Hawkesbury River

The Hawkesbury River is a super long river in Australia, not too far from a huge city called Sydney. It's like a giant, watery snake that twists and turns for about 120 kilometers, which is longer than 120 football fields put together! This river is so big that it almost makes a circle around parts of Sydney.

It starts where two other rivers, the Nepean and the Grose, decide to join up. Then, it flows all the way to a place called Broken Bay, where it meets the big, blue ocean.

This river is super important for the land around it. It's like a giant bathtub for a huge area, collecting water from rain that falls over a space as big as many, many school playgrounds combined! This water then flows down the river.

The river also acts as a border, separating the big city of Sydney from a place called the Central Coast. So, it helps decide where one place ends and another begins, like drawing a line on a map!

Long, long ago, even before your grandparents were born, Aboriginal people lived by the Hawkesbury River. They called it Dyarubbin. They used the river for yummy food, like fish, and to trade with other groups.

The river was a very special place for them. Sometimes, the river can get very full after lots of rain, and it can flood, covering the land like a giant puddle. This happened not too long ago, in 2021!

The Hawkesbury River is a main part of a bigger watery system that leads to the ocean. It joins up with other smaller rivers and bays, like Brisbane Water and Pittwater, before all of them flow into Broken Bay. From Broken Bay, the water travels out to the Tasman Sea. So, the river is like a highway for water, carrying it all the way from the land to the big, wide ocean.