Macumba River

---

title: "Macumba River" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rivers-of-south-australia", "lake-eyre-basin", "far-north-(south-australia)"] description: "River in South Australia" topic_path: "geography/australia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macumba_River" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary River in South Australia ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox river"]

Field	Value
name	Macumba
name_native	{{plainlist
* {{native name	und
name_other	Treuer
map	Lake eyre basin map.png
map_caption	Map of the Lake Eyre Basin showing the Macumba River
subdivision_type1	Country
subdivision_name1	Australia
subdivision_type2	State
subdivision_name2	South Australia
length	233 km
source1	Macumba Hill
source1_elevation	113 m
mouth	Warburton River
mouth_elevation	-12 m
river_system	Lake Eyre Basin
basin_size	39000 km2
tributaries_left	Alberga River
extra
::

| name = Macumba | name_native = {{plainlist |

• ard
• und (Arrernte) | name_native_lang = | name_other = Treuer | name_etymology = | image = | image_size = | image_caption = | map = Lake eyre basin map.png | map_size = | map_caption = Map of the Lake Eyre Basin showing the Macumba River | pushpin_map = | pushpin_map_size = | pushpin_map_caption= | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = Australia | subdivision_type2 = State | subdivision_name2 = South Australia | subdivision_type3 = | subdivision_name3 = | subdivision_type4 = | subdivision_name4 = | subdivision_type5 = | subdivision_name5 = | length = 233 km | width_min = | width_avg = | width_max = | depth_min = | depth_avg = | depth_max = | discharge1_location= | discharge1_min = | discharge1_avg = | discharge1_max = | source1 = Macumba Hill | source1_location = | source1_coordinates= | source1_elevation = 113 m | mouth = Warburton River | mouth_location = | mouth_coordinates = | mouth_elevation = -12 m | progression = | river_system = Lake Eyre Basin | basin_size = 39000 km2 | tributaries_left = Alberga River | tributaries_right = | custom_label = | custom_data = | extra = Macumba River (Arabana: Maka-Wimpa; Arrernte: Ura-Ingka), once known as Treuer River, is an ephemeral freshwater stream in the far north of South Australia, that is part of the Lake Eyre Basin.

Course and features

The river rises at the base of Macumba Hill and where the Alberga River joins with Hamilton and Currallulla creeks, it then flows in a south easterly direction entering the Kalamurina Sanctuary and eventually discharges into the Warburton River near the north eastern side of Lake Eyre. The Macumba is situated in an arid region, the Simpson Desert and flows only very rarely. Even in years that Lake Eyre fills, such as 2010, most of the water comes from the east, the Channel Country of Queensland.

The Finke River normally drains into the Simpson Desert to the north west of the Macumba, but in the first decade of the 20th century it is thought that the Finke flowed directly into the Macumba. It is thought that the Finke has flowed to Lake Eyre via the Macumba in 1909, 1938, and 1945.

The Macumba is part of the western rivers catchment of the Lake Eyre Drainange basin along with the Peake Creek and Neales River. The western rivers catchment is composed of sandplains, Acacia scrub, gibber plains and dissected residuals.

Along with its tributaries the river has a catchment area of 39000 km2. The river passes through a number of permanent and semi-permanent waterholes including Ross waterhole, Walkinna waterhole, Tidnabucca waterhole, Ullabarracoola waterhole and Christmas waterhole. Eleven tributaries join the Macumba including the Alberga River, Stevenson Creek, Coomparana Creek, and Yardaparinna Creek.

History

The traditional owners of the area are the Arabana and Arrernte peoples, both of whom belong to the Central Australian Desert language group. The Macumba features in the Emu story, which is told in 80 verses. The Arabana word for the Macumba is Maka-Wimpa which means fire track, the Arrernte word is Ura-Ingka which also means fire track, named so as the river bed would be the path followed by bushfires in the area.

Wangkangurru (also known as Arabana/Wangkangurru, Wangganguru, Wanggangurru, Wongkangurru) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken on Wangkangurru country. It is closely related to Arabana language of South Australia. The Wangkangurru language region was traditionally in the South Australian-Queensland border region taking in Birdsville and extending south towards Innamincka and Lake Eyre, including the local government areas of the Shire of Diamantina as well as the Outback Communities Authority of South Australia.

John McDouall Stuart was the first European to explore the area in 1859 when he conducted an expedition to the west of Lake Eyre. In 1870, the Australian Overland Telegraph, which crosses the river near Oodnadatta, was being built.

In 1984, the Macumba, along with Neales River and the other western tributaries, filled Lake Eyre south and partially filled Lake Eyre north from their discharge following heavy rains in central Australia. The river flooded in both 2011 and 2012 with waters discharging into Lake Eyre each time.

References

References

1. (2012). "Map of Macumba River, SA". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia.
2. Knibbs, G. H.. (1909). "''Official Yearbook of the Commonwealth of Australia 1901-1908''". Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics..
3. (7 March 2006). "State of the Catchment Report – SAAL Region". [[Government of South Australia]].
4. (15 June 2001). "The Lake Eyre Basin and Its Importance".
5. (2005). "Floods of Lake Eyre". Dr Vincent Kotwicki.
6. Robin, Libby. (2004). "Desert Channels: The Impulse to Conserve". [[CSIRO.
7. "Wangkangurru".
8. Van Driesum, Rob. (2002). "Outback Australia". [[Lonely Planet]].
9. (2012). "About Lake Eyre". Gekko Safari.
10. (2012). "Lake Eyre News". Swagabout Tours.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::