The South East and Wide Bay-Burnett regions of Queensland, Australia are home to the Mary River, a significant river system.
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About Mary River
The indigenous Australian Kabi people gave the river its traditional name, Moocooboola. On May 10, 1842, early European explorers Andrew Petrie and Henry Stuart Russell gave the river the name Wide Bay River. The official name was changed to Mary River on September 8, 1847, in honor of Charles Augustus FitzRoy’s wife Lady Mary Lennox (15 August 1790–7 December 1847), who was the governor of New South Wales at the time (this was before Queensland became a separate colony).
In the early years of European land settlement, the Mary River was utilized for rafting timber, and the finding of gold at Gympie in 1867 resulted in an influx of miners and pastoralists. In the 1880s, there was small-scale dairying on alluvial plains near the Mary River and several of its tributaries.
In 1955, when the height in Maryborough hit a record 11.28 meters, there was significant flooding on the river. The Mary flooded Gympie in February 1999 after rising to a height of 21.95 meters.
Course
West of Landsborough, in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast, the river has its source at Booroobin. The Mary River rises in Kenilworth and flows past the cities of Gympie, Tiaro, and Maryborough before draining into the Great Sandy Strait, which separates the mainland from Fraser Island. River Heads is located 17 kilometers (11 miles) south of Hervey Bay. Near wetlands of worldwide significance designated by the Ramsar Convention and the UNESCO Fraser Island World Heritage Area, which draws thousands of tourists each year, the Mary River empties into the Great Sandy Strait.
Nineteen tributaries, including the Tinana Creek, Munna Creek, Obi Obi Creek, Yabba Creek, Wide Bay Creek, Six Mile Creek, Deep Creek, and the Susan River, flow into the Mary River from its source to its mouth. Over the course of its 291 kilometers (181 miles), the river drops 209 meters (686 feet). The Conondale, Jimna, and Burnett Ranges encircle the 9,595 square kilometer (3,705 square mi) catchment region of the river.
Highest Peak of Mary River
The Mary river in February 1999 hit a peak height of 21.95 meters