The Hacking River is a watercourse that is located in the Southern Sydney region of New South Wales in Australia. For thousands of years traditional owners called the river Deeban, however the colonial settlers renamed the river after Henry Hacking, a British seaman who killed Pemulwuy[4] and was a pilot at Port Jackson in colonial New South Wales.[1]
Drawing its source from the east north-eastern runoff of the Illawarra escarpment, drained via Kellys Creek and Gills Creek. (Wollongong, New South Wales)| both terminating in falls adjacent to each other. The waters of both creeks combine in the valley below, forming the Hacking River. Kellys Creek rises about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Helensburgh, east of the Princes Highway and west of Stanwell Tops. The Hacking River flows generally north north-east before reaching its mouth and emptying into Port Hacking at a line between Grays Point and Point Danger, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of the suburb of Engadine, west of Yowie Bay.[2][5] The river descends 84 metres (276 ft) over its 26-kilometre (16 mi) course.[3] Although the Illawarra escarpment has a substantial rainfall, in dry periods, the river can be reduced to a mere trickle, resulting in connected puddles rather than a constant flow.
Most of the river flows through the Garawarra State Conservation Park and the Royal National Park. However, at its upper reaches it has been subject to the impacts of urbanisation (Helensburgh and Otford), rural activities, and a large coal mine. The construction of the Princes Highway and the Sydney to Wollongong railway each have had impacts on the river. Many parts of what is now Royal National Park had been subjected to one form or another of exploitation, with consequential impacts on the river. Other impacts over time have been leachates from the Helensburgh tip, the Garrawarra Hospital sewage, and the construction of obstructions across the river.
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