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Oaky River
Oaky River Dam and gorge
Location
Country	Australia
State	New South Wales
IBRA	New England Tablelands
District	Northern Tablelands
local government area	Armidale Dumaresq
Physical characteristics
Source	Round Mountain, Sonwy Range, Great Dividing Range
• location	below Point Lookout, near Ebor
• elevation	1,400 m (4,600 ft)
Mouth	confluence with the Chandler River
• location	near Jeogla
• elevation	277 m (909 ft)
Length	60 km (37 mi)
Basin features
River system	Macleay River catchment
Tributaries
• right	Ponds Creek
National park	Cathedral Rock NP, New England NP

Oaky River, a perennial stream of the Macleay River catchment, is located in the Northern Tablelands district of New South Wales, Australia.

Course and features

Oaky River rises on the southern slopes of Round Mountain, the highest peak of the Snowy Range, a spur of the Great Dividing Range south southwest of Ebor, and flows generally southwest, joined by one minor tributary before reaching its confluence with the Chandler River, southwest of Jeogla. The river descends 881 metres (2,890 ft) over its 51 kilometres (32 mi) course; rapidly descending into a deep gorge where it meets the Chandler River.

The upper reaches of Oaky River are transversed by the Waterfall Way between Wollomombi and Ebor.

Oaky River and its tributaries are trout streams and platypus may be sighted in the waters.

Reservoir & Hydroelectric Power Station

The river is impounded by Oaky River Dam, located approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Armidale. At capacity, the dam covers around 42 hectares (100 acres) and holds 2,780 megalitres (98×10^ cu ft) of water. A hydroelectric power station is located at the dam and the flow of water is used to generate electricity. The power station has five turbines that generate 12 megawatts (16,000 hp). Zihni Buzo, an Albanian migrant and Harvard-educated civil engineer was the leading engineer on the construction of the dam and hydroelectric scheme. This dam burst in February 2013 and is no longer viable.

See also

• List of rivers of Australia
• Rivers of New South Wales

References

1. ^ "Map of Oaky River, NSW". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
2. "Trout and salmon fishing rules: Northern NSW Trout Waters". Fishing and aquaculture. NSW Primary Industries. Archived from the original on 21 August 2009. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
3. "About us". Wakefield Charolais. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
4. Lindsay, Judy (2019). "Launch of EA Newcastle Division Oral History Collection: How the Collection evolved, and its publication on the UoN SoundCloud" (PDF). Engineering Heritage Australia Magazine. 3 (1): 6–7.
5. Special Collections (30 November 2017). "The Dam that Zihni Built". Hunter Living Histories. University of Newcastle. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
6. "Diga që ndërtoi Zihni Buzo në Australi" [The Dam built by Zihni Buzo in Australia] (in Albanian). Diaspora Shqiptare. 4 January 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 March 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

• "Macleay River catchment" (map). Office of Environment and Heritage. Government of New South Wales.

30°40′S 152°01′E / 30.667°S 152.017°E / -30.667; 152.017

• Rivers of New South Wales
• Northern Tablelands