Mount Barney Creek, Burnett Creek, Tamrookum Creek, Knapps Creek (Queensland), Sandy Creek (Queensland), Allan Creek, Teviot Brook, Flagstone Creek (Queensland)
• right
Running Creek, Oaky Creek (Queensland), Christmas Creek (Queensland), Albert River
Woodhill, 2016Logan Bridge below Tamrookum, 1903Bridge construction on the Logan River, 1930
The river rises below Mount Ernest on the southern slopes of the Scenic Rim, part of the Great Dividing Range and forms in the Mount Barney National Park, near the Queensland – New South Wales border, below Mount Lindesay. The river flows generally north by northeast, joined by eleven minor tributaries, before heading east and eventually emptying into Moreton Bay. Its principal tributaries are the Albert River which joins it just east of Beenleigh; Teviot Brook which begins at Mount Superbus and joins the Logan River at Cedar Pocket; and Burnett Creek which is subverted by the Maroon Dam west of Rathdowney. The river descends 380 metres (1,250 ft) over its 184-kilometre (114 mi) course.[1]
The river is crossed by the Mount Lindesay Highway near Rathdowney and at North Maclean via Maclean's Bridge. The river is also crossed by the Pacific Motorway and the Old Pacific Highway south of Loganholme.[1] The Beenleigh railway line crosses the Logan between Loganlea and Bethania. A second rail crossing is planned to accommodate a doubling of rail tracks between the Kuraby and Beenleigh in time for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.[6] Tidal waters reach to just downstream of the Maclean's Bridge.[3]
Water harvesting
Maroon Dam subverts Burnnett Creek, and supplies water to the Beaudesert Shire. Maroon is managed by SunWater and covers approximately 106 square kilometres (41 sq mi). The Queensland Government has considered several projects to supply water to its Southern Regional Pipeline. The Bromelton off-stream storage facility is under construction on the Logan River, outside Beaudesert, as is the Cedar Grove Weir, near Jimboomba. In 2006 the Queensland Government decided against the construction of a Logan River dam at Tilley's Bridge in Rathdowney due to mounting public pressure and high road diversion costs. Instead, the Wyaralong Dam was proposed on Teviot Brook near Boonah which will inundate fifteen properties instead of the one hundred properties for the Tilley's Bridge site. The Tilley's Bridge dam, if it had been approved, would have inundated the area of land between Tilley's Bridge, just to the south of Rathdowney, and Bigriggan Camping Reserve (28°11′55″S152°46′48″E / 28.1986°S 152.7799°E / -28.1986; 152.7799 (Bigriggan)), some 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west, covering a significant section of the Boonah-Rathdowney Road.
Mununjali (also known as Mananjahli, Manaldjahli and Manandjali) is a dialect of the Yugambeh language. The Mununjali language area includes landscape within the local government boundaries of the Scenic Rim and Beaudesert Shire Councils.[8]
In August 1826 Captain Patrick Logan was the first European to discover the river. Logan initially named the river the Darling River, but to avoid confusion, Governor Ralph Darling ordered the name be changed to honour its discoverer.[9] A run at Bromelton was the first property along the river to be settled in 1842 by Hugh Henry Robertson.[10] By 1850 the property had transferred hands to Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior. Rosa Campbell Praed, one of Queensland's first novelists spent time at the property and wrote about station life in detail in a 1902 book titled My Australian Girlhood.[10]
Boat traffic was thriving along the river by the 1860s mostly because it was the best transport route in the area. Steam ships, cutters and hand-loaded punts were the most common vessels.[11]
For navigation purposes the river was surveyed in 1871 from its mouth upstream to McLean.[11] Wharfs were initially built at McLean, Beenleigh, Waterford and Logan Village with more built due to public demand.[11] Unofficial ferry crossings were conducted as early as 1862.[11] Long-term services were established at Alberton, Loganholme and Waterford. The rail bridge at Loganlea was operating in 1885 only to be demolished two years later during floods. A new bridge opened in 1888 and lasted until 1972 when another bridge was built.[11]
In 1905, a crocodile was found dead on the banks of the river.[12] The find was preceded by reports of sightings for several years which were met with scepticism because southern Queensland is well south of their natural distribution.[12]
A toll bridge on the river north of Beenleigh was opened and began collecting tolls in 1931,[13] as weekend traffic between Brisbane and the Gold Coast increased.[14]
The worst flooding in the lower reaches of the river in the 20th century occurred during the 1974 Brisbane flood.[15]
Water quality and conservation
Running Creek near Andrew Drynan Park at Running Creek, 2016
The quality of the water in the Logan River is very turbid.[4] The annual Healthy Waterways Report Card for the waterways and catchments of South East Queensland in 2007 rated the condition of the Logan River as very poor.[16] Much of the environmental degradation has been caused by land clearing, the Bromelton Industrial Estate,[17] nutrient run-off, and pumping wastewater directly from several wastewater treatment plants in and around the Logan River.[18] In 2009, the Healthy Waterways Ecosystem Health Monitoring Program rated the River's freshwater area at a "D"; its Estuarine area was given an "F".[19]
Historically, cholera has been found in the Logan River from around 1977.[20][21][22][23]
Community projects in the Logan catchment area aim to improve the quality of the ecosystem. Competitions such as Carp-busters are aimed at reducing the number of carp and hence allowing native species of fish a better chance of survival.
^ abDennison, William C.; Abal, Eva G. (1999). Moreton Bay Study: A Scientific Basis for the Healthy Waterways Campaign. Brisbane: South East Queensland Regional Water Quality Management Strategy Team. pp. 186–187. ISBN0-9586368-1-8.
^Queensland Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)-Legislative Assembly, 20 March 1980 at pp 2823-2824. Found at "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived(PDF) from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link). Downloaded 23 January 2017.
^David G. Myatt & G.H.G. Davis, Isolation of medically significant Vibrio species from riverine sources in South East Queensland. Microbio (60), 111-123.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Logan River.
_and_Alberton_(right),_2014.JPG)
