Australia
Australia the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area; the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea and East Timor to the north. The population of 25 million is urbanised and concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, its largest city is Sydney; the country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians for about 60,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, it is documented. After the European exploration of the continent by Dutch explorers in 1606, who named it New Holland, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788, a date which became Australia's national day; the population grew in subsequent decades, by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored and an additional five self-governing crown colonies established.
On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy, comprising six states and ten territories. Being the oldest and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils, Australia has a landmass of 7,617,930 square kilometres. A megadiverse country, its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east and mountain ranges in the south-east. A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, its population density, 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, remains among the lowest in the world. Australia generates its income from various sources including mining-related exports, telecommunications and manufacturing. Indigenous Australian rock art is the oldest and richest in the world, dating as far back as 60,000 years and spread across hundreds of thousands of sites. Australia is a developed country, with the world's 14th-largest economy.
It has a high-income economy, with the world's tenth-highest per capita income. It is a regional power, has the world's 13th-highest military expenditure. Australia has the world's ninth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 26% of the population. Having the third-highest human development index and the eighth-highest ranked democracy globally, the country ranks in quality of life, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights, with all its major cities faring well in global comparative livability surveys. Australia is a member of the United Nations, G20, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Trade Organization, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Pacific Islands Forum and the ASEAN Plus Six mechanism; the name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis, a name used for a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere since ancient times. When Europeans first began visiting and mapping Australia in the 17th century, the name Terra Australis was applied to the new territories.
Until the early 19th century, Australia was best known as "New Holland", a name first applied by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 and subsequently anglicised. Terra Australis still saw occasional usage, such as in scientific texts; the name Australia was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders, who said it was "more agreeable to the ear, an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth". The first time that Australia appears to have been used was in April 1817, when Governor Lachlan Macquarie acknowledged the receipt of Flinders' charts of Australia from Lord Bathurst. In December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office. In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known by that name; the first official published use of the new name came with the publication in 1830 of The Australia Directory by the Hydrographic Office. Colloquial names for Australia include "Oz" and "the Land Down Under". Other epithets include "the Great Southern Land", "the Lucky Country", "the Sunburnt Country", "the Wide Brown Land".
The latter two both derive from Dorothea Mackellar's 1908 poem "My Country". Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun around 65,000 to 70,000 years ago, with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea-crossings from what is now Southeast Asia; these first inhabitants were the ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal Australian culture is one of the oldest continual civilisations on earth. At the time of first European contact, most Indigenous Australians were hunter-gatherers with complex economies and societies. Recent archaeological finds suggest. Indigenous Australians have an oral culture with spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime; the Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, obtained their livelihood from seasonal horticulture and the resources of their reefs and seas. The northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited s
Arachnocampa
Arachnocampa is a genus of five fungus gnat species which have a luminescent larval stage, akin to the larval stage of glowworm beetles. The species of Arachnocampa are endemic to New Zealand and Australia, dwelling in caves and grottos, or sheltered places in forests. A previous synonym was "Bolitiphila," meaning "mushroom lover," in the past; the name was changed in 1924 to Arachnocampa, meaning "spider-worm," for the way the larvae hang sticky silk threads to ensnare prey. The genus Arachnocampa belongs in the family Keroplatidae. Arachnocampa species have holometabolous metamorphosis with eggs, larvae and adults. Individuals spend most of their lives as larvae; these flies live from about 6 depending on food availability. A larva is only about 3–5 mm long when it emerges from its egg, can grow up to about 3 cm long; the larva spins a nest out of silk on the ceiling of the cave and hangs down as many as 70 threads of silk from around the nest, each up to 30 or 40 cm long and holding droplets of mucus.
The larvae can only live in a place out of the wind, to stop their lines being tangled, hence caves, overhangs or deep rainforest. In some species, the droplets of mucus on the silk threads are poisonous, enhancing the trap's ability to subdue prey quickly. A larva's glow attracts prey into its threads; the roof of a cave covered with larva can look remarkably like a blue starry sky at night. A hungry larva glows brighter than one. Prey include midges, caddisflies, mosquitos and small snails or millipedes; when a prey is caught by a snare, its larva feeds on the prey. When Arachnocampa prey are scarce, larvae may show cannibalism, eating other larvae, pupae or adult flies; the glow is the result of a chemical reaction that involves the substrate. It occurs in modified excretory organs known as Malpighian tubules in the abdomen; the body of the larva is soft. When it outgrows the head capsule it moults; this happens four times throughout its life. At the end of the larva stage, it becomes a pupa; the pupa stage lasts about 1 or 2 weeks and it glows intermittently.
The male stops glowing a few days before the female's glow increases. The glow from the female is believed to be to attract a mate, males may be waiting there when she emerges; the adults of both sexes can not live only a short time. They glow, but only intermittently, their sole purpose is to mate, for the female to lay eggs. Adult insects are poor fliers and so will remain in the same area, building a colony of glowworms; the female lays a total of about 130 eggs, in clumps of 40 or 50, dies soon after laying. The eggs hatch after the cycle repeats; the larvae are sensitive to light and disturbance and will retreat into their nests and stop glowing if they or their snares are touched. They have few predators, their greatest danger is from human interference. Arachnocampa luminosa is found in both the North and South islands. Arachnocampa richardsae is found in New South Wales; the Newnes glow worm tunnel in the Blue Mountains is one well-known habitat. Arachnocampa tasmaniensis is found in Tasmania.
One habitat is Mole Creek near Cradle Mountain. Arachnocampa flava is found in Queensland; the Natural Bridge in the Gold Coast hinterland is one well-known habitat. Arachnocampa buffaloensis. A colony of Arachnocampa has been found in an alpine cave on Mount Buffalo in Victoria. Early research suggests it is a new species, but related to A. tasmaniensis and the New Zealand species, A. luminosa. Its presence suggests; the Victorian Government presently has it listed as a threatened species. Orfelia fultoni - a North American relative that has similar habits; the New Zealand Glowworm by V. B. Meyer-Rochow, 1990, Published by Waitomo Caves Museum Society. 60 pages The Glow-Worm, Ormiston Walker and Judy Kerdel, MacMillan New Zealand, 1990, ISBN 0-7329-0121-9. Glowworm article, Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th edition Broadley, R. A. Notes on pupal behaviour, mate attraction and predation of the New Zealand glowworm Arachnocampa luminosa, at Waitomo. New Zealand Entomologist 35: 1-9. Broadley, R. A. and Stringer, I.
A. N. Larval behaviour of the New Zealand glowworm, Arachnocampa luminosa, in bush and caves. In: V. B. Meyer-Rochow, Bioluminescence in Focus - A Collection of Illuminating Essays. Research Signpost. Kerala. Baker, C. H. Distribution and phylogenetic relationships of Australian glow-worms Arachnocampa Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 48: 506-514 Baker, C. H. and Merritt, D. J. Life cycle of an Australian glow-worm Arachnocampa flava Harrison. Australian Entomologist 30: 45-55 Baker, C. H. Australian glow-worms: Managing an important biological resource. Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association Inc. 53: 13 – 16 Baker, C. H. Dipteran glow-worms: Marvellous maggots weave magic for tourists. Exploring the diversity of flies. Biodiversity 3: 3-28 Baker, C. H. A biological basis for management of glow-worm populations of ecotourism sig
Lamington National Park
The Lamington National Park is a national park, lying on the Lamington Plateau of the McPherson Range on the Queensland/New South Wales border in Australia. From Southport on the Gold Coast the park is 85 kilometres to the southwest and Brisbane is 110 kilometres north; the 20,600 hectares Lamington National Park is known for its natural environment, birdlife, ancient trees, walking tracks and mountain views. Protected areas to the east in Springbrook National Park and south along the Tweed Range in the Border Ranges National Park around Mount Warning in New South Wales conserve similar landscapes; the park is part of the Shield Volcano Group of the World Heritage Site Gondwana Rainforests of Australia inscribed in 1986 and added to the Australian National Heritage List in 2007. The park is part of the Scenic Rim Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance in the conservation of several species of threatened birds. In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Lamington National Park was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "Natural attraction".
Most of the park is situated 900 metres above sea level only 30 kilometres from the Pacific's ocean shores. The plateaus and cliffs in Lamington and Springbrook National Parks are the northern and north western remnants of the huge 23-million-year-old Tweed Volcano, centered around Mount Warning. Elevation in the south of the park is above 1,000 metres in some parts; the land declines to under 700 metres in the north. Some of the mountains in the park include Mount Hobwee, Mount Widgee, Mount Toolona, Mount Cominan, Mount Roberts and Mount Bithongabel, containing much of Australia's few cloud forests; the Nerang River, Albert River and Coomera River all have their source in Lamington National Park. Eastern parts of the park feature high cliffs; the park is within the City of Gold Scenic Rim Region local government areas. Southern Lamington and sections of O'Reilly, Binna Burra and Natural Bridge are protected with Lamington National Park. For at least 6000 years, Aboriginal people visited these mountains.
The Wangerriburras and Nerangballum tribes claimed home to the plateau territory. 900 years ago the indigenous population began to decline. Bushrangers Cave, close to Mount Hobwee and is 60 metres long, was once an aboriginal camp; this site shows Aboriginal occupation going back 10,000 years. Captain Patrick Logan and Allan Cunningham were the first European explorers in the area; the timber cutters soon followed, including the Lahey family who owned one of Queensland's largest timber mills at the time. In 1863 a survey of the Queensland/New South Wales border was conducted; the task was carried out by Francis Edward Roberts and Isaiah Rowland, both surveyors, who had to define the border along the highest points in dense rainforest where there were few clear lines of sight. Robert Collins campaigned for the protection of the area from logging from the 1890s. Collins entered state parliament and saw a bill passed that preserved state forests and national parks but he died before the McPherson Range was protected.
It was another local, Romeo Lahey who recognised the value of preserving the forests. He campaigned to make it one of the first protected areas in Queensland; the O’Reilly family established a guesthouse near the park in 1926, now named O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat, founding members of the National Parks Association of Queensland built Binna Burra Lodge next to the park in the 1930s. Lamington National Park was established in 1915; the park was named after Lord Lamington, Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1902. In 1937, Bernard O'Reilly became a hero when he rescued the survivors from the Airlines of Australia Stinson Model A airliner City of Brisbane, which had crashed in the remote Lamington wilderness. In typical Australian bushman fashion he embarked on his rescue mission taking only onions and bread to eat. Only a small portion of the original wreck remains today, 10 km south of the O'Reilly's guesthouse. Rugged mountain scenery, caves, wildflower heaths, tall open forests, varied wildlife and some of the best bushwalking in Queensland are protected in Lamington National Park.
One of Queensland’s best-loved parks, Lamington is the core of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves Australia World Heritage Area along the adjoining Border Ranges National Park in New South Wales. David Attenborough visited and filmed the park while making the 1979 television series Life on Earth in which beech trees and bowerbirds were featured; the national park protects one of the most diverse areas of vegetation in the country. The park’s lush rainforests include one of the largest upland subtropical rainforest remnants in the world and the most northern Antarctic beech cool temperate rainforests in Australia; the roots of the oldest Antarctic beech trees are over 5,000 years old. Around Mount Widgee numbers of Antarctic beech appear to be increasing; the park protects one of the country's largest remaining forests of hoop pine which are found on the drier slopes. Below 880 metres the white booyong and black booyong are found. In higher elevations the yellow carabeen, red carabeen, pigeonberry ash and soft corkwood trees predominate.
Many of Lamington's plants are found nowhere else on earth, such as O’Reilly's pittosporum, the Lamington peach myrtle, the Mt Merino eyebright and everlasting daisy which are subalpine relics from the last ice age. In 2006 it was realised that an old collection of the eastern underg
Mudgeeraba, Queensland
Mudgeeraba is a suburb in the Gold Coast hinterland in Queensland, Australia. At the 2011 Australian Census, the suburb recorded a population of 13,204. Mudgeeraba's essential character remains one of a nineteenth-century village, contains important evidence of its earlier form and building. Most older houses are situated on large blocks of 0.5 acres to 2 acres, alongside much larger farming properties situated in the area. It is thought that the name of the town was derived from an Indigenous Australian expression meaning, "place of infant's excrement", "place where someone told lies" or "place of sticky soil". Another theory is that the name means "low-lying ground". Mudgeeraba is remnant of the type of township that characterises the rural hinterland of the Gold Coast. Subdivision of land was conventional and buildings were traditionally rural or rural commercial; the Schmidt Farmhouse is typical of farms of that period in the district. Mudgeeraba, like other areas in the region, was an early centre for farming, timber getting and cattle grazing by the mid-1870s.
It rose to some prominence with the coming of the railway from Brisbane to Tweed Heads in 1903. The station of the South Coast railway line was located near the present-day motorway entrance. In 1890, the Queensland State Government indicated that the railway station would be positioned as close to the township, located on Coach Road, as possible. Following the decision was made to position the railway station at some distance to the town, early residents acquired land nearby. Once the railway line was in operation the centre of the town was relocated to its present position; the railway was closed in 1961. The modern day Pacific Motorway follows the route of the former railway; the new Gold Coast railway opened on a different alignment from Brisbane to neighbouring Robina in 1998. Robina station is about 1.8 km further than the old Mudgeeraba railway station. In the early 1930s during the Great Depression, the Upper Mudgeeraba Creek banks were the location of unemployment relief camps set up under the Income Tax Acts, 1930.
The creek water helped sustain vegetable gardens for the residents, housed in timber and corrugated iron huts. One aspect of the relief scheme put in place by the Queensland Government was to establish small banana plantations. In Upper Mudgeeraba, 300 acres divided into 50 blocks were made available to successful applicants to farm. Mudgeeraba is home to the Mudgeeraba Water Treatment Plant and a pump and pipeline runs from the Little Nerang Dam to the Water Treatment Plant operated by SEQWater. An above-ground concrete pipeline runs from the WTP through Mudgeeraba to Molendinar. Mudgeeraba is home to the Mudgeeraba Holiday Village which has received national media attention; the Gold Coast City Council opened a public library at the Old Post Office Heritage Centre in Railway Street in 2004. However it did not attract a lot of patronage and it was decided to merge it into the Robina Library with the Mudgeeraba branch closing on 25 January 2017; the Gold Coast City Council operates a fortnightly mobile library service which visits Railway Street beside Mudgeeraba Pool.
Mudgeeraba has a number of local heritage-listed sites, including: Mudgeeraba Old Post Office Wallaby Hotel Mudgeeraba State School Hardy's House Hardy's Bridge Mudgeeraba Creek is the major creek of a catchment area in the southern region of the Gold Coast. It is part of the larger catchment area of Nerang River. Bonogin and Wyangan Creeks are tributaries of Mudgeeraba Creek. Since 2005, under the Beaches to Bushland restoration program, Gold Coast City, with the help of Austinville Landcare Group, have worked on restoration of areas of upper Mudgeeraba Creek. D'Arcy Doyle, artist Darius Boyd, rugby league player for the Brisbane Broncos Matthew Saunoa, 2006 New Zealand Idol champion Mudgeeraba State School has about 900 students enrolled. Somerset College was opened in January 1983. Other schools in the area include Clover Hill State School, Mudgeeraba Creek State School and Mudgeeraba Special School; the Gold Coast City Council provides the Old Post Office to community groups and activities for both adults and children involving computing, robotics etc.
The Springbrook Mudgeeraba branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association meets at the Bill Deacon Pavillion, Mudgeeraba Showgrounds at 115 Mudgeeraba Road, Worongary. In the 2011 census, Mudgeeraba recorded a population of 13,204 people, 48.7 % male. The median age of the Mudgeeraba population was 36 years, 1 year below the national median of 37. 69% of people living in Mudgeeraba were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were New Zealand 8.5%, England 6.1%, South Africa 1.7%, Scotland 0.7%, Germany 0.7%. 88.7% of people spoke only English at home. A number of sporting teams represent the area, including the Mudgeeraba Redbacks, the local rugby league club who play home games at Firth Park, the Hinterland District Netball Association who run a large competition on Saturday mornings for players 5yrs to 17yrs and Monday nights for 13yrs to opens at Firth Park, Somerset Drive, the Mudgeeraba Lawn Bowls Club situated just behind the Rugby Club, the Mudgeeraba Soccer Club.
Mudgeeraba Spartans Junior AFL Club plays their home games at Somerset College. The starting point for the annual 96 km. University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Mudgeeraba Mudgeeraba History Mudgeeraba Branch Library Mudgeeraba Heritage Walk Gold Coast Hinterlan
Australian National Heritage List
The Australian National Heritage List is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia. The list includes natural and indigenous places. Once on the National Heritage List the provisions of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 apply; the Australian National Heritage List, together with the Commonwealth Heritage List, replaced the former Register of the National Estate. Places on the Australian National Heritage List are places of outstanding heritage value for Australia and the Commonwealth Heritage List for heritage places that are owned or controlled by the Commonwealth of Australia. To be included on the list, a nominated place is assessed by the Australian Heritage Council against nine criteria: importance in the course, or pattern, of Australia's natural or cultural history possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Australia's natural or cultural history potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Australia's natural or cultural history importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of Australia's natural or cultural places or environments importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics valued by a community or cultural group importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Australia's natural or cultural history importance as part of Indigenous tradition.
In addition, the place must pass a "significance threshold". This is determined by comparison to other similar places. Once the Heritage Council has made an assessment, it forwards a recommendation to the Minister for the Environment, who shall make a determination; as of 28 September 2017, the Australian National Heritage List comprised 119 heritage places as follows: The Australian National Heritage List comprises the following sites: A One of 15 World Heritage places included in the National Heritage List on 21 May 2007. B Yard 4 North was added on 4 August 2009. Commonwealth Heritage List Media related to Australian National Heritage List at Wikimedia Commons Australian National Heritage List
Eucalyptus grandis
Eucalyptus grandis known as the flooded gum or rose gum, is a tall tree with smooth bark, rough at the base fibrous or flaky, grey to grey-brown. At maturity, it reaches 50 metres tall, it is found on coastal areas and sub-coastal ranges from Newcastle in New South Wales northwards to west of Daintree in Queensland on flat land and lower slopes, where it is the dominant tree of wet forests and on the margins of rain forests. Eucalyptus grandis was first described by W. Hill in 1862; the species name grandis "large" relates to this tree's large size. It is known as the flooded gum, is called rose gum in Queensland, it has been classified in the subgenus Symphyomyrtus, Section Latoangulatae, Series Transversae by Brooker and Kleinig. Its two closest relatives are the mountain blue gum. Eucalyptus grandis grows as a straight and tall forest tree, reaching around 50 m tall, with a dbh of 1.2 to 2 m. The biggest trees can reach 75 m high and 3 m dbh, the tallest recorded known as "The Grandis" near Bulahdelah, with a height of 86 m and a girth of 8.5 m.
The bole is straight for 2/3rds to 3/4 the height of the tree. The bark is smooth and powdery, pale- or blue-grey to white in colour, with a skirt of rough brownish bark for the bottom 1–4 m of the tree trunk; the glossy dark green leaves are stalked, lanceolate to broad lanceolate, paler on their undersides, 10 to 16 cm long and 2–3 cm wide. They are arranged alternately along the branches; the secondary veins arise off the leaf midvein at a wide angle, the leaf is dotted with around 800 oil glands per square centimetre. The white flowers appear from mid autumn to late winter from April to August, are arranged in groups of seven to eleven flowerheads; the flowers are followed by small pear- or cone-shaped gumnuts which measure 5–8 mm in length and 4–7 mm across. The Sydney blue gum is similar in appearance and overlaps E. grandis in the southern part of its range, but has narrower leaves and more bell-shaped gumnuts with protruding valves. It has a lignotuber; the mountain blue gum can be distinguished by its smooth bark and wider adult leaves.
E. grandis is found on coastal areas and sub-coastal ranges from the vicinity of Newcastle in New South Wales northwards to Bundaberg in central Queensland with disjunct populations further north near Mackay and Daintree in northern Queensland on flat land and lower slopes. The soils are deep fertile alluvial loams; the annual rainfall varies from 1100 to 3500 mm. It is the dominant tree of wet forest and rain forest margins, either growing in pure stands or mixed with trees such as blackbutt, red mahogany, Sydney blue gum, pink bloodwood, brush box and forest oak. E. grandis has been established in plantations in northern Uruguay and is sold under the trade name "Red Grandis". Flooded gum is an attractive, straight-trunked tree much in demand outside Australia for timber and pulp, extensive plantations exist in South Africa and Brazil. Within Australia, plantations exist in northern New South Wales, where seedlings have put on 7 metres of growth in their first year; the timber has a pinkish tinge and is used in joinery, boat building and plywood.
It has a straight grain, moderate durability and strength, is resistant to Lyctus borers. Hybrids with river red gum are used to combat salinity. Eucalyptus grandis is a food plant of paropsine beetles of the family Chrysomelidae and Christmas beetles, the latter defoliating trees of Australia's east coast. Clones of Eucalyptus grandis have been selected and bred on the basis of unpalatability to the brown Christmas beetle to minimise damage to plantations. Other insect pests include the steelblue sawfly and the leafblister sawfly, both of which prefer young trees. Eucalyptus grandis has been grown in plantations in wetter areas of Sri Lanka in the Badulla and Nuwara Eliya Districts. Plantations have been in Uruguay where lumber is being exported to the United States under the trade name "Red Grandis". Many parameters of climate and soil are similar to eastern Australia, it has grown well on plains as well as hills used for growing tea. Grown for its wood and ease of cultivation, it is the fastest growing eucalypt in the country.
The tree is too large for most gardens, but makes an attractive tree for large parks and farms, can be used in riverbank stabilisation. The saligna gum is grown extensively in plantations in South Africa in areas that offered indifferent bee forage. At the onset of flowering each year an extraordinarily large number of colonies move into these plantations where thousands are decoyed into hives by beekeepers; the flowers strong scent and beekeepers assert that bees travel at least 20 miles to some plantations
Nerang River
The Nerang River is a perennial river located in South East Queensland, Australia. Its catchment lies within the Gold Coast local government area and covers an area of 490 square kilometres; the river is 62 kilometres in length. The Nerang River rises in the McPherson Range in the Numinbah Valley on the New South Wales and Queensland border and heads north east where it flows through Nerang and reaching its mouth in the Gold Coast Broadwater at Southport on the Gold Coast and emptying into the Coral Sea; the river descends 255 metres over its 62-kilometre course. Major crossings of the river occur at Nerang where the river is crossed by the Pacific Motorway and at Southport where the river is crossed by the Gold Coast Highway; the Nerang River catchment is the most significant river system on the Gold Coast. Its upper reaches in the McPherson Range and Springbrook Plateau deliver flows through significant rural areas and feed into the Hinze Dam, creating Advancetown Lake, the Gold Coast's main water supply, Little Nerang Dam.
These two reservoirs provide a large percentage of potable water for the Gold Coast and are managed by Gold Coast Water. The Hinze Dam has had a significant flood mitigation effect. In the river's lower catchment, multi-branched canal developments and a number of artificial tidal and freshwater lake systems have influenced and altered large aras of the floodplain; these canal developments provide a range of opportunities for many residents including boating and recreational fishing. The canals and lakes provide habitat to a range of aquatic and marine flora and fauna; the canal systems provide for drainage of stormwater and contribute to flood mitigation, but can periodically be subject to contamination via stormwater drainage. A number of islands are located in the canal region of the river's lower catchment, including the Girung, Chevron, Cronin and McIntosh Islands. Two man-made lakes are located in the lower catchment, including the Lake Rosser and Lake Capabella; the river's mouth was once located much further south.
In the early 1800s it entered the ocean at Broadbeach and by 1930 its mouth was located where Sea World now is. The main driving force for this movement is the northward drift of sand along the coast. A number of river crossings of the Nerang River are named, including the following listed below, together with their location relative to tributaries of the river: The river was named the River Barrow by government surveyor Robert Dixon when he charted the Gold Coast in 1840, after Sir John Barrow, Secretary of the Admiralty; the surveyor general Thomas Mitchell changed many places to Aboriginal names, this included giving the Nerang River its present name. Neerang or neerung are Yugambeh words meaning "little shark" or "shovel-nosed shark", but the local aboriginal people called the river Been-goor-abee. The City of Gold Coast Council is considering investing into the quality and capacity of the Surfers Riverwalk; the route would connect the Gold Coast Highway Bridge crossing of the Nerang River at Main Beach to Pacific Fair Shopping Centre at Broadbeach.
The route includes The western facing beaches of Main Beach The anabranch foreshores of McIntosh Island. Jaraparilla Cove The Marriott Hotel boardwalk Budds Beach Surfers Central Riverwalk from Budds Beach to Lionel Perry Park The Paradise Island anabranch Cannes Avenue Reach of the Nerang River Cascade Gardens foreshores of Little Tallebudgera Creek Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre boardwalk The Star Gold Coast Island foreshores Pacific Fair Shopping Centre Boatramps that are open to the public are located at Waterways Drive at Main Beach, Budds Beach, Evandale, on the Isle of Capri, TE Peters Drive at Broadbeach Waters, Carrara Road, at the Nerang River Parklands. Established in 2000, under the Beaches to Bushland Volunteer restoration program, the group works to restore local endemic species along the Nerang River. A major ongoing project is control of the invasive cats claw creeper, registered as a Weed of National Significance. Cat’s claw creeper was introduced to Australia, it is native to the West Indies.
It was first reported as naturalised in the 1950s. The seeds spread by water. A woody vine, it invades warm native forests killing undergrowth. If cut down it can regrow from persistent underground tubers. List of rivers of Queensland The History of the Gold Coast at reflections.com.au "Nerang River Catchment". Nerang River Catchment Maps. Gold Coast City Council. 25 May 2009. "Nerang River Catchment: Insert". Nerang River Catchment Maps. Gold Coast City Council. 25 May 2009
