Rising as the Barcoo on the northern slopes of the Warrego
Range, Queensland, the Cooper Creek flows north-west to
Blackall. Joined by the Alice River, it continues south-west
past Isisford and receives its principal tributary, the
Thompson. At Currareva, with the catchment area of 150 220 km2,
the mean annual flow is 3.35 km3 with a standard deviation of
3.45 km3 for 33 full climatic years between 1939 and 1984.
Crossing the South Australian border near Innamincka, Cooper
Creek cuts through a range of hills and these, in a similar
manner to the slight constriction of the Diamantina at
Birdsville, offer the only chance of accurately measuring the
flow anywhere within the 500 km of its central reach. The
location also provides a potential major dam site, a feature
almost entirely missing on the other rivers of the Lake Eyre
Basin. The catchment area at Innamincka is 236 700 km2, and the
mean annual flow for the period 1973-83 is 2.06 km3 with a
standard deviation of 3.63 km3. The highest annual flow was
11.47