The
Tweed River is a short river in the North Coast region of
New South WalesNew South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
. Its
drainage basinA drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean...
consists mostly of the erosion
calderaA caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption such as the ones at Yellowstone National Park in the US and Glen Coe in Scotland. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters. The word comes from Portuguese caldeira, and this...
of the
Tweed VolcanoTweed Volcano was an early Miocene shield volcano in northeastern New South Wales, Australia. In the course of about three million years, Tweed Volcano was formed over the East Australia hotspot when this part of the continent passed over it around 23 million years ago...
, a huge extinct
volcano3. Conduit
4. Base
5. Sill
6. Dike
7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano
8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano
10. Throat
11. Parasitic cone
12. Lava flow
13. Vent
14. Crater
15...
of which
Mount WarningMount Warning, also known as Wollumbin is a mountain west-south-west of Murwillumbah, near the border with Queensland on the North Coast of New South Wales, Australia...
is the
volcanic plugA volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic landform created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When forming, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of pressure if volatile-charged magma is trapped beneath it, and this can sometimes lead to an...
. The branches of the river join at
MurwillumbahMurwillumbah is a town of approximately 7,500 people in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia in Tweed Shire Council. It lies on the Tweed River, 848 km north-east of Sydney, 13 km south of the Queensland border and 132 km south of Brisbane.- Overview :Murwillumbah sits on the...
and flow about 20 kilometres northeast to
Tweed HeadsTweed Heads is a town located on the Tweed River in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia in Tweed Shire. Tweed Heads is located next to the border with Queensland, adjacent to the "Twin Town" of Coolangatta, a suburb of the Gold Coast...
where they enter the sea.
The total catchment size of the Tweed River is 1080 km2. The watershed is bordered by the
McPherson RangeThe McPherson Range is an extensive mountain range, a spur of the Great Dividing Range, heading in an easterly direction from near Wallangarra to the Pacific Ocean coastline. It forms part of the Scenic Rim on the border between the states of New South Wales and Queensland. Further west of the...
, Burringbar Range, Condong Range and Tweed Range.
The Tweed River area has a fine subtropical climate, high rainfall and fertile volcanic soils.
The
Tweed River is a short river in the North Coast region of
New South WalesNew South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
. Its
drainage basinA drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean...
consists mostly of the erosion
calderaA caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption such as the ones at Yellowstone National Park in the US and Glen Coe in Scotland. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters. The word comes from Portuguese caldeira, and this...
of the
Tweed VolcanoTweed Volcano was an early Miocene shield volcano in northeastern New South Wales, Australia. In the course of about three million years, Tweed Volcano was formed over the East Australia hotspot when this part of the continent passed over it around 23 million years ago...
, a huge extinct
volcano3. Conduit
4. Base
5. Sill
6. Dike
7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano
8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano
10. Throat
11. Parasitic cone
12. Lava flow
13. Vent
14. Crater
15...
of which
Mount WarningMount Warning, also known as Wollumbin is a mountain west-south-west of Murwillumbah, near the border with Queensland on the North Coast of New South Wales, Australia...
is the
volcanic plugA volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic landform created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When forming, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of pressure if volatile-charged magma is trapped beneath it, and this can sometimes lead to an...
. The branches of the river join at
MurwillumbahMurwillumbah is a town of approximately 7,500 people in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia in Tweed Shire Council. It lies on the Tweed River, 848 km north-east of Sydney, 13 km south of the Queensland border and 132 km south of Brisbane.- Overview :Murwillumbah sits on the...
and flow about 20 kilometres northeast to
Tweed HeadsTweed Heads is a town located on the Tweed River in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia in Tweed Shire. Tweed Heads is located next to the border with Queensland, adjacent to the "Twin Town" of Coolangatta, a suburb of the Gold Coast...
where they enter the sea.
The total catchment size of the Tweed River is 1080 km2. The watershed is bordered by the
McPherson RangeThe McPherson Range is an extensive mountain range, a spur of the Great Dividing Range, heading in an easterly direction from near Wallangarra to the Pacific Ocean coastline. It forms part of the Scenic Rim on the border between the states of New South Wales and Queensland. Further west of the...
, Burringbar Range, Condong Range and Tweed Range.
The Tweed River area has a fine subtropical climate, high rainfall and fertile volcanic soils. It was originally covered by rainforest, much of which has been cleared. Some remains in several national parks and reserves. The lowlands along the river are used for farming sugar cane and other crops.
The Tweed was named after the
River TweedThe River Tweed is long and flows primarily through the Borders region of England and Scotland. It rises on Tweedsmuir at Tweed's Well near where the Clyde, draining northwest, and the Annan draining south also rise. "Annan, Tweed and Clyde rise oot the ae hillside" as the Border saying has it....
and forms part of the border between
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
and New South Wales. Even though parts of the river are a few kilometres within the New South Wales side of the border, the expression "North of the Tweed" is used to refer to the people and places of Queensland; likewise, "South of the Tweed" is a term used by Queenslanders regarding the southern states of Australia. The term probably originates from southern Australians' summer vacation trips driving along the
Pacific HighwayThe Pacific Highway is a major transport route in easternAustralia and is part of Australia's Highway 1. It is long and links Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, to Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, along the coast, via Gosford, Newcastle, Taree, Port Macquarie, Kempsey, Coffs Harbour,...
through the scenic New South Wales North Coast. The highway crosses many rivers along its route, with the Tweed being the last one before reaching the holiday destinations of the
Gold CoastThe Gold Coast is a city in the southeast corner of Queensland, Australia. It is the second most populous city in the state and the sixth most populous city in the country. It is also the most populous non-capital city in the country...
, just on the other side of the Queensland border.
The surrounding
Tweed ShireThe Tweed Shire is the local authority for the Tweed Valley in New South Wales. It is on the Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Highway.In May 2005 the State Government sacked Tweed Shire Council and referred allegations of corruption to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.- Economy...
is also a
Local Government AreaThe Local Government Areas of New South Wales, Australia have been subject to periodic bouts of restructuring and rationalisation by the State Government, involving voluntary and involuntary amalgamation of areas...
of New South Wales.
Course
The river begins northwest of the village called Lillian Rock. The upper reaches pass through the small villages of Kunghur, Terragon and
UkiUki is a village situated near Mount Warning in the Tweed Valley of far northern New South Wales, Australia in the Tweed Shire Council. Timber cutters were the first non-Aboriginal settlers in the area and marked the finest cedar for export to the United Kingdom with "UK1", becoming Uki as it is...
. South of Mount Warning Doon Doon Creek which is dammed by the
Clarrie Hall DamClarrie Hall Dam is a dam built across the Doon Doon Creek that creates the artificial Lake Clarrie Hall. The dam is located close to the small town of Uki, New South Wales, Australia....
and Perch Creek enter the Tweed from its southern banks and Byrill Creek joins on the northern side near Terragon. Downstream Korumbyn Creek and then at Byangum the larger
Oxley River enters the river, before it flows through Murwiilumbah. At Tumbulgum the
Rous RiverThe Rous River is a river in the North Coast region of the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is a tributary of the Tweed River, joining the Tweed at Tumbulgum, northeast of Murwillumbah....
joins the Tweed.
Mouth
There is a sand bypassing system operating at the mouth of the Tweed River. A
jettyA jetty is a structure extending into a body of water, which protects a harbor or coastline from the effects of currents and tides. Coastal lagoons fronted by barrier spits typically have entrances that migrate over time...
on the northern end of Letitia Spit that collects sand and then pumps it under the Tweed River to beaches in the neighbouring state of Queensland. Outlets for the Tweed River Entrance Sand Bypassing System include Duranbah Beach, Snapper Rocks East, Snapper Rocks West, Greenmount and
KirraKirra is a beachside suburb of the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. The small rocky headland Kirra Point separates Kirra beach to the north and Coolangatta beach to the south, and is noted as one of the world's premier surf breaks....
. Dredging of the navigation entrance is also undertaken regularly as part of the overall sand bypassing program.
External links