near
Fernvale, while the spillway is open at the mouth of the Brisbane River on
Moreton Bay Before European settlement, the Brisbane River was spiritually important and a vital food source for the Aboriginal people of the
Turrbal people, primarily through fishing in the tidal sections downstream. Additionally, fishing and
fire-stick farming took place in the upper reaches of the river where there was freshwater, in some seasons. Four European
navigators, namely
James Cook,
Matthew Flinders,
John Bingle and
William Edwardson, all visited Moreton Bay but failed to discover the river. The exploration by Flinders took place during his expedition from
Port Jackson north to
Hervey Bay in 1799. He spent a total of 15 days in the area, touching down at Woody Point and several other spots, but failed to discover the mouth of the river although there were suspicions of its existence. This is consistent with accounts of many other rivers along the east coast of Australia, which could not be found by seaward exploration but were discovered by inland travellers. On 21 March 1823, four ticket-of-leave convicts sailing south from Sydney on a timber getting mission to Illawarra,
Thomas Pamphlett,
John Finnegan,
Richard Parsons and
John Thompson were blown north by a storm. They went 21 days without water, continuing north in the belief they had been blown south, during which time Thompson died. They landed on
Moreton Island on 16 April and made it to the mainland on the south of the Brisbane River. They immediately began trekking north in order to return to Sydney, still believing themselves to be somewhere south of Jervis Bay. Subsequently, they became the first known Europeans to discover the river, stumbling across it somewhere near the entrance. They walked upstream along its banks for nearly a month before making their first crossing at Canoe Reach, the junction of Oxley Creek. It was here they stole a small canoe left by the
Turrbal people of the region. John Oxley was Surveyor General of
New South Wales when, in the same year and under orders from Governor Brisbane, he sailed into Moreton Bay looking for a suitable new site for a convict settlement to be established. An entry in Oxley's diary on 19 November 1823 describes his surprise meeting with one of the shipwrecked men: :"We rounded the Point Skirmish about 5 o'clock and observed a number of natives running along the beach towards the vessel, the foremost much lighter in colour than the rest. We were to the last degree astonished when he came abreast the vessel to hear him hail us in good English." By that time Pamphlett and Finnegan were living with natives near
Bribie Island. Parsons, who had continued to travel north in search of Sydney, was picked up by Oxley on 11 September 1824. On 2 December 1823, Oxley and Stirling, with Finnegan as a somewhat reluctant guide, entered the river and sailed upstream as far as present-day
Goodna. Oxley noted the abundant
fish and tall
pine trees. Early European explorers marvelled at the sheer natural beauty they witnessed while travelling up the lower reaches. Reports by early European explorers such as
Allan Cunningham and Oxley indicate rainforest once fringed the Brisbane River and its major tributaries, especially on the broader floodplains such as
St Lucia and
Seventeen Mile Rocks. The coastal lowlands were extensively vegetated with
Melaleuca woodlands in low lying, poorly drained coastal areas. When first described by Europeans, the lower reaches of the Brisbane River were fringed by a mosaic of open forest, closed forest and rainforest. By 1850, nearly all the prime
alluvial lands in the Brisbane River valley had been taken up by settlers. From 1862 the Brisbane River has been dredged for navigation purposes. Throughout much of the 20th century large quantities of
sand and
gravel were extracted from the estuary of the river. Since the rate of materials being deposited is not as high as that which was removed, the river has acted as a subaqueous
mine. In 1865, water police were stationed on board
Proserpine, a hulk moored at the mouth of the Brisbane River. In 1866, there was a
breakwater built at the junction of the Bremer and Brisbane rivers that was designed to stop shingle from blocking the access to the Bremer's boat channel. The first
pile light using
kerosene was built in 1882. In the middle tidal reaches in more recent times, visibility has been about . As Brisbane grew, the condition of the river worsened until at its worst it was no more than an open sewer and waste dump. The banks were cleared of timber and introduced animals and plants rapidly changed the river's ecology to its detriment. Construction was near complete when the 66,000 tonne vessel became un-moored in the
1974 Brisbane flood. In 1977,
Queen Elizabeth II switched on the Jubilee Fountain positioned in front of the proposed
Queensland Cultural Centre. The jets pushed the floodlit river water up to in the air. The floating fountain sank late on the 31 December 1984. 1987 was proclaimed the "Year of the River" by the
Lord Mayor of Brisbane at the time,
Sallyanne Atkinson. Over the 20th century, enough obstacles, sand and gravel had been removed from the river that its channel depth increased the tidal flow and tidal range upstream.
21st century On 9 August 2020, it was discovered that
Google Maps accidentally changed the Brisbane River name to
Ithaca Creek after a complaint that Ithaca Creek was incorrectly named Brisbane River.
Floods image of the
2011 flood. The top of the photo is oriented approximately to the southwest. The light-coloured rooftops of residences and other structures contrast sharply with green vegetation and brown, sediment laden flood-waters. Most visible low-lying areas are inundated by flood-water, perhaps the most striking being (upper left). (lower left) also has evident regions of flooding, as does a park and golf course located along a bend in the Brisbane River to the south of (centre). Flooding becomes less apparent near the higher elevations of
Mount Coot-tha (right). The Brisbane River floods frequently, although the occurrence and magnitude of flooding has diminished following the construction of the
Wivenhoe Dam on the upper reaches of the river. Past floods have resulted in both deepening and reduction in river depth, creation of new
sand banks and
shoals as well as increased transport of suspended sediment from upstream. Before the invention of modern
dredging techniques the
sediment deposited by flooding created
hazards to ships navigating the river. Even medium-sized vessels no longer travel up the Brisbane River beyond the city reach, and dredging of the upper reaches has ceased, allowing the river to recover substantially from the fine silt dislodged by gravel and sand extraction. Significant floods have occurred several times since the European settlement of Brisbane. There have been 12 Major flood peaks (over 3.5m) recorded at the Brisbane gauge since records began in 1841, including: • 14 January 1841, with a maximum river level of 8.43m at the gauge, the highest flood level recorded to date • 10 January 1844, 7.1m flood peak at Brisbane. • February 1863, 3.8m flood peak • January 1887, 3.8m flood peak • July 1889, 3.8m flood peak • March 1890, 5.3m flood peak •
February 1893, a sequence of flood peaks (8.35 metres and 8.09 metres) over two weeks saw the highest recorded flood level in the Brisbane
central business district. Seven lives were lost in the Eclipse Colliery at
North Ipswich as a direct result of the flooding. Several other people drowned as well. • June 1897, 5.0m flood peak • February 1907, 3.6m flood peak •
27 January 1974, the largest flood to affect Brisbane City in the 20th Century, with a level of 5.45 metres Post construction of Wivenhoe Dam •
11 January 2011 with a level of 4.45 metres • 28 February 2022, 4.0m flood peak Flooding along the Brisbane River has the potential to be devastating, as documented in 1974, 2011 and 2022. For much of the river's length its banks are relatively high, but topped by a broad plain. The river's meandering course means that flood waters from upstream cannot be quickly discharged into Moreton Bay. Thus higher than normal flows cause river levels to rise rapidly and once the top of the banks are breached the floodwaters can spread over wide areas of the city.
Navigation There has been much dredging and widening work done over the years to allow
ships to transport
cargo to and from Brisbane. The river is no longer dredged. The river served as an important carriageway between Brisbane and Ipswich before a
railway linking the towns was built in 1875. ==Crossings==