 | 386 | 508 | 618 | 881 | 970 | 1,025 | 1,193 | 1,464 | Sunday Ck |
| Dooloogarah Ck | 41 | 0 | 45 | 259 | 345 | 467 | 578 | 840 | 929 | 984 | 1,152 | 1,423 | Dooloogarah Ck |
| Warrego River | 86 | 45 | 0 | 214 | 300 | 422 | 532 | 795 | 884 | 939 | 1,107 | 1,378 | Warrego River |
| Augathella | 300 | 259 | 214 | 0 | 86 | 208 | 319 | 581 | 670 | 725 | 893 | 1,164 | Augathella |
| Charleville | 386 | 345 | 300 | 86 | 0 | 122 | 232 | 495 | 584 | 639 | 807 | 1,078 | Charleville |
| Wyanda | 508 | 467 | 422 | 208 | 122 | 0 | 110 | 373 | 462 | 516 | 684 | 955 | Wyanda |
| Cunnamulla | 618 | 578 | 532 | 319 | 232 | 110 | 0 | 263 | 352 | 406 | 574 | 845 | Cunnamulla |
| Fords Bridge | 881 | 840 | 795 | 581 | 495 | 373 | 263 | 0 | 89 | 144 | 312 | 583 | Fords Bridge |
| Darling River | 970 | 929 | 884 | 670 | 584 | 462 | 352 | 89 | 0 | 55 | 223 | 494 | Darling River |
| Louth | 1,025 | 984 | 939 | 725 | 639 | 516 | 406 | 144 | 55 | 0 | 168 | 439 | Louth |
| Tilpa | 1,193 | 1,152 | 1,107 | 893 | 807 | 684 | 574 | 312 | 223 | 168 | 0 | 271 | Tilpa |
| Wilcannia | 1,464 | 1,423 | 1,378 | 1,164 | 1,078 | 955 | 845 | 583 | 494 | 439 | 271 | 0 | Wilcannia |
| Distances (KM) | Sunday |
Dooloogarah |
Warrego |
Augathella |
Charleville |
Wyanda |
Cunnamulla |
Fords Br |
Darling |
Louth |
Tilpa |
Wilcannia |
Distances (KM) |
Flow
There wasn't that much data on the river, but enough to do some basic analysis of the recent flow events. Some key observations:
- A decent flow at Fords Bridge is needed before the waters will reach the lower reaches and into the Darling. Large numbers of dams seen in the lower section could hinder small flows from reaching the Darling.
- The flow seems to correlate to localised rainfall runoffs rather than headwater rainfall, albeit the entire upper basin tributaries have converged by the time you get to Cunnamulla.
- Flow longevity is short, limited to a week or two unless there is persistent rainfall.
If the billabongs / pools are anything like those in other areas around the Darling Downs, the smaller ones will quickly dry up making traversing a non-flowing stream extremely difficult.
Homesteads
Sunday and Dooloogarah Creeks are within Dooloogarah Station, south of Carnarvon Station Reserve. Some of the stations and homesteads that can be found along the river, excluding the 40 or so homesteads between Augathella and Cunnamulla (one every 10 km or so).
- 46 km Barngo
- 73 km Torres Park
- 84 km Babbiloora
- 113 km Blogarella
- 174 km Lucknow
- 180 km Waverley
- Slightly east off Hoganthulla Ck
- 192 km Poseidon
- 206 km Rosewood
- 551 km Glencoe
- Last of the cluster of homesteads just south of Cunnamulla
- 578 km Rocky
- 594 km Coonberry Plains
- 647 km Owangowan
- 663 km Barringun
- A number of stations around this locality include Lanihuli, New Park, Rose Hill and Rostella
