Donnelly River (Western Australia)


The Donnelly River is a river in the South West of Western Australia. Its main tributaries are Barlee Brook and Carey Brook. The river runs primarily through state forest reserves, although 25 private landholdings are situated along the length of the river. Clearing of the catchment area is estimated at 20% with the land mostly being used for viticulture, horticulture, dairy, grazing and tourism.

History

The first European to sight the river was Lieutenant William Preston in 1831.
The river was named by James Stirling, the Governor of Western Australia, in the 1830s after Admiral Sir Ross Donnelly, a friend of Stirling's father-in-law James Mangles MP. Bannister had stood in for Mangles at Stirling's wedding to Ellen Mangles.

Fauna

The Donnelly is one of the few catchments left in the state that contains all of the region's endemic freshwater fishes. Native freshwater species include salamanderfish, freshwater cobbler, western minnow, western mud minnow, black-stripe minnow, western pygmy perch, Balston's pygmy perch, nightfish, and pouched lamprey.
Many estuarine fish are found close to the mouth of the river, these include black bream, flathead mullet, yellow-eye mullet, Australian herring, and freshwater cobbler.
Several species have been introduced into the river, including eastern mosquitofish, European perch, and rainbow trout. The latter is the most common, being specifically introduced for angling purposes, with over 500,000 being stocked into the system between 1999 and 2004.

Flora

The river originates in an area of open jarrah-marri forest east of Yornup, between Bridgetown and Manjimup. The area contains an understorey composed of such species as bull banksia, sheoak, snottygobble, prickly moses, zamia palm, balga, and graceful grass tree.
The river then flows through a large area of tall karri forests. The understorey includes karri sheoak, oakleaf thomasia and Western Australian peppermint.
Toward the coast the floral composition changes as the soils change to swampy flats and consolidated dunes. Species such as stout paperbark, swamp paperbark, yate, Warren River cedar, wonnich, and various banksias start to dominate.