Donnelly River (Western Australia)

Donnelly River
Limestone cliff near the mouth of the river
Country	Australia
Basin features
Main source	11.6 kilometres (7 mi) east of Yornup 333 metres (1,093 ft)
River mouth	Southern Ocean sea level
Basin size	1,667 square kilometres (644 sq mi)
Physical characteristics
Length	151 kilometres (94 mi)
Discharge	Average rate: 331 GL/a (10.5 m3/s; 370 cu ft/s)

The Donnelly River is a river in the South West of Western Australia. Its main tributaries are Barlee Brook and Carey Brook. The river runs primarily through state forest reserves, although 25 private landholdings are situated along the length of the river. Clearing of the catchment area is estimated at 20% with the land mostly being used for viticulture, horticulture, dairy, grazing and tourism.

The first European to sight the river was Lieutenant William Preston in 1831. The river was named by James Stirling, the Governor of Western Australia, in the 1830s after Admiral Sir Ross Donnelly, a friend of Stirling's father-in-law James Mangles MP. Bannister had stood in for Mangles at Stirling's wedding to Ellen Mangles.

The Donnelly is one of the few catchments left in the state that contains all of the region's endemic freshwater fishes. Native freshwater species include salamanderfish (Lepidogalaxias salamandroides), freshwater cobbler (Tandanus bostocki), western minnow (Galaxias occidentalis), western mud minnow (Galaxiella munda), black-stripe minnow (Galaxiella nigrostriata), western pygmy perch (Nannoperca vittata), Balston's pygmy perch (Nannatherina balstoni), (Bostockia porosa), and pouched lamprey (Geotria australis).