Lockyer Creek, Queensland
Encyclopedia
Lockyer Creek is a major drainage
system in the Lockyer Valley of South East Queensland
that flows into the Brisbane River
a few kilometres north-north/east of Lowood
, and downstream from the Wivenhoe Dam
. The creek
is named after Edmund Lockyer
and is close to 100 kilometres (62 mi) in length.
, the creek's headwaters are in the Main Range
, a small sub-section of the Great Dividing Range
. Its tributaries drain the slopes east of Toowoomba and areas to the north of Gatton
. The total stream length of the Lockyer Creek network is 6,056 km (2,338 sq mi).
The total catchment area
is 3032 km² (1,170.7 sq mi), and covers nearly one quarter of the total catchment area of the Brisbane River. O'Reillys Weir is located about one kilometre upstream from the creek's confluence with the Brisbane River.
Five kilometres (≈3 miles) upstream from the junction of Lockyer Creek and the Brisbane River, is the Wivenhoe Dam
. Tributaries flowing into Lockyer Creek include Flagstone Creek, Sandy Creek, Alice Creek, Laidley Creek, Tenthill Creek, Murphys Creek and Ma Ma Creek.
Lower areas of the catchment have been cleared for intensive agriculture. Upper parts of the catchment remain mostly forested, partially protected within Lockyer National Park formerly known as White Mountain State Forest. Bushfires, soil
protection, water quality
and flood
management are the main resource
management issues for the waterway. The creek is significantly degraded. The poor conditions have resulted in unstable stream banks and gully erosion from the removal of riparian vegetation.
There are a total of nine major private and public water
storages within this drainage system, including Atkinson Dam
, Bill Gunn Dam
and Lake Clarendon
. The Lockyer Creek valley had been one of the driest catchments in Queensland during the recent droughts in Australia
.
began and on 10–11 January 2011 the creek experienced severe flash flood
ing. During the floods the creek reached 18 m (59 ft) deep, a record that was higher than what was experienced during the 1974 Brisbane flood
.
The Bureau of Meteorology recorded a rise of 8 metres (26.2 ft) in 23 minutes during the flash flood but initially dismissed the reading as a fault. It was estimated that 4,000 tonne
s (4,000 megalitres; 1,057 Million US gallons) of water per second flowed through Lockyer Creek, leading to the use of descriptive phrases such as "wall of water", or even "inland tsunami".
A report by GHD Group
for the Brisbane City Council suggested that flood mitigating dams on Lockyer Creek and Bremer River could be a useful measure for flood proofing Brisbane.
and one of Australia
's first reinforced concrete
arch rail bridge
s. The bridge, built in 1910/1911, features three spans, each supported by two arches, and appeared on a stamp that was part of a series featuring landmark bridges. A model of the bridge has been featured in the Australian Model Railway Magazine of April 2011. The bridge is still used for very heavy Brisbane bound coal and grain traffic. Another single arch bridge on the same line, but over a side gully, with the same name, is closer to Gatton
and was built in 1903. Further downstream in the district of Clarendon, an earlier railway structure (1885) built of timber piles with a deck of iron trusses, is possibly as spectacular. This bridge is no longer used by rail traffic.
Drainage
Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...
system in the Lockyer Valley of South East Queensland
South East Queensland
South East Queensland is a region of the state of Queensland in Australia, which contains approximately two-thirds of the state population...
that flows into the Brisbane River
Brisbane River
The Brisbane River is the longest river in south east Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay. John Oxley was the first European to explore the river who named it after the Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane in 1823...
a few kilometres north-north/east of Lowood
Lowood, Queensland
Lowood is a town in south east Queensland, Australia. The town is located on the Brisbane River, 66 kilometres west of the state capital, Brisbane or 17 km birds line and 31 kilometres north of Ipswich...
, and downstream from the Wivenhoe Dam
Wivenhoe Dam
Wivenhoe Dam is a dam across the Brisbane River a little way upstream from Locker Creek. The dam creates the artificial Lake Wivenhoe. The dam wall is located about by road from the centre of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia....
. The creek
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
is named after Edmund Lockyer
Edmund Lockyer
Edmund Lockyer, – 10 June 1860) was a British soldier and explorer of Australia.Born in Plymouth, Devon, Lockyer was son of Thomas Lockyer, a sailmaker, and his wife Ann, née Grose. Lockyer began his army career as an ensign in the 19th Regiment in June 1803, was promoted lieutenant in early 1805...
and is close to 100 kilometres (62 mi) in length.
Catchment
Draining parts of the western Scenic RimScenic Rim
The Scenic Rim is a group of forested mountain ranges of the Great Dividing Range straddling the border between south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales, Australia.-Description:...
, the creek's headwaters are in the Main Range
Main Range National Park
Main Range is a mountain range and a national park in Queensland , 85 km southwest of Brisbane. It is part of the World Heritage Site Gondwana Rainforests of Australia . It protects the western part of a semicircle of mountains in South East Queensland known as the Scenic Rim...
, a small sub-section of the Great Dividing Range
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...
. Its tributaries drain the slopes east of Toowoomba and areas to the north of Gatton
Gatton, Queensland
Gatton is a town and the administrative centre of the Lockyer Valley Local Government Area situated in the Lockyer Valley of South East Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Gatton had a population of 5,295....
. The total stream length of the Lockyer Creek network is 6,056 km (2,338 sq mi).
The total catchment area
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
is 3032 km² (1,170.7 sq mi), and covers nearly one quarter of the total catchment area of the Brisbane River. O'Reillys Weir is located about one kilometre upstream from the creek's confluence with the Brisbane River.
Five kilometres (≈3 miles) upstream from the junction of Lockyer Creek and the Brisbane River, is the Wivenhoe Dam
Wivenhoe Dam
Wivenhoe Dam is a dam across the Brisbane River a little way upstream from Locker Creek. The dam creates the artificial Lake Wivenhoe. The dam wall is located about by road from the centre of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia....
. Tributaries flowing into Lockyer Creek include Flagstone Creek, Sandy Creek, Alice Creek, Laidley Creek, Tenthill Creek, Murphys Creek and Ma Ma Creek.
Lower areas of the catchment have been cleared for intensive agriculture. Upper parts of the catchment remain mostly forested, partially protected within Lockyer National Park formerly known as White Mountain State Forest. Bushfires, soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
protection, water quality
Water quality
Water quality is the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water. It is a measure of the condition of water relative to the requirements of one or more biotic species and or to any human need or purpose. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which...
and flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
management are the main resource
Natural resource
Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....
management issues for the waterway. The creek is significantly degraded. The poor conditions have resulted in unstable stream banks and gully erosion from the removal of riparian vegetation.
There are a total of nine major private and public water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
storages within this drainage system, including Atkinson Dam
Atkinson Dam
Atkinson Dam was a natural lagoon near Lowood in Queensland, prior to the construction of the dam wall in 1970. It has a surface area of 550 ha and holds some 30,500 ML of water for irrigation purposes. The reservoir is one of a number of small dams built in the Lockyer Valley...
, Bill Gunn Dam
Bill Gunn Dam
Bill Gunn Dam, west of the town of Laidley in South East Queensland, was developed to increase the capacity of the existing Lake Dyer, a natural lake adjacent to Laidley Creek, a tributary of Lockyer Creek...
and Lake Clarendon
Lake Clarendon
Lake Clarendon is a reservoir located 10 km North East of Gatton in South East Queensland, Australia. The reservoir is one of a number of small dams built in the Lockyer Valley to supply water for irrigation....
. The Lockyer Creek valley had been one of the driest catchments in Queensland during the recent droughts in Australia
Drought in Australia
Drought in Australia is defined as rainfall over a three month period being in the lowest decile of what has been recorded for that region in the past. This definition takes into account that drought is a relative term and rainfall deficiencies need to be compared to typical rainfall patterns...
.
2011 flash floods
In late 2010 the 2010–2011 Queensland floods2010–2011 Queensland floods
A series of floods hit Australia, beginning in December 2010, primarily in the state of Queensland including its capital city, Brisbane. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least seventy towns and over 200,000 people were affected. Damage initially was...
began and on 10–11 January 2011 the creek experienced severe flash flood
Flash flood
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of geomorphic low-lying areas—washes, rivers, dry lakes and basins. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a storm, hurricane, or tropical storm or meltwater from ice or snow flowing over ice sheets or snowfields...
ing. During the floods the creek reached 18 m (59 ft) deep, a record that was higher than what was experienced during the 1974 Brisbane flood
1974 Brisbane flood
The 1974 Brisbane flood occurred in January 1974 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, when waterways in the city experienced significant flooding...
.
The Bureau of Meteorology recorded a rise of 8 metres (26.2 ft) in 23 minutes during the flash flood but initially dismissed the reading as a fault. It was estimated that 4,000 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s (4,000 megalitres; 1,057 Million US gallons) of water per second flowed through Lockyer Creek, leading to the use of descriptive phrases such as "wall of water", or even "inland tsunami".
A report by GHD Group
GHD Group
GHD Pty Ltd is an engineering, architecture and environmental consulting firm.Established in 1928, GHD employs more than 6000 people across five continents and serves clients in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation.The company...
for the Brisbane City Council suggested that flood mitigating dams on Lockyer Creek and Bremer River could be a useful measure for flood proofing Brisbane.
Bridges
The Lockyer Creek Bridge at Bageli Park, designed by William Pagan, is one of the largest of its type in QueenslandQueensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
and one of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's first reinforced concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
arch rail bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s. The bridge, built in 1910/1911, features three spans, each supported by two arches, and appeared on a stamp that was part of a series featuring landmark bridges. A model of the bridge has been featured in the Australian Model Railway Magazine of April 2011. The bridge is still used for very heavy Brisbane bound coal and grain traffic. Another single arch bridge on the same line, but over a side gully, with the same name, is closer to Gatton
Gatton, Queensland
Gatton is a town and the administrative centre of the Lockyer Valley Local Government Area situated in the Lockyer Valley of South East Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Gatton had a population of 5,295....
and was built in 1903. Further downstream in the district of Clarendon, an earlier railway structure (1885) built of timber piles with a deck of iron trusses, is possibly as spectacular. This bridge is no longer used by rail traffic.