Cape River
A tributary of the Burdekin which now flows into Lake Dalrymple - the water storage created byn the Burdekin Falls Dam — the Cape River's headwaters rise about 50 kilometres north of Torrens Creek, 48 kilometres northwest of Pentland and 135 kilometres west-southwest of Charters Towers. The river crosses the Flinders Highway between Pentland and Homestead.
After Richard Daintree identified the Cape River's upper reaches as auriferous (gold bearing) as early as 1863, and advised the Queensland Government about the district’s potential in 1865, a party of six prospectors – David James, Robert Robinson, Thomas Ellem, Charles Chappel, James Hewson, and James Stoner — found gold oin the roiver'ds upper reaches two years later, sparking North Queensland's first major gold rush.
Twenty-six tributaries join the Cape over its 332-kilometre course:
Black Gin Creek
Black Mount Creek
Gorge Creek
Eight Mile Creek
Fat Hen Creek
Spring Creek
Shearers Creek
Bulgin Creek
Warrigal Creek
Five Mile Creek
Emu Gully
Amelia Creek
Campaspe River
Broadly Creek
Boomerang Creek
Blowhard Creek
Comical Creek
Plain Creek
Little Moonlight Creek
Bilga Creek
Rollston River
Swamp Creek
Chinaman Creek
Rocky Creek
Sandy Creek
Low Creek
