River
Lachlan River
1,339 km from source to mouth · Australia.
AustraliaFlows into Murrumbidgee River4th longest in Australia
In numbers
Length
1,339km
Average flow
40m³/s
Basin
90,892km²
Drop
628m
from 696 m to 68 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
1,339 km of river and 10 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 696 m
- 164 kmCrookwell Rivertributary
- 236 kmWyangala Reservoir45 km²
- 257 kmBoorowa Rivertributary
- 294 kmLachlan River railway bridge, Cowra
- 297 kmCowra9,996 people
- 352 kmBelubula Rivertributary
- 456 kmForbes8,481 people
- 679 kmKiacatoo77 people
- 756 kmThe Sheet of Water0.8 km²
- 1,101 kmLake Waljeers5.0 km²
- 1,339 kmMurrumbidgee Riverat 68 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Tributary to the Murrumbidgee River in New South Wales, Australia
At the mouth it carries 40 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 62 seconds. It drops from 696 m to 68 m, 0.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 90,892 km², about the size of JO. 680,000 people live in it. Highest water: from July to October. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 109% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- CowraLargest city on its banks · 9,996 people
- Parkes Airport (PKE)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 89 km from the cityCar hire in OrangeDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From February to April and from November to DecemberThe best months to visit
Lachlan River, month by month
Highest water: from July to October
Best months to visit: from February to April and from November to December.
From about 76 m³/s in the lowest month to 300 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Lachlan River: the basin in numbers
113,518 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 680,000people live in the basin
- 6/km²people per km²
- 398maverage altitude of the basin
- 625mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 15.1°Caverage air temperature
- 7%protected areas
- 0.3%covered by lakes
- 5.4km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 16% Forest
- 21% Cropland
- 39% Pasture
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Lachlan River: what you find on the way
- 11WeirsJemalong Weir, Condobolin Weir, Brewster Weir and 8 more
- 1Boat ramps
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Lachlan River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
5mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Wyangala Reservoirkm 16545km²
- The Sheet of Waterkm 5280.8km²
- Lake Waljeerskm 7705.0km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (5)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- The Bald Hill6.8 km away
- Mount Cullarin6.7 km away
- Hockey Hill12 km away
- Bald Hill14 km away
- Breadalbane Hill10 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Lachlan River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Murrumbidgee RiverAustralia1,488 km140 m³/sTributaries (12)
Also: Abercrombie River, Boorowa River, Belubula River, Crookwell River, Barmedman Creek, Berthong Creek, Blakney Creek, Bulla Creek, Cooks Vale Creek, Jerrara Creek, Peelwood Creek, Morongla Creek
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1321316) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit