{{short description|River in Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2015}} {{Infobox river | name = Sturt | native_name = {{native name|zku|Warri Parri}}<ref name="master_plan"/> | name_other = Sturt Creek | name_etymology = [[Charles Sturt]]<ref name=sturt/> <!---------------------- IMAGE & MAP --> | image = Sturt River, Adelaide.jpg | image_size = | image_caption = The Sturt River in [[Warriparinga]] | map = | map_size = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Australia South Australia | pushpin_map_size = | pushpin_map_caption= Location of the [[mouth (river)|river mouth]] in [[South Australia]] <!---------------------- LOCATION --> | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = [[Australia]] | subdivision_type2 = State | subdivision_name2 = [[South Australia]] | subdivision_type3 = Region | subdivision_name3 = [[Adelaide]] | subdivision_type4 = | subdivision_name4 = | subdivision_type5 = | subdivision_name5 = <!---------------------- PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS --> | length = {{convert|27|km|mi|abbr=on}} | width_min = | width_avg = | width_max = | depth_min = | depth_avg = | depth_max = | discharge1_location= | discharge1_min = | discharge1_avg = | discharge1_max = <!---------------------- BASIN FEATURES --> | source1 = [[Adelaide Hills]] | source1_location = {{SAcity|Upper Sturt}} | source1_coordinates= | source1_elevation = {{convert|395|m|abbr=on}} | mouth = [[confluence]] with the [[Patawalonga River]] | mouth_location = {{SAcity|Glenelg North}} | mouth_coordinates = {{coord|34.9611|S|138.5156|E|source:wikidata_region:AU-SA_type:river|display=inline,title|format=dms}} | mouth_elevation = {{convert|0|m|abbr=on}} | progression = | river_system = | basin_size = {{convert|120|km2|abbr=on}} | tributaries_left = | tributaries_right = | custom_label = [[Protected area]] | custom_data = [[Sturt Gorge Recreation Park]] | extra = <ref name=bonzle>{{cite web |url=http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=201472&cmd=sp |title=Map of Sturt River, SA |work=Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia |access-date=25 March 2017 }}</ref> }} The '''Sturt River''', also known as the '''Sturt Creek''' and '''''Warri Parri''''' ('''''Warriparri''''') in the [[Kaurna language]], is a river located in the [[Adelaide]] region of the Australian state of [[South Australia]].
==Course and features== The Sturt River rises in [[Upper Sturt, South Australia|Upper Sturt]] in the [[Adelaide Hills]], it flows through [[Coromandel Valley, South Australia|Coromandel Valley]], the [[Sturt Gorge Recreation Park]], [[Marion, South Australia|Marion]] and [[Morphettville, South Australia|Morphettville]], before meeting the [[Patawalonga River]] in [[Glenelg North, South Australia|Glenelg North]]. Along with [[Brown Hill Creek]], it is one of the Patawalonga's most important tributaries. It is considered a significant urban waterway, and was used by the [[Indigenous Australians|indigenous]] [[Kaurna people|Kaurna]] people as a link between the hills and the sea. The Sturt River [[drainage basin|catchment area]] extends over {{convert|120|km2|0}}, from [[Heathfield, South Australia|Heathfield]] in the [[Mount Lofty Ranges]], to Glenelg North.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.marion.sa.gov.au/Web%5CWebBulle.nsf/Lookup/Patawalonga+Catchment+-+Information+regarding|archive-url= https://archive.today/20120805071550/http://www.marion.sa.gov.au/Web%5CWebBulle.nsf/Lookup/Patawalonga+Catchment+-+Information+regarding|url-status= dead|archive-date= 2012-08-05| title= Residents – Patawalonga Catchment – Information Regarding|work=[[City of Marion]]|access-date=2007-12-24}}</ref> The river descends {{convert|395|m}} over its {{convert|27|km|adj=on}} [[watercourse|course]].<ref name=bonzle/>
==History== {{see also|History of Adelaide}} [[File:Horner's Bridge, Coromandel Valley.jpg|thumb|left|Horner's Bridge, the first bridge to be constructed over the river in 1866, (photo taken 2007).]] The first inhabitants of the greater Adelaide area, the Kaurna people, referred to Sturt River as '''''Warri Parri''''', or 'the windy place by the river'.<ref name="master_plan">{{cite web|url=http://www.aila.org.au/sa/Awards%202007%20pdf%20presentations/Planning_SP_SturtRiver.pdf| title= Sturt River Linear Park Master Plan|work=AILA – Australian Institute of Landscape Architects|access-date=2007-12-24}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> They used it as a movement corridor between the Adelaide Hills and the sea. The river is also significant in Kaurna [[Dreaming (story)|Dreaming]], especially the area known as [[Warriparinga]], where the river leaves its gorge to cross the Adelaide Plains.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.postcards-sa.com.au/features/warriparinga.html|title=Postcards – Previous Feature: Warriparinga: City of Marion|access-date=2007-12-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725083307/http://postcards-sa.com.au/features/warriparinga.html|archive-date=25 July 2008|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Other important Kaurna campsites were located south of the Sturt-Patawalonga [[confluence]], and at [[Chambers Gully]] in [[Coromandel Valley, South Australia|Coromandel Valley]].<ref name="marion_council">{{cite web|url=http://www.marion.sa.gov.au/Web/WebBulle.nsf/de91c321fabf0b3ae925726500140201/b0ecfe1b2029fba6e925750f001c3293!OpenDocument |title=Residents – Sturt River – Information Regarding |work=[[City of Marion]] |access-date=2007-12-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927181117/http://www.marion.sa.gov.au/Web/WebBulle.nsf/de91c321fabf0b3ae925726500140201/b0ecfe1b2029fba6e925750f001c3293!OpenDocument |archive-date=27 September 2011 }}</ref>
In April 1831, [[Captain Collet Barker]] a British Military Officer named the river<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barker-collet-1740 | title=Australian Dictionary of Biography | chapter=Barker, Collet (1784–1831) | publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University }}</ref> after fellow officer and the explorer [[Charles Sturt]].<ref name=sturt>{{cite web|url=http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/sturt.htm|title=Captain Charles Sturt|work=Flinders Ranges Research and South Australian History|access-date=2007-12-24}}</ref>
In the early days of British settlement, the new colony appointed Colonel [[William Light]] as [[Surveyor General]]; one of his tasks was to find a suitable location for the colony's capital. Light's first rough sketch, made in 1836, placed the city on the Sturt River, where the suburb of Marion is now located.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://historysouthaustralia.net/apchrono2.htm |title=History South Australia – Adelaide Park Lands public nomination 2004 – Chronology 3 |access-date=2007-12-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070909202241/http://www.historysouthaustralia.net/apchrono2.htm |archive-date=9 September 2007 |df=dmy }}</ref> He later changed his plans to locate the city on the [[River Torrens]] instead.
The river is lined with many buildings of historic and cultural value, especially in the Coromandel Valley and [[Craigburn Farm, South Australia|Craigburn Farm]] areas, which mostly date back to the 1850s. The first bridge to be built over the river is Horner's Bridge, constructed in 1866 in Coromandel Valley.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbase.com/yvonneii/horners_bridge|title=Horner's Bridge over the Sturt River... Photo Gallery by Yvonne|access-date=2007-12-24}}</ref>
In 1879, flood mitigation works were carried out to prevent damage to properties in Glenelg, and to the [[Morphettville Racecourse]]. A trapezoidal concrete channel was constructed to line the river from Sturt Road to the Patawalonga Basin in 1965. A flood control [[dam]] was also constructed in 1965, in the part of the Sturt Gorge Recreation Park which falls in [[Flagstaff Hill, South Australia|Flagstaff Hill]].<ref name="marion_council"/>
==Present day== [[File:Sturt River Dam, Flagstaff Hill.jpg|thumb|left|Flood control dam over the river in Flagstaff Hill, in 2007.]] The river begins in Upper Sturt, continuing through the semi-rural [[list of Adelaide suburbs|suburbs]] of [[Ironbank, South Australia|Ironbank]] and [[Coromandel East, South Australia|Coromandel East]]. Due to steep terrain and dense vegetation, the river is largely inaccessible in this section. It then flows through the residential suburbs of Coromandel Valley and Craigburn Farm, before reaching the Sturt Gorge Recreation Park, which extends along the suburbs of Craigburn Farm, Flagstaff Hill and [[Bellevue Heights, South Australia|Bellevue Heights]]. It leaves the gorge and continues along the Adelaide Plains at [[South Road, Adelaide|South Road]], through urban and residential settings. It forms the northern boundary to the [[City of Onkaparinga]] with the [[City of Mitcham]].
Due to urbanisation and agriculture, the Sturt River has suffered a degradation in [[water quality]], [[biodiversity]] and visual and recreational value.<ref name="master_plan"/> In 2005, the Patawalonga Catchment Water Management Board, part of the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board, commenced the development of the Sturt River Linear Park Master Plan. This plan involves the establishment of a continuous open public space along the river, between Glenelg North and Coromandel Valley, and improving the environmental condition of the river. The plan also includes the possibility of forming connections between the proposed Linear Park and [[Belair National Park]], via Minno Creek.
Waterwatch Adelaide, a [[Government of South Australia|government]] organisation which involves [[primary school]] children in the monitoring of water, considers the water quality of the river to be "generally good", with low [[salinity]], [[turbidity]], [[phosphorus]] and [[nitrogen]] levels, and a medium [[pH]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cwmb.sa.gov.au/kwc/programs/snapshots/2005/SS4%20pdfs/sturt%20ss4%202005.pdf |title=Sturt River Catchment |work=Waterwatch Adelaide |date=2005 |access-date=2007-12-24 }}{{dead link|date=January 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
===Shared path=== A sealed pedestrian and bicycle path runs along the Sturt River between the [[Southern Expressway (Australia)|Southern Expressway]] and [[Glenelg, South Australia|Glenelg]], linking at its Southern end to the [[Adelaide Southern Veloway]] which, with the [[Coast to Vines rail trail, South Australia|Coast to Vines rail trail]], provides an almost non-stop bicycle route between Glenelg and [[Willunga, South Australia|Willunga]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sa.gov.au/topics/transport-travel-and-motoring/cycling/cycling-maps| title=Bikedirect bicycle maps |work=Transport SA|date=2011|access-date=2014-06-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.marion.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=224 |title=Sturt River Linear Park |access-date=20 August 2010 |publisher=City of Marion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819223709/http://www.marion.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=224 |archive-date=19 August 2010 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
==See also== {{stack|{{Portal|South Australia}}}} *{{Section link|List of rivers of Australia|South Australia}}
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
{{Rivers of South Australia|state=autocollapse}}
[[Category:Rivers of Adelaide]] [[Category:Cycling in South Australia]]