Belyando | |
Name Other: | Belyando River (Western Branch) |
Pushpin Map: | Australia Queensland |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Belyando River mouth in Queensland |
Subdivision Type1: | Country |
Subdivision Name1: | Australia |
Subdivision Type2: | State |
Subdivision Name2: | Queensland |
Subdivision Type3: | Region |
Subdivision Name3: | Central Queensland |
Length: | 1054km (655miles) |
Source1: | Drummond Range |
Source1 Location: | below Mount Narounya |
Source1 Coordinates: | -24.0469°N 147.1575°W |
Source1 Elevation: | 397m (1,302feet) |
Source2: | Belyando River (Western Branch) |
Source2 Location: | west of Lochington |
Source2 Coordinates: | -23.9322°N 147.0392°W |
Source2 Elevation: | 447m (1,467feet) |
Mouth: | confluence with the Suttor River |
Mouth Location: | Lake Dalrymple |
Mouth Coordinates: | -21.4239°N 146.8856°W |
Mouth Elevation: | 179m (587feet) |
River System: | Burdekin River |
Basin Size: | 35000km2 |
Tributaries Left: | Carmichael River |
Custom Label: | National parks |
Custom Data: | Narrien Range National Park |
Extra: | [1] [2] [3] |
The Belyando River, including the Belyando River (Western Branch), is a river system in Central Queensland, Australia. At in length and with a catchment area of, the Belyando River system is one of the longest rivers in Queensland.
It is pronounced Bel-yando.[4]
Comprising a mix of anabranches from source to mouth, the Belyando River and the Belyando River (Western Branch) rise below Mount Narounyah in the Drummond Range, part of the Great Dividing Range in the area southeast of . The river flows generally in a northerly direction, joined by twenty-nine tributaries including the Carmichael River. The Belyando River flows through a series of waterholes and lagoons including Grays Lagoon, Bakoolama Waterhole, Ten Mile Waterhole, Boadles Waterhole, Georges Waterhole, Broadna Waterhole, Alinya Waterhole, Sandy Camp Waterhole, Bygana Waterhole, Dunjarrobina Waterhole and Yarmina Waterhole. The river reaches its confluence with the Suttor River before flowing into Lake Dalrymple and joining the Burdekin River.[5] The river system descends from a peak elevation of over its combined 1054km (655miles) course.[1] [2] [3]
The river system has a catchment area of a little more than .[6] Land use in the catchment is dominated by grazing with some cropping. Some of the catchment is included in the Narrien Range National Park and the Epping Forest National Park.[6]
The traditional custodians of the land surrounding the Belyando River are the various indigenous Wakelbura people, including the various smaller Auanbura, Dorobura, and Metherabura clans.[7]
Miyan (also known as Mian) is a language of North/Central Queensland.The Miyan language region includes the landscape within the local government area of the Central Highlands Region, including the localities of Mount Douglas, Bulliwallah and Lake Galilee.[8]
Yagalingu (also known as Jagalingu, Auanbura, Kokleburra, Owanburra, Kowanburra, Wagalbara, and Djagalingu) is an Australian Aboriginal language of Central Queensland. Its traditional language region was within the local government area of Isaac Region, from the headwaters of the Belyando River south to Avoca, north to Laglan, west to the Great Dividing Range, and east and south to Drummond Range.[9]
The first European to discover the river was explorer Thomas Mitchell in 1846 on his fourth and last expedition.[10]
In 1935 the newspaper article about the Yacamunda Station referred to the displacement of the Belyando tribe of Aboriginal people because of noise from airplanes near Rockhampton.[11]
The 2010–11 Queensland floods caused widespread flooding along the river and the extended isolation of properties from inundation which needed food supply drops.[12]
In 2015 the Adani Group applied for a water licence to extract up to 12.5GL per year from the Belyando River for use at the Carmichael coal mine.[13]