Tully River

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title: "Tully River" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rivers-of-far-north-queensland", "wet-tropics-of-queensland", "bodies-of-water-of-the-coral-sea"] description: "River in Queensland, Australia" topic_path: "general/rivers-of-far-north-queensland" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tully_River" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary River in Queensland, Australia ::

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

Field	Value
name	Tully
name_etymology	In honour of William Alcock Tully
image	Tully river.jpg
image_size	280
image_caption	The Tully River, 2009
pushpin_map	Australia Queensland
pushpin_map_caption	Location of Tully River mouth in Queensland
subdivision_type1	Country
subdivision_name1	Australia
subdivision_type2	State
subdivision_name2	Queensland
subdivision_type3	Region
subdivision_name3	Far North Queensland, Wet Tropics of Queensland
subdivision_type5	City
subdivision_name5
length	133 km
discharge1_location	Near mouth
discharge1_avg	72.2 m3/s
source1	Cardwell Range, Great Dividing Range
source1_location	Kirrama State Forest
source1_coordinates
source1_elevation	800 m
mouth	Coral Sea
mouth_location	Tully Heads
mouth_coordinates
mouth_elevation	0 m
basin_size	1,650 km2 to 1,508.5 km2
tributaries_left	Nitchaga Creek, Jarra Creek
tributaries_right	Cochable Creek, Davidson Creek, Echo Creek
custom_label	National park
custom_data	Tully Gorge National Park
extra
::

| name = Tully | native_name = | native_name_lang = | name_other = | name_etymology = In honour of William Alcock Tully | image = Tully river.jpg | image_size = 280 | image_caption = The Tully River, 2009 | map = | map_size = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Australia Queensland | pushpin_map_size = | pushpin_map_caption= Location of Tully River mouth in Queensland | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = Australia | subdivision_type2 = State | subdivision_name2 = Queensland | subdivision_type3 = Region | subdivision_name3 = Far North Queensland, Wet Tropics of Queensland | subdivision_type4 = | subdivision_name4 = | subdivision_type5 = City | subdivision_name5 = | length = 133 km | width_min = | width_avg = | width_max = | depth_min = | depth_avg = | depth_max = | discharge1_location= Near mouth | discharge1_min = | discharge1_avg = 72.2 m3/s | discharge1_max = | source1 = Cardwell Range, Great Dividing Range | source1_location = Kirrama State Forest | source1_coordinates= | source1_elevation = 800 m | mouth = Coral Sea | mouth_location = Tully Heads | mouth_coordinates = | mouth_elevation = 0 m | progression = | river_system = | basin_size = 1,650 km2 to 1,508.5 km2 | tributaries_left = Nitchaga Creek, Jarra Creek | tributaries_right = Cochable Creek, Davidson Creek, Echo Creek | custom_label = National park | custom_data = Tully Gorge National Park | extra =

The Tully River is a river in Far North Queensland, Australia.

Course and features

The Tully River rises in the Cardwell Range, part of the Great Dividing Range on the northern boundary of the Kirrama State Forest. The river flows generally north through Lake Koombooloomba and flows over the Tully Falls near and descends through the Tully Gorge within the Tully Gorge National Park, part of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Wet Tropics site. Below the dam wall, the river is joined by five minor tributaries before emptying into the Coral Sea at Tully Heads. The river descends 800 m over its 133 km course.

People and land use

The Tully, together with the Herbert and the Burdekin rivers, were part of the proposed Bradfield Scheme to divert the upper reaches of the three rivers west of the Great Dividing Range and into the Thomson River designed to irrigate and drought-proof much of the western Queensland interior, as well as large areas of South Australia. The Scheme was proposed in 1938 and abandoned in 1947.

At the Koombooloomba Dam, the Koombooloomba Hydro Power Station and a little further downriver, the Kareeya Hydro Power Station, generate hydroelectric power from the flow of the river.

In 2007 there was a white water rafting accident which took the life of 22-year-old Townsville woman at Tully Gorge. Another man drowned at Tully Gorge while rafting on 14 February 2009. A 2012 inquest into five deaths on the river due to rafting incidents that occurred between July 2007 and February 2009 recommended that each rapid be risk assessed and that a code of practice be adopted for the industry.

Etymology

The river was named in honour of William Alcock Tully, Surveyor General of Queensland from 1875 to 1889.

References

References

1. "East Coastal Watersheds".
2. "Map of Tully River, QLD". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia.
3. "Landscape: carbon, nutrients, water and productivity - Tully River". Australian Natural Resources Atlas.
4. (1 October 1938). "Augmenting Queensland's Inland Water Resources by J.J.C. Bradfield.". National Library of Australia.
5. (14 November 1946). ""Suggested Answer" to question-without-notice of the Prime Minister, explaining the impracticality of the Bradfield Scheme". [[National Archives of Australia]].
6. Spearritt, Peter. (1979). "Bradfield, John Job Crew (1867 - 1943)".
7. "Koombooloomba Hydro". [[Stanwell Corporation]].
8. Shannon Molloy. (31 July 2008). "Drowning victim's raft went down wrong route". [[Fairfax Digital]].
9. (14 February 2009). "Tourist killed on Tully River white water rafting trip". [[Queensland Newspapers]].
10. Healy, Samantha. (30 June 2012). "Inquest into deaths of five tourists while white water rafting in north Queensland recommends rapids be risk assessed". [[The Courier-Mail.
11. {{cite QPN. 35305. Tully River

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