Macdonald River (Hawkesbury River)
| Macdonald River | ||
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| Data | ||
| location | New South Wales , Australia | |
| River system | Hawkesbury River | |
| Drain over | Hawkesbury River → Tasman Sea | |
| source | at Putty in Yengo National Park 32 ° 43 ′ 47 ″ S , 150 ° 36 ′ 59 ″ E |
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| Source height | 482 m | |
| muzzle |
Hawkesbury River at Wisemans Ferry Coordinates: 33 ° 22 ′ 34 " S , 150 ° 59 ′ 1" E 33 ° 22 ′ 34 " S , 150 ° 59 ′ 1" E |
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| Mouth height | 0.1 m | |
| Height difference | 481.9 m | |
| Bottom slope | 3.2 ‰ | |
| length | 150 km | |
| Left tributaries | Palomorang Creek, Howes Valley Creek, Yengo Creek, Thompson Creek, Mogo Creek, Wellums Creek, Wrights Creek | |
| Right tributaries | Mullen Malong River , Kindarun Creek, Stony Creek, Reedy Creek, Burrowell Creek, Boggy Swamp Creek, Toorwai Creek, Marlo Creek, Melon Creek, Womerah Creek, Gorricks Creek | |
| Small towns | Higher McDonald, Upper McDonald, St. Albans, Central McDonald, Wisemans Ferry | |
The Macdonald River is a river in the east of the Australian state of New South Wales .
course
The river has its source at Putty in Yengo National Park , flows southeast and flows into the Hawkesbury River at Wisemans Ferry .
The upper course runs through a lonely valley in the Yengo National Park. The valley is also narrow on the lower reaches, but has small, fertile fields. This area was very important agriculturally during the colonial settlement because it could be reached from Sydney by water. The historic town of St. Albans is located in the lower part of the Macdonald Valley.
Settlers
Most of the river's course is very rough and outside the narrow floodplain the ground is very barren and sandy. All of the agriculturally usable land was allocated at the beginning of the 19th century. 30 kilometers north of St. Albans, the valley becomes so narrow that there is no longer any space for arable land, and since the families were large, the farmers had no choice but to go down the river meadows to the banks and even up the steep slopes of the valley to edit. The first reliable records of settlers in the Macdonald Valley come from a land survey carried out by Felton Matthew in 1833–1834 . His map identified 86 landowners, some with multiple lots. The survey was carried out from the mouth of the Macdonald River up to the Boree Swamp and is now part of St. Albans Common . The population peaked in the mid-1840s, with more than 1,000 people in about 100 small households.
Aboriginal
The traditional owners of the area were Aborigines from the tribe of Darug and Barkinung .
Settlements in the Macdonald Valley
Early maps show original farms in the Benton , Macdonald and Howick settlements . The village of Macdonald (today: St. Albans) was built on the site of a stockmen (cowboy) camp called Bullock Warf . From there cattle were shipped to the colony (Sydney). The Macdonald River was navigable then. Halfway to the mouth of the Hawkesbury River was the Town of Benton ("Bent Town") and north of the Village of Macdonald, the Town of Howick . Benton and Howick were the old names from 1823 as recorded in the old land registry records from that time. Benton later became today's small town Central McDonald .
guest houses
The Settlers Inn in St. Albans is still in operation today. A number of other inns in the valley were converted into private homes. The oldest inn in the valley was The Industrious Settler , built in 1833 by Arron Waters a few kilometers north of St. Albans. Another inn, The Victoria Inn , was built in 1842 by David Cross about three miles above the confluence of the Macdonald River and Hawkesbury River.
Churches and cemeteries
In the valley there were once seven small churches and four attached schools, many of which are now only ruins. The remains of some small cemeteries can be found throughout the valley. Some of the first settlers - especially on the upper reaches of the river - buried their dead on their own land.
St. Albans Common
Since 1824 an approximately 10.4 km² area north of St. Albans along Mogo Creek has been used as common land. This practice has its roots in the traditional common land of England that the "villagers" should compensate for the small size of their plots. The continued use of St. Albans Common was awarded on March 4, 1853 to five trustees who should act for the good of the "settlers, farmers and other residents of the district". The land is privately owned and reserved for use by the commoners and is still managed by the commoners through their trustees. In addition to grazing areas, the Common has an extensive lagoon that is home to many birds and wild animals. The entire area is now designated as a protected area to ensure that it is preserved for future generations of St. Albans commoners.