Landgate

Logon to > MyLandgate

History of River Names - B


The following information is a summary of the origins for river names in Western Australia. Please select the first letter of the river you wish to see.
Please note: The names of all river names are being added progressively to the database.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M

BALGARUP RIVER – the Balgarup River is a 66 km long tributary of the Blackwood River, rising south east of Kojonup and joining the Blackwood near Wild Horse Swamp. The name is Aboriginal, and was first recorded by surveyor Alfred Hillman in 1840.


BALLA BALLA RIVER – the Balla Balla River is a 30km long river which rises near Whim Creek and flows into the ocean near Depuch Island on the Pilbara coast. The name was first recorded by surveyor John Forrest in 1878, and is an Aboriginal name, probably from ‘Parla’, the Kariyarra language word for mud.


BANNISTER RIVER – the Bannister is a 50 km long tributary of the Hotham River which is in turn a tributary of the Murray River. It begins east of North Bannister, and flows generally southwards to meet the Hotham near Boddington. The river was named by Surveyor General J S Roe in 1832 after Captain Thomas Bannister who discovered it in December 1830.


BARKER RIVER – the Barker River was named by surveyor John Forrest in 1883 during a trigonometrical survey of the Kimberley. The river is named after Lady Mary Anne Barker, the wife of the then current Governor, Sir Frederick Napier Broome. The river rises near Mount Matthew in the King Leopold Ranges and flows for about 89 km generally southwards before joining the Lennard River.


BARNETT RIVER – the Barnett River is located in the Kimberley, rises in the Caroline Ranges and flows generally southwards before joining the Hann River near Harris Creek. It was named by the explorer Frank Hann in 1898 after Alfred H Barnett (1857-1916) who was manager of Balmaningarra Station on the Lennard River at that time.


BARTON RIVER – the Barton River is located in the north Kimberley, and is a 27 km long tributary of the Drysdale River. It was named by surveyor/explorer F S Brockman in 1901, probably after Edmund Barton (1849-1920), the first Prime Minister of Australia, from 1901 to 1903.


BEASLEY RIVER – the Beasley River was named in 1962 in honour of surveyor T Beasley who recorded its existence in 1885. It was previously named the Turner River, and was renamed because this name was duplicated. The river rises in the Hamersley Range north west of Tom Price and trends generally south west for 105 km before joining the Hardey River, a tributary of the Ashburton.


BEASLEY RIVER WEST – this river is a 24 km long branch of the Beasley River, and was named by an Army field check party in 1966.


BEAUFORT RIVER – the Beaufort River is a 80 km long tributary of the Arthur River, rising near Woodanilling and flowing into the Arthur near Duranillin (the Arthur is a tributary of the Blackwood River). It was named by Surveyor General J S Roe in December 1835 after Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, a long serving hydrographer to the British Admiralty who is best remembered as the originator of the table for estimating wind force at sea, the Beaufort Scale. Roe knew Beaufort well, and in his journal he states ‘I called it “Francis Brook” and had the pleasure to name the river to which it was a tributary the “Beaufort”, after my esteemed friend Capt Francis Beaufort, Hydrographer to the Admiralty’.


BEAUFORT RIVER EAST – the name of this river, the east branch of the Beaufort, was first recorded by a surveyor in 1908. The river is about 10km long, rising near Martinup Lake.


BEHM RIVER – the Behm River, which commences in the Northern Territory and flows for about 66km into Lake Argyle, was formerly a tributary of the Ord. The river was discovered by Alexander Forrest in 1879. Forrest’s published journal reads ‘This river I called the “Behn”, after Dr Behn, of Gotha, successor to Petermann, and who cooperated with that gentleman for many years in his researches towards the advancement of Australian scientific geography. The river was shown as the Behn River on maps until 1996 when it was established that it was named after Dr Ernest Behm (1830-1884), a renowned German geographer, and the spelling was then corrected.


BERCKELMAN RIVER – the Berckelman River is located in the north west Kimberley, and is a 28km long tributary of the Sale River. It was named by Trevarton C Sholl during an expedition from Camden Harbour to the King Leopold Ranges after his mother’s maiden name. Mary Ann Berckelman (1822/8 – 1889) married Robert John Sholl at Picton in 1844, and they had eight children of whom Trevarton was the oldest.


BERKELEY RIVER – the Berkeley River is located in the east Kimberley and flows for about 135 km into the Timor Sea near Reveley Island in Joseph Bonaparte Gulf. It was named by the explorer Charles Price Conigrave in 1911 after Berkeley Fairfax Conigrave, his brother.


BINGHAM RIVER – the Bingham River is a 42km long tributary of the Collie, and joins the Collie about 10km ENE of Collie. The name was first recorded by surveyor F T Gregory in 1847, and was most likely named by Marshall Waller Clifton, Chief Commissioner of the Western Australia Company (Australind Settlement) after his mother’s maiden name, Rebecca Bingham.


BLACK ELVIRE RIVER – the Black Elvire River is located in the east Kimberley, and is a 54km long tributary of the Elvire River, which is itself a tributary of the Panton River which flows into the Ord. It is named because of its association with the Elvire River as one of its major tributaries, and possibly from the presence of black soil plains near its head. It was referred to as the ‘Black Elvira’ by diggers as early as 1886.


BLACKWOOD RIVER – the Blackwood is one of the major rivers of the south west, beginning at the junction of two of its major tributaries, the Arthur and the Balgarup, and flowing 300 km generally south westerly before entering the sea from the Hardey Inlet at Augusta. The river was named by Governor James Stirling at its mouth in 1830 after Vice Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood. Stirling was a Midshipman in the Royal Navy when, in 1809, he was transferred to the ‘Warspite’ under Captain Henry Blackwood, and he received his first commission whlist serving under Blackwood.


BLUFF RIVER – the Bluff River is a short 10km long river flowing into the Southern Ocean at Hassell Beach east of Albany. The name was first recorded in 1895 and it is named after the presence of a rocky bluff north of its mouth.


BOONDADUP RIVER – the Boondadup River is a short 10km long river flowing into the Southern Ocean at Doubtful Island Bay in the Fitzgerald River National Park. The name is of Aboriginal origin and was first recorded by a surveyor in 1875.


BOW RIVER – there are 2 Bow Rivers in WA, the shorter one being this 22km long stream flowing into Irwin Inlet between Denmark and Walpole on the south coast. Although part of this river was explored in 1833, the origin of the name is not known, and did not appear on maps until 1911.


BOW RIVER – this is the longer of the two rivers with this name in WA, and it is a 148km long tributary of the Ord River. The river was named by ‘Stumpy’ Michael Durack in 1882 after the Bow River in County Galway, Ireland, the ancestral home of the Duracks.


BOWES RIVER – the Bowes River begins about 16km north east of Northampton, and flows generally south west and west for about 50km before reaching the Indian Ocean near Horrocks townsite. The river was named by the explorer George Grey in 1839, but the origin of the name is not known at present.


BREMER RIVER – the Bremer is a south coastal river which rises near Jerramungup and flows generally south west for about 70km into Wellstead Estuary at Bremer Bay. The name was first recorded in 1919, and derives its name from its proximity to Bremer Bay. The Bay is believed to have been named by Governor James Stirling in 1835 after James John Gordon Bremer, captain of the ‘Tamar’ under whom Surveyor General Roe served between 1824 and 1827 and who was also known to Stirling.


BROCKMAN RIVER – the Brockman is a tributary of the Avon, commencing at the southern end of Chittering Lake and then flowing generally southwards for 37km and joining the Avon near Walyunga National Park. The name of the river was first recorded by surveyor F T Gregory in 1853, and is believed to honour William Locke Brockman(1802-1872) who was a J.P. from 1831, an unofficial member of the Legislative Council from 1839, a member of the Swan Road Committee during the 1840’s and who held large pastoral leases from Gingin to Northam in the 1840’s.


BROCKMAN RIVER – this Brockman River is located in the west Kimberley, and is a 14.5km long tributary of the Calder River. The name was reported to be in local use in 1941, and it honours surveyor Frederick Slade Brockman(1857-1917) who led the North West Kimberley Exploring Expedition in 1901.


BRUNSWICK RIVER – the Brunswick River is a tributary of the Collie River, rising in the Darling Range and flowing generally south south west for about 48km into the Collie near Australind. The river was named by Governor James Stirling in 1830 after Ernest Augustus (Hanover), Duke of Brunswick-Luneburgh and King of Hanover(1771-1851), 5th son of King George III. Stirling transported the Duke across the English Channel on board the ship HMS ‘Brazen’ in 1813.


BUAYANYUP RIVER – the Buayanyup River is a short coastal stream(24km long) in the area west of Busselton, flowing into Geographe Bay about 10km west of Busselton. The name is Aboriginal of unknown meaning, and was first recorded by a surveyor in 1839.


BUCHANAN RIVER – the Buchanan River is a tributary of the Arthur River, and beginning north east of Wagin and flowing for about 50km to its junction with the Arthur. It was named by Surveyor General Roe in 1835 after Walter Buchanan, a London gentleman who, Roe wrote, was ‘extensively connected with the Australian Colonies’.


BULLER RIVER – the Buller River is a short coastal stream of around 10km length just to the north of Geraldton. It was named by the explorer George Grey in 1839, probably after Charles Buller M.P. who was on the Committee of the Western Australian Land Company in 1840. Buller (1807-1848) was a member of Parliament in England, an associate of Edward Gibbon Wakefield and a founder of the New Zealand Company.

Return to Top


Western Australian Land Information Authority