CLARENCE RIVER

coastal river, northeastern New South Wales, Australia, rising in the McPherson Range near the Queensland border, flowing south and northeast for 245 mi (394 km), and emptying into the Pacific 40 mi below Grafton. Its chief tributaries are the Timbarra, Mitchell, and Orara. Woodford, Chatsworth, and Harwood are the largest of its many islands, most of which are subject to floods. The Clarence is navigable by small steamers as far as Grafton and by smaller craft 35 mi farther upstream. Known for many years as the Big River, it was crossed by escaping convicts in the 1820s, but credit for its discovery is generally given to Richard Craig (1831). It was named for the Duke of Clarence. river in eastern South Island, New Zealand. Rising on the eastern slopes of the Spenser Mountains, it flows south, then northeast between the Inland and Seaward Kaikoura ranges. Cutting eastward by a gorge 7 mi (11 km) long through the Seaward Kaikoura Range, the river flows south and east, entering the Pacific Ocean 20 mi north of the town of Kaikoura. The main stream, fed by Lake Tennyson and its principal tributary, the Acheron River, is 130 mi long and drains a 1,270-sq-mi basin. The Clarence, bordered by mixed sheep and cattle runs, has a steep gradient that, in conjunction with several gorges, presents hydroelectric potential.