Capel River

The Capel River is a river in the South West region of Western Australia that rises in the Darling Range east of Mullalyup, and flows into the Indian Ocean at Peppermint Grove Beach.

Capel River
Bridge over the Capel River at Capel
Location
Country	Australia
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Junction of Capel River North and Capel River South
• elevation	76 metres (249 ft)[1]
Mouth
• location	Geographe Bay
• elevation	sea level
Length	32 kilometres (20 mi)[2]
Basin size	653 square kilometres (252 sq mi)[3]

The Capel River is the largest in the Geographe catchment. It rises at the edge of the Darling Scarp and flows in a north-westerly direction across the northern part of the Blackwood plateau to the confluence of the Capel River North and Capel River South, near Goodwood.

The original inhabitants of the Capel basin were the Noongar Aboriginals of the Wardandi dialect group. They called the river Coolingup.[4] The river is said to have formed a border between different clans. Various stone artifacts were found along the river. The lower reaches of the Capel were of cultural importance for the local Aboriginals because they buried their dead there. A slaughter of Aboriginals occurred in 1841, by John Bussell and a number of settlers, following the murder of George Layman by the Aboriginal elder Gaywal. The Aboriginals later avoided the place.[5]

The river was given its English name after Capel Carter Brockman (1839–1924),[6] daughter of John Bussell (1803–1875),[7] who was named after a Miss Capel Carter, a cousin of the Bussells in England with whom the Bussell family members corresponded.

The river crosses the Bussell Highway near Capel.

An artificial river mouth was cut through the sand dunes adjacent to the Stirling Wetlands in 1880 to allow it to flow directly into Geographe Bay.[8]

The Capel river has six tributaries: Capel River North, Capel River South, Gynudup Brook, Camp Gully, Layman Gully and Maidenhair Gully.

The inaugural 2009 Ranger Outdoors Capel Descent[9] was held in June 2009 which consisted of a 15-kilometre (9 mi) part down river, part open ocean paddle along the Capel River and Geographe Bay.

References

1. "Bonzle Digital Atlas - Map of Capel River, WA". 2008. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
2. Western Australian Land Information Authority. "History of river names – C". Retrieved 3 September 2011.
3. "Capel River Action Plan". 2007. Archived from the original on 31 August 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2007.
6. 'Brockman, Capel Carter (1839–1924)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed 7 April 2013.
7. Freda Vines Carmody (1966) 'Bussell, John Garrett (1803–1875)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP)
8. "Regional Saltwatch Snapshot pages". 2007. Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2007.
9. "Capel Descent". 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2009.