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The Cooks River is a 23 kilometre long urban waterway of south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia emptying into Botany Bay. The course of the river has been altered to accommodate various developments along its shore. It serves as part of a stormwater system for the 100 square kilometres of its watershed, and many of the original streams running into it have been turned into concrete lined channels. The tidal sections support significant areas of mangroves, bird, and fish life, and are used for recreational activities.

Contents 1 Course 2 Political Responsibility 3 Environmental Issues 4 History 5 References 6 External links

The river commences at Graf Park, Yagoona, then flows approximately north-west direction through to Chullora. It reaches its northern-most point at Strathfield, where it leads into a concrete open canal and heads towards the south-east. Part of the river, where it runs through Strathfield Golf Course, has had the concrete lining removed and the plants have returned and create an environment where the water is filtered and runs clean, and wildlife has returned. One section here is called the Chain of Ponds.

At Belfield it joins with the Cox Creek Channel and flows in an easterly direction. The canal widens and deepens as it picks up stormwater from surrounding suburbs, such as Campsie and becomes influenced by tidal action.

At Canterbury, it is joined by Cup and Saucer Creek. Industrial areas line the Cooks River at Canterbury. In the past, factories discharged their waste directly into the water.

The valley becomes more pronounced as the river reaches Tempe, where it is joined by Wolli Creek and the Alexandra Canal. The Princes Highway crosses the Cooks River and links Tempe to Wolli Creek.

The course of the final south-flowing section of river is entirely artificial, altered to accommodate the expanding Kingsford Smith International Airport. Cooks River connects with Botany Bay at Kyeemagh.

The corridor of land beside the river is a conduit for many services along large parts of its length including electricity, high voltage lines, a high pressure oil pipe owned by Shell, and high volume sewage pipes. Many of the lower lying areas have been filled and are parks and sports grounds. In spite of this the river and adjacent lands are being recognised for their beauty, history, amenity, environmental value, if not also for potential for improvements. The walkway and cycleway beside much of the "river" is part of the path connecting Sydney Olympic Park with Botany Bay.

Care and control of the river is shared between many local councils and the New South Wales Government through agencies such as:

• Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority
• Environment Protection Authority
• Sydney Water Corporation

The Cooks River has a catchment area of 100 square kilometres, within the metropolitan areas of Sydney. The human population of this area is over 400,000 people. There are over 100,000 commercial and industrial premises. The river has typical water catchment management problems characteristic of heavily developed areas, including:

• Removal of native vegetation and habitat destruction
• Increased run-off rates due to covering of land with hard surfaces, concrete storm water canals" and re-routing of water courses
• Pollution from motor vehicles, litter, sewage, illegal dumping, industrial, commercial and domestic activities
• Nutrient enrichment resulting in increased algal levels

A group of local Councils fund the RiverLife Project which trains tour guides and organises interpretive walking and cycling tours of the "river" most weekends.

Prior to European Settlement, the Indigenous Australian population used the river by fishing and gathering shellfish. This had little effect on the river's natural ecology.

In 1770, Captain Cook sailed into Botany Bay and made the first written description of the river as follows: "I found a very fine stream of fresh water on the north side in the first sandy cove within the island before which a ship might lay land-locked and wood for fuel may be got everywhere."

The existence of the river appeared to make settlement a possibility, however when the First Fleet arrived the river and valley was regarded as unsuitable. Captain John Hunter and Lieutenant Bradley both mentioned the shallowness of the water and large swamp areas.

The first land grants along the river tended to be fairly large and used mostly for grazing and timber with some fishing and lime burning at Botany Bay. Governor Macquarie makes reference to a slender bridge in his 1810 diary, adding that "the soil is bad and neither good for tillage or pasturage". Nevertheless, some farmers did find they could till the land and settlement along the river spread, and roads and crossings were made in several places.

In the 1830s a dam was build across the river, however this did not provide a clean water supply and the structure itself began to damage the river's ecology by preventing tidal flushing of deposited urban silt.

A second dam was built to serve a Sugar Mill at the new village of Canterbury Vale. The location took advantage of the water supply and barge transport. The Mill closed in 1855, however other polluting industries were later to follow including wool washes, tanneries and boiling down works.

Despite the increasingly doubtful quality of the water, the river remained a popular place in the late nineteenth century for boating, picnics and swimming. By the 1880s tree clearing resulted in erosion, silting and expansion of reed beds, blocking river flow.

On the weekend of 25-27 May 1889, 425 millimetres of rain inundated all the low lying land. At the height of the flood, the top of the Sugarworks Dam was covered by 2 metres of water. Authorities responded to the extensive damage and loss of animals by removing the dams and weirs. A proposed series of canals connecting the river with Sydney Harbour was not commenced.

Concreting of the river banks was commenced in the 1930s and the Cooks River Improvement Act of 1946 confirmed the policy this tidying up of an undisciplined stream within neat cement boundaries. Engineers diverted the original river mouth to accommodate Sydney airport runways.

Initiatives from 1976 onwards have attempted to preserve and return the natural features of the river system with tree planting, pollution traps and landscaping. Footpaths and a cycle track were built to increase recreational usage of the river.

• RiverLife
• Canterbury City Council website
• Cooks River Environmental Assessment and Education project
• Cooks River Valley Times
• The Cooks River Cycleway