Thomson River (Queensland)

Course and features

Draining the Alma Range, part of the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range, the northernmost headwaters of the river begin as Torrens Creek, inland from Charters Towers. The watercourse becomes the Thomson just north of the town of Muttaburra, where the channels of Landsborough River, Towerhill Creek and Cornish Creek meet. Aramac Creek joins the river from the east, at Camoola south of Muttaburra and Maneroo Creek flows from the west, joining the Thomson south of Longreach. Just to the west of Longreach the river is crossed by the Landsborough Highway.

The river continues in a south westerly direction, passing the towns of Longreach, Stonehenge and Jundah, before reaching its confluence with the Barcoo River, 40 km north of Windorah, to form Cooper Creek. This is the only place in the world where the confluence of two rivers form a creek. From source to mouth, the Thomson is joined by 41 named tributaries over its 350 km (210 miles) course.

As with all of the rivers in the Lake Eyre Basin, the waters of the Thomson never reach the sea, and instead either evaporate, or, in exceptional flood, empty into Lake Eyre. Floods are relatively common within the catchment because of the summer monsoon rains. Due to the flat nature of the country traversed, the river can then become many kilometres wide. For much of the time, however, the river does not flow, and becomes a line of billabongs, of which fifteen are named.

The area through which the river flows is semi-arid blacksoil plains. The main industries of the area are sheep and beef cattle.