Pennefather River

Location and features

Formed by the confluence of a series of waterways including the Fish Creek in the Port Musgrave Aggregation estuarine wetlands, the Pennefather River flows due west, joined by the Turtle Creek from the north and Dingo Creek from the south, before emptying into the Gulf of Carpentaria south of . The river descends 1 m over its 11 km course.

Etymology and history

Yupanguthi (Yuputhimri, Jupangati, Yupangathi, Nggerikudi, Yupungati, Jupangati) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken on Yupanguthi country. The Yupanguthi language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Shire of Cook.

The river mouth was a site of the first recorded landfall in Australia by a Dutch explorer, by Willem Janszoon in 1606. Janszoon named it R. met het Bosch ("River with the Forest").

In 1802 the British explorer Matthew Flinders mistook the river for the Coen River, which had been named by Dutch explorer Jan Carstensz in 1623 (now the Archer River), so that the Bosch / Pennefather River was named Coen River on maps in the 19th century. In 1880, Captain Charles Edward de Fonblanque Pennefather established that there were now two Coen Rivers, and in 1894 Queensland authorities named the river after him, although the British Admiralty Chart for the Gulf of Carpentaria kept the name Coen River until 1967.

Notes

References

References

1. "Map of Pennefather River, QLD". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia.
2. (2015). "Wetland mapping — Pennefather River". Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, [[Queensland Government]].
3. "Yupanguthi".
4. Mutch, T. D.. (1942). "The First Discovery of Australia". [[Project Gutenberg of Australia]].
5. Tent, Jan. "Geographic and Linguistic Reflections on Moent and Dubbelde Ree: Two of Australia's First Recorded Placenames". Geographical Research.
6. {{cite QPN. 47589. Pennefather River
7. "Pennefather River". [[Project Gutenberg of Australia]].