Cooper Creek

Cooper
Creek
Cooper Creek Crossing at Innamincka, South Australia
Country	Australia
State	Queensland and South Australia
Tributaries
- left	Thomson River
- right	Barcoo River
Mouth
- location	Lake Eyre, Far North, South Australia
Length	1,300 km (808 mi)
Map of the Lake Eyre Basin showing Cooper Creek

Cooper Creek (formerly Cooper's Creek) (28°23′S 137°41′E / 28.383°S 137.683°E / -28.383; 137.683) is one of the most famous rivers in Australia because it was the site of the death of the explorers Burke and Wills in 1861. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its tributaries and is one of three major Queensland river systems that flow into the Lake Eyre basin. The flow of the creek depends on monsoonal rains falling months earlier and many hundreds of kilometres away in eastern Queensland. At 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) in length it is the second longest inland river system in Australia after the Murray-Darling system.

Indigenous Australians have inhabited the area for at least 50,000 years, with over 25 tribal groups living in the Channel Country area alone. A vast trade network had been stablished running from north to south with goods such as ochre sent north with shells and pituri moved south. Birdsville was once a major meeting place for conducting ceremonies and trade.

Charles Sturt named the river in 1845 after Charles Cooper, the Chief Justice of South Australia. It was along Cooper Creek that the explorers Burke and Wills died in 1861. John King survived the expedition with the assistance of friendly Aborigines. Only ten years after the explorers' deaths, homesteads were being established on the watercourse. A station at Innamincka was the first permanent settlement in the area.