Parramatta River

Parramatta River
Bird's-eye view of the Parramatta River as it heads to Port Jackson, looking east towards Sydney CBD from Gladesville Bridge
NASA satellite view of Greater Metropolitan Sydney, with the location of the mouth of the Parramatta River, as it flows into Port Jackson, as marked
Etymology	Burramattagal, meaning 'the head of the river' or 'the place where the eels sit down'[1]
Location
Country	Australia
State	New South Wales
LGAs	Parramatta, Ryde, Canada Bay, Hunter's Hill, Inner West
Physical characteristics
Source	Toongabbie Creek
• location	Old Toongabbie
• coordinates	33°47′56″S 150°59′47″E / 33.798813°S 150.996350°E / -33.798813; 150.996350
2nd source	Darling Mills Creek
• location	North Parramatta
Mouth	Port Jackson
• location	Greenwich and Birchgrove
• coordinates	33°50′41″S 151°10′55″E / 33.844654°S 151.181859°E / -33.844654; 151.181859
Length	13.7 km (8.5 mi)
Basin size	252.4 km2 (97.5 sq mi)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Vineyard Creek, Ponds Subiaco Creek, Archer Creek, Smalls Creek, Charity Creek, Tarban Creek, Lane Cove River
• right	Duck River, Haslams Creek, Powells Creek, Iron Cove Creek, Hawthorne Canal

The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary^[2] located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of 5.1 metres (17 ft),^[3] the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. Secondary tributaries include the smaller Lane Cove and Duck rivers.

Formed by the confluence of Toongabbie Creek and Darling Mills Creek at North Parramatta,^[4] the river flows in an easterly direction to a line between Yurulbin in Birchgrove and Manns Point in Greenwich.^[5] Here it flows into Port Jackson, about 21 kilometres (13 mi) from the Tasman Sea. The total catchment area of the river is approximately 252.4 square kilometres (97.5 sq mi) and is tidal to Charles Street Weir in Parramatta, approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Sydney Heads.^[6]

The land adjacent to the Parramatta River was occupied for many thousands of years by Aboriginal peoples of the Wallumettagal nations and the Wangal, Toongagal (or Tugagal), Burramattagal, and Wategora clans of the Darug people. They used the river as an important source of food and a place for trade.^[1][7] The river was formed 15 to 29 million years ago as its waters began to cut a valley into sandstone and shale.^[8]