Ross River
Rising in Hervey's Range below Pepper Pot Mountain, the 49-kilometre-long Ross River flows north and east around Mount Stuart past the Townsville suburbs of Kelso, Rasmussen, Condon, Thuringowa Central, Cranbrook, Aitkenvale, Mundingburra, Rosslea, Hermit Park, Railway Estate and South Townsville (left-hand/northern bank), Douglas, Annandale, Idalia and Oonoonba (right hand/southern bank) draining a 1,340 square kilometre catchment. The river was named in 1864 after Townsville's first publican, William Alfred Ross in 1864. Ross became the city's mayor four years later.
A dam on the Upper Ross (Lake Ross) is the city's main source of drinking water, which had earlier been drawn from underground aquifers and a series of weirs along the river:
- Furthest upstream, the Black Weir (a.k.a. Black School Weir) was built in the early 1930s.
- Gleeson's Weir, between Cranbrook and Douglas downstream of Gleeson's Farm, was completed in 1908 to stabilise the water supply for local residents and downstream aquifers.
- Downstream from Gleeson's Weir, Aplin's Weir was initially a stop weir, built in 1927 to keep salt water out of the water pumped from the Top River wells at the end of Thompson Street, Mundingburra. Work on a stronger structure began in October 1943, and when it was completed in January 1944, it became known as Aplin's Weir. Flood damage prompted repairs ton the weir several times during the 1950s and it received a significant upgrade in 2011. A bridge connecting Mundingburra and Annandale built in the late 1990s used the weir's footings of Aplin's Weir for support but was swept away by floodwaters in February 2019.
Links to add:
Hervey's Range
Pepper Pot Mountain
Mount Stuart
Kelso
Rasmussen
Thuringowa Central
Cranbrook
Mundingburra
Hermit Park
Railway Estate
South Townsville
Idalia
Oonoonba
William Alfred Ross
Upper Ross
Lake Ross
Black Weir
Gleeson's Weir
Gleeson's Farm
Aplin's Weir
Top River wells
Thompson Street
