Opinion: Go out and seek a river source

We’ve just returned from another bush trip where we went in search of the source of a river and it struck me that it was something I’ve been doing for a long time.

My first river source that I searched for and reached, was the Murray River. Australia’s longest stream, its beginnings are pretty nondescript, one would have to admit.

It’s source, deep within the peaks of the Great Dividing Range, below the rounded dome of Mt Pilot where the man-made and designated border between NSW and Victoria begins a straight-line pitch to the east coast at Cape Howe, springs from, well, three springs, each lying 40 to 50 metres from each other.

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The spring closest to Cape Howe is marked by a low cairn of rocks first erected by the surveyors, Alexander Black and Alexander Allan in 1870-72 when they had been tasked with the job of establishing the straight-line border between the, then, two colonies.

I was young and fit back in 1974 when we walked into this lonely spot a few kilometres from Cowombat Flat, a near mythical snow plain excluded to most visitors today by bureaucratic decision makers. From that lonely small spring we had walked downstream to where we could begin rafting the river; our plan to travel from source to sea.

The next few rivers sources came rather quickly, as I teamed up with adventurer Peter Treseder and headed north to Cape York back in the mid 1990s.

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The first river we tackled was the mighty Jardine when we walked to its start point and followed its banks until we could start paddling the inflatable canoes we had in our backpacks.

Two other streams quickly followed; both on Cape York. The Eliot, a clear running tributary of the Jardine but today more well-known by travellers as the setting for the incredible Indian Head Falls was the first, followed by the Dulhunty, a river crossed by all Cape York 4WD adventurers.

More recently, and away from the threat perceived or real from any crocs, I went in search of the source of the Murrumbidgee River, high up amongst the snow plains and snow gums of the Snowy Mountains. Leaving our Cruiser parked at the end of the trail us mere mortals are allowed to go in a motorised vehicle, I got on my mountain bike and peddled my way to the crest of some low hills and walked to where the river begins.

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Between those adventures, we had been in search of the Nile in Burundi in Central Africa, which was hardly an epic, and then, just a couple of years back, went and found the source of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca in north-central Minnesota.

Which brings me to the latest stream I’ve followed from its source. This one didn't end up in the sea like most streams do, but petered out into a series of ever drier lakes in desert country in Western Victoria. The Wimmera River may be Victoria’s longest river that doesn’t terminate at the sea, but I was surprised to find that it wasn’t the only one.

Such excursions, seeking sources and even following those streams to their conclusion are great ways to get into remote country away from the maddening crowds and the well-worn path of other four wheelers.

You have a wide choice, really only limited by your imagination and the map of Australia. Go out and seek a source, you’ll revel in the experience!