Rock Flat Creek facts for kids

Rock Flat Creek is a watercourse that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin. It is located in the Monaro region of New South Wales, Australia.

Course and features

The Rock Flat Creek (technically a river) rises below One Tree Hill, on the lower slopes of the Snowy Mountains, part of the Great Dividing Range. The creek flows generally north by west before reaching its confluence with the Cooma Creek just upstream from that creek's confluence to form the Numeralla River (itself a tributary of the Murrumbidgee River), north of the town of Cooma. The creek descends 336 metres (1,102 ft) over its 41-kilometre (25 mi) course.

The Monaro Highway crosses the creek near the locality of Milton Park.

Mineral spring

Near the Monaro Highway crossing, there is a mineral spring that comes to the surface, on the bank of Rock Flat Creek, about 16 km south-east of Cooma. The spring water issues from near the base of a small rocky mount composed of highly inclined beds of quartzite and the surface of the flat in the vicinity of the spring is tufaceous limestone that has been deposited there by the spring water. The flow rate of the spring is about 245-litres per hour. The spring water has a pleasant taste and is carbonated. It is likely that this spring is the one referred to as Richard Bourke's Spring by the explorer Dr J. Lhotsky in 1834. Lhotsky had thought highly enough of the spring water to bring bottled samples of it with him on his return journey. The water was once bottled and sold under the name 'Koomah Spa' and, in early times, it was used by local settlers to make bread and damper (presumably making use of baking soda that is present in the spring water). By the late 1930s, the spring was all but forgotten. A village of Rock Flat was planned around 1886, near the site of the spring, but there is no sign of it now except that one of its streets, Cooma Street, still appears on modern day maps. The spring remained accessible to the public into the 1970s but is on private property and public access to it is no longer permitted.