Nicholson River (Western Australia)

The Nicholson River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It takes its name from the Nicholson Plains, named in 1879 by Alexander Forrest after Sir Charles Nicholson, the central figure in the circle of Australian 'colonists' in London, and a promoter of the Forrest brothers' explorations. In 1870 Nicholson had presented a paper entitled On Forrest's Expedition into the Interior of Western Australia, Goyder's Survey of the Neighbourhood of Port Darwin, and on the Recent Progress of Australian Discovery to a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of London.[2][3][4]

Nicholson River
Location
Country	Australia
Physical characteristics
Source
• elevation	388 metres (1,273 ft)[1]
Mouth
• location	Ord River
• elevation	160 metres (525 ft)
Length	139 kilometres (86 mi)

The river rises just north of Koolerong Bore then flows south-west through Nicholson and through Marella Gorge then turning north and discharging into the Ord River[5] on the eastern edge of Purnululu National Park near Doughboy Hill.

There are eleven tributaries of the Nicholson including; Bamboo Creek, Bull Creek, Clean Skin Creek, Red Bank Creek, Tyson Creek and Wire Creek.

References

1. "Bonzle Digital Atlas - Map of Nicholson River, WA". 2008. Retrieved 9 December 2008.
2. "Forrest, Alexander (1849 - 1901)". Australian National Botanic Gardens. Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria. 2 August 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
3. Macmillan, David (1967). "Nicholson, Sir Charles (1808–1903)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
4. Nicholson, Sir Charles (28 March 1870). "On Forrest's Expedition into the Interior of Western Australia, Goyder's Survey of the Neighbourhood of Port Darwin, and on the Recent Progress of Australian Discovery". Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London. The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). 14 (3): 190–207. JSTOR 1799048.
5. "Water and Rivers Commission - Ord River Historic flows" (PDF). 2001. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2008. Retrieved 14 December 2008.