| Peel River | |
| Name Other: | Cockburn River |
| Name Etymology: | in honour of Sir Robert Peel |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | Australia |
| Subdivision Type2: | State |
| Subdivision Name2: | New South Wales |
| Subdivision Type3: | Region |
| Subdivision Name3: | IBRA |
| Subdivision Type4: | District |
| Subdivision Name4: | Northern Tablelands |
| Subdivision Type5: | Municipalities |
| Subdivision Name5: | Tamworth, Gunnedah |
| Length: | 210km (130miles) |
| Source1: | Liverpool Range, Great Dividing Range, and Mount Royal Range |
| Source1 Location: | south of Nundle |
| Source1 Elevation: | 743m (2,438feet) |
| Mouth: | confluence with the Namoi River |
| Mouth Location: | south of Keepit Dam |
| Mouth Elevation: | 286m (938feet) |
| River System: | Murray–Darling basin |
| Tributaries Right: | Cockburn River |
| Bridges: | Peel River railway bridge, Tamworth |
| Custom Label: | Reservoir |
| Custom Data: | Chaffey Dam |
| Extra: | [1] |
Peel River, a watercourse that is part of the Namoi catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the North West Slopes and Plains district of New South Wales, Australia.
The river rises on the northern slopes of the Liverpool Range, at the junction of the Great Dividing Range and Mount Royal Range, south of the village of Nundle, and flows generally north, west and north west and emerges into the Liverpool Plains near Tamworth. The Peel River is joined by thirteen tributaries, including the Cockburn River, and flows through Chaffey Dam before reaching its mouth at the confluence with the Namoi River; dropping over its course of .[1]
From source to mouth, the river passes through or near the villages of Nundle, Woolomin and Piallamore.
The Peel River was first discovered by European settlers in 1818 by John Oxley and named by Oxley in honour of Sir Robert Peel, an important British politician at the time of its discovery by British settlers in Australia.
At Tamworth, the river is crossed by the Main North line via the heritage-listed Tamworth rail bridge, completed in 1882.[2]
The famous Australian freshwater native fish Murray cod, Maccullochella peelii, was named after the Peel River by Major Mitchell, who sketched and scientifically described and named one of the numerous Murray cod his men caught from the river on his 1838 expedition.