Cooper Creek is named as such from the confluence of the Barcoo and Thomson rivers in southern Queensland. It flows 1168 kilometres generally south-west to Lake Eyre in South Australia.
The vast majority of the water that Cooper Creek receives is via the northern monsoonal rainfall from Thomson River and monsoonal and easterly rain systems from the Barcoo River in central Queensland. However, in most years the flow of water is dissipated by the time it reaches the wetlands near Innamincka, slightly more than halfway along the course.
It was named by explorer Charles Sturt in 1845 (as Cooper’s Creek) after the Chief Justice of South Australia, Charles Cooper. Sturt decided the waterway was of insufficient size to be termed ‘river’. While much is sometimes made of “two rivers flowing in a creek” it is merely toponymy applied in the absence of complete geographic information available at that time.
At 1168 kilometres in length the Cooper Creek is Australia’s fifth longest waterway. However, if the watercourse was traced to its hydrological source (beginning of the Torrens River in Qld) its length would be extended to 1908 kilometres, making it Australia’s third longest waterway after the Darling and the Murray.
Reference:
Estimated Time of Arrival Unknown (an authorative website on Australia’s major rivers)
Read about other rivers in Australia.
© Kim Epton 2026
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