The Gwydir Shire Council submission to register “Bingara Gorge” with the Geographic Names Board has now passed the allotted time for comments and will now be officially gazetted.
Bingara Gorge is the name applied to the section along the Gwydir River from below Copeton Dam, 15 kilometres downstream to Horse Stealers Bend just above “Keera Station”.
It is a wild and beautiful stretch of steep sided gorge country where the Gwydir has cut through the western edge of the New England granite thrust. Large river worn boulders lie tenuously clumped along the river’s tract. It is a white water paradise and the “rubber rafters” from Coff’s Harbour challenge the grade five rapids during the summer months when Copeton Dam releases its irrigation waters.
The water released from Copeton comes from near the bottom of the immense storage, and is icy cold. Rainbow and brown trout have been introduced to the system and flourish in the pools and riffles of Bingara Gorge. Access is not easy but a 4WD journey along the forest roads that lead off from the left hand side of the road from Bingara to Copeton Dam, and a little bit of energetic walking and boulder hopping, can bring the keen angler face to face with some majestic trout.
Bingara Gorge, just one more magnificent “secret spot” in the Bingara District.
