Diamantina River

Diamantina
River
The Diamantina River at Birdsville, Queensland
Name origin: Lady Diamantina Bowen
Country	Australia
States	Queensland, South Australia
Region	Channel Country
Part of	Lake Eyre basin
Tributaries
- left	Western River, Mayne River
Source	Swords Range
- location	west of Winton, South West, Queensland
- elevation	313 m (1,027 ft)
Mouth	Warburton River
- location	confluence with the Eyre Creek, Far North, South Australia
- elevation	20 m (66 ft)
Length	12,300 km (7,643 mi)
Basin	157,000 km2 (60,618 sq mi)
National park	Diamantina National Park
Map of the Lake Eyre Basin showing the Diamantina River

The Diamantina River is a major river located in Central West Queensland and the far north of South Australia.

The river was named by William Landsborough in 1866 for Lady Diamantina Bowen (née Roma), wife of Sir George Bowen, the first Governor of Queensland. It has three major tributaries the Western River, Mayne River and Farrars Creek.

Rising north-west of Longreach in the Swords Range in Queensland, the river flows in a south-westerly direction through central Queensland and the Channel Country to form the Warburton River at its confluence with the Georgina River. In extremely wet years, the Warburton River flows as far as Lake Eyre. The length of the Diamantina River is approximately 900 km (560 mi), and the basin is approximately 157,000 square kilometres (61,000 sq mi), of which 140,000 square kilometres (54,000 sq mi) are used for agriculture.

Most of the basin of the Diamantina is very flat—even the highest points in the northeast do not reach 500 m (1,600 ft) above sea level and Lake Eyre itself is 16 m (52 ft) below sea level. Apart from a few streams near Winton (the largest town in the basin) almost all rivers in the basin flow southwestwards towards Birdsville. The Diamantina River has no main channel, rather it is a series of wide relatively shallow channels. The major feature of the river's sluggish course is Diamantina National Park about halfway between Winton and Birdsville. Apart from the national park, almost all land in the basin is used for grazing cattle and sheep, though numbers fluctuate greatly and considerable skill is required on the part of graziers.

The variable drought and flood cycles of the area make the river ephemeral with many semi-permanent waterholes. The highest recorded flow rate of the river was at Birdsville in 1974 with 4,700 cubic metres per second (170,000 cu ft/s) was measured.