SunWater,
the government-owned water resources
company, is undertaking a dam
spillway capacity upgrade program
to ensure the highest level of
safety for this and all Queensland
dams at a cost of $250 million
dollars. The spillway will be
upgraded before 2010 and will
create over 400 jobs for the local
area.
The
Mary River is a river system in
South East Queensland, Australia.
The river rises at Booroobin in
the Sunshine Coast hinterland,
west of Caloundra. From its source,
the Mary River flows north through
the towns of Kenilworth, Gympie,
Tiaro and Maryborough before emptying
into the Great Sandy Strait, a
passage of water between the mainland
and Fraser Island, near the town
of River Heads, 17 km south of
Hervey Bay. Major tributaries
of the Mary River include Tinana
Creek, Munna Creek, Obi Obi Creek,
Yabba Creek, Wide Bay Creek and
the Susan River.
The
endangered Mary River Turtle (Elusor
macrurus) lives in the river.
Other marine life native to the
river include the Queensland Lungfish
(Neoceratodus forsteri) and the
endangered Mary River Cod (Maccullochella
peelii mariensis).
Location
11km West of Imbil, Queensland
Coordinates 26.5119° S 152.579°
ECoordinates: 26.5119° S 152.579°
E
Lake type reservoir
Basin countries Australia
Surface area 480ha
Average depth 33.5m
Water volume 46,000 ML
Surface elevation
The
River was traditionally named
Moocooboola by local Aborigines
(the Kabi Kabi people). The river
was subsequently named Wide Bay
River by early European explorers.
The official name was changed
in 1847 (prior to Queensland becoming
a separate colony) by Charles
Augustus FitzRoy, then Governor
of New South Wales, to Mary River
— after his wife Lady Mary
Lennox.
In
light of the region's longest
drought in one hundred years,
the Queensland Government announced
on April 27, 2006 its intention
to dam part of the Mary River
at Traveston Crossing, south of
Gympie. This action is being planned
to create a reservoir "almost
as big as the Wivenhoe Dam"
by 2011. The proposed Traveston
Dam is projected to inundate an
area of fertile farmland, endangered
regional ecosystems and small
towns more than 1.3 times the
area of Sydney Harbour.
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