Molonglo River at Acton in 1920

Black swans on Molonglo River. Acton ( postcode: 2601 is a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The Black Swan ( Cygnus atratus) is a large waterbird which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia.

The Molonglo River rises on the western side of the Great Dividing Range of eastern Australia in the state of New South Wales. The Great Dividing Range, also known as the Eastern Highlands, is Australia 's most substantial Mountain range. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Its source is on the other side of the mountain range from where the Shoalhaven River rises, in Tallaganda state forest at ~1200 metres altitude. The Shoalhaven River is a river on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The Molonglo River flows from south to north before turning northwest, through the outskirts of the New South Wales town of Queanbeyan, where it picks up its major tributary the Queanbeyan River, and then continues through the nation's federal capital city of Canberra, where it has been dammed to form Lake Burley Griffin. Queanbeyan is a city and local government area ( Queanbeyan City Council) in south eastern New South Wales, Australia. The Queanbeyan River joins the Molonglo River at Oaks Estate just within the Australian Capital Territory. Canberra ( is the capital city of Australia With a population of over 340000 it is Australia's largest inland City. Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, Australia's federal Capital city. It then flows on to empty into the Murrumbidgee River to the northwest of Canberra. The Murrumbidgee River is a major river in the state of New South Wales, Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT Over its course the Molonglo River alternates between long broad floodplains and narrow rocky gorges several times. In the Limestone Plains upon which both Canberra and Lake Burley-Griffin have been constructed the Molonglo River is in its floodplain form. The Limestone Plains were broad frost-hollow floodplains through which the Molonglo River flowed

The river's name was recorded as the "Yeal-am-bid-gie" in 1820 by the explorer Charles Throsby. Charles Throsby (1771 - 1828 was an Australian explorer who opened up much new land beyond the Blue Mountains. This was probably the collective local Ngunnawal language name for the river. Ngunnawal or Ngunawal is an Australian Aboriginal language, the traditional language of the Ngunawal people. (The suffix "bidgee" was common in Aboriginal names for rivers in the Canberra area and presumably means "water" or "river". ) The Moolinggolah people of the district around Captains Flat probably gave the Molonglo its name. Captains Where the river flowed through what is now Canberra, it was probably known after the Ngambri people, transcribed as Kembury, Canberry, and other transcription variations. Ngambri or Kamberri is the name of the ancestral group and their descendants after whom the capital of Australia, Canberra, is named

In the early years of European settlement both the Molonglo and the Queanbeyan were known as the "Fish River" for the abundance of native fish in them. The Molonglo was renowned as a beautiful river with excellent fishing for native Murray Cod, Golden Perch and Silver Perch. This article is about the Australian freshwater fish For other uses see Cod (disambiguation and Murray (disambiguation The Murray cod The golden perch, Macquaria ambigua, is an Australian native freshwater Fish, primarily of the Murray - Darling river system Silver perch ( Bidyanus bidyanus) are a medium sized freshwater fish endemic to the Murray-Darling river system in south-eastern Australia Sadly, this abundance of native fish did not last. In the 1930s and 1940s, mine tailings at Captains Flat twice collapsed into the upper reaches of the river, eradicating all native fish and most other aquatic life downstream from the site. Tailings (also known as slimes, gangue, tailings pile, tails, leach residue, or slickens) are the materials left over Captains Despite government funded rehabilitation programs in 1976, some toxic leachates still enter the river from the Captain's Flat mine site. Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Consequently, when Lake Burley Griffin was built upon the Molonglo and filled in 1964, the waters were devoid of native fish. Year 1964 ( MCMLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the 1964 Gregorian calendar. Restockings commencing in the 1970s and 1980s have re-established Murray Cod and Golden Perch in the lake and a short stretch of river upstream. This article is about the Australian freshwater fish For other uses see Cod (disambiguation and Murray (disambiguation The Murray cod The golden perch, Macquaria ambigua, is an Australian native freshwater Fish, primarily of the Murray - Darling river system A large stretch of the Molonglo still holds nothing but introduced fish species and is still waiting for the native fish species to be re-established by stockings.

Selected References

Lintermans, M. (2000) The Status of Fish in the Australian Capital Territory : A Review of Current Knowledge and Management Requirements. Technical Report No. 15. Environment ACT, Canberra.