| Abercrombie River | |
| Name Etymology: | named by John Thomas Bigge |
| Pushpin Map: | Australia New South Wales#Australia |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in New South Wales |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | Australia |
| Subdivision Type2: | State |
| Subdivision Name2: | New South Wales |
| Subdivision Type3: | IBRA |
| Subdivision Name3: | South Eastern Highlands |
| Subdivision Type4: | District |
| Subdivision Name4: | Central West |
| Subdivision Type5: | Municipalities |
| Subdivision Name5: | Upper Lachlan, Oberon Shire |
| Length: | 130km (80miles) |
| Source1 Location: | near Mount Werong village |
| Source1 Coordinates: | -34.087°N 149.927°W |
| Source1 Elevation: | 1130m (3,710feet) |
| Mouth: | Lachlan River |
| Mouth Location: | Wyangala Dam |
| Mouth Coordinates: | -33.92°N 149.0253°W |
| Mouth Elevation: | 375m (1,230feet) |
| River System: | Murray–Darling basin |
| Basin Size: | 4000km2 |
| Tributaries Left: | Burra Burra Creek, Bolong River, Copperhannia Creek |
| Tributaries Right: | Isabella River, Tuena Creek, Meglo Creek, Piesleys Creek |
| Extra: | [1] |
Abercrombie River, a perennial river that is part of the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the central west of New South Wales, Australia.
The river rises to the east of the village of Mount Werong and generally flows westward towards its confluence with the Lachlan River at Wyangala Dam near Cowra. The river flows through freehold land as well as the Abercrombie River National Park, and provides habitat for platypus and rakali,[2] dropping over its course of .
The Abercrombie River is the furthest east of the inland flowing rivers.
The original inhabitants of the land alongside the river were Australian Aborigines of the Wiradjuri or Gundungara clans, which may have used the river as a trading route.[3]
The first European to discover the watercourse was explorer Charles Throsby on 5 May 1819, during an expedition from Sydney to the central west of New South Wales. The river was named by Commissioner John Thomas Bigge on 22 October 1820.
Alluvial gold was discovered in and along the river in 1851, inspiring a minor gold rush hampered by the ruggedness of the terrain and the periodic depths of the waterway.[4] Early miners recovered up to 3NaN of gold a day along the river,[5] and by 1862 between forty and fifty mining parties were at work at Milburne Creek, a minor tributary of the Abercrombie.[6]
The Goulburn-Oberon Road crosses the Abercrombie River in the steep-sided Abercrombie Gorge.