Flinders River
Named after the navigator Matthew Flinders, the Flinders River rises in the Burra Range on the Great Dividing Range's western slopes around 110 kilometres northeast of Hughenden. It flows through the Gulf Country past Hughenden, Richmond and Julia Creek, then crosses a large, flat clay pan before discharging into the Gulf of Carpentaria 25 kilometres west of Karumba near the outflow of the Gregory and Leichhardt Rivers. The Bynoe River forms part of the Flinders delta.
The river's 1,004-kilometre course makes it Queensland's longest and the eighth longest in Australia. It drains a sparsely populated 109,000-square-kilometre catchment that includes Kalkadoon, Mitakoodi, Kukatj, Guthaarn, Mayi-Yapi, Mayi-Kulan, Mayi-Thakurti, Ngawun, Wanamara, Mbara, Yirandali, and Gugu-Badhun country. It covers 1.5% of the continent and includes settlements at Burke and Wills Junction, Cloncurry, McKinlay, Hughenden, Richmond, and Julia Creek. The Selwyn Range forms the southern border of the catchment.
The Flinders' thirty-six tributaries include the Cloncurry, Saxby and the Corella rivers, Porcupine Creek, Range Creek, Morepork Creek, Oxley Creek, Canterbury Creek, Dutton River, Back Valley Creek, L-Tree Creek, Gorman Creek, Hazlewood Creek, Nonda Creek, Eurimpy Creek, Yambore Creek, Bynoe River and Armstrong Creek. The river flows through Flagstone waterhole.
Captain John Wickham and Lieutenant John Lort Stokes of HMS Beagle named the river in honour of Australia's first circumnavigator in 1841. Stokes went on to chart the estuaries of the Flinders and Albert rivers and named many features in the area, including Disaster Inlet, Morning Inlet, the Van Diemen River, and the Plains of Promise.
European settlement in the catchment came soon after the Burke and Wills expedition reached the river delta in 1861. James Gibson established Prairie Station later that year, followed by other stations including Millungera and Taldora Stations over the next three years.
Missing links:
Burra Range
Richmond
Julia Creek
Gregory River
Leichhardt River
Bynoe River
Kalkadoon
Mitakoodi
Guthaarn
Ngawun
Wanamara
Burke and Wills Junction
Cloncurry
McKinlay
Richmond
Julia Creek
Selwyn Range
Cloncurry River
Saxby River
Corella River
Porcupine Creek
Range Creek
Morepork Creek
Oxley Creek
Canterbury Creek
Back Valley Creek
L-Tree Creek
Gorman Creek
Hazlewood Creek
Nonda Creek
Eurimpy Creek
Yambore Creek
Bynoe River
Armstrong Creek
Flagstone waterhole.
Captain John Wickham
Lieutenant John Lort Stokes
HMS Beagle
Albert River
Disaster Inlet
Morning Inlet
Van Diemen River
Plains of Promise.
Burke and Wills expedition
James Gibson
Prairie Station
Millungera
Taldora Station
