Earlier this year I gave a little talk about, last December, following Arthur Mattingley’s footsteps through the flooded Barmah-Millewa forests. What that excursion brought home is that the landscape is extremely flat.
A slight rise in water level here or there causes overflow flooding, perhaps somewhere else, or the reversing of the usual flow. Thus backing up of the Murray at the Barmah Choke (narrowing of river where it enters the forest) causes the Edward River to
flow ‘backwards’ toward Deniliquin (what is happening now). The present flows must be very complicated indeed, with the swollen Campaspe and Goulburn impeding further the flow through the Choke. This might account for difficulty in predicting ‘peaks’.
I suppose the main colonial birds to benefit will be the 2 ibis species, and cormorants. Up until the present flooding, recent successful breeding was claimed to be a result of use of environmental water. We shall see
what has happened when the present flood passes. In due course I’d expect to see many more ibis and cormorants around Canberra. In the below, pink arrows indicate course of the Murray.
