Barron Falls
   Queensland, Australia

Barron Falls is a massive cascading waterfall along the Barron River just outside the city of Cairns in Queensland. The falls consist of four main parts, the largest of which is a 400 foot wide, 900 foot long cascade dropping about 350 feet. The falls are usually claimed to stand 853 feet tall from top to bottom, however this seems to be yet another case of the amount of generating head of the adjacent hydroelectric facility being reported as the height of the falls. The first generating station, built and activated in 1935, operated with a head of 410 feet, but it is unclear whether the tailrace was situated at the base of the main part of the falls or at the very bottom of the lowermost drop.

Because the adjacent powerstation draws off a considerable volume of the Barron River, the falls only flow with force during the wet season. For much of the year the falls are reduced to just a trickle and in droughts may even run dry. The existing Barron Falls Power Station is in the gorge well below the terminus of the falls. Google Earth's elevation profile supports our theory of the 853 foot height figure being that of the hydropotential rather than the height of the falls.

HISTORY AND NAMES

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• Also Known as: Bibhoora
• Barron Falls is the Official name of this waterfall

The falls were named for Thomas Henry Bowman Barron, the Chief Clerk of Police in Brisbane in the 1860s.

Our thoughts

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Barron Falls was the site of the first hydroelectric generating station in Queensland, going operational in 1935. This made the falls probably one of the most surveyed waterfalls in Australia at the time, so it seems quite strange to us that the height of the falls has been misreported so widely for so long. Still, despite the falls' dependency on seasonal rains to return it to its natural state and despite the falls being only about half as tall as widely claimed, this is still among the best waterfalls in Australia.

View this location in Google Earth

Barron Falls is shown in the center. The 10 closest waterfalls within a 8km radius are shown as well (if any). Click any icon or see the list below for more information.

Find More media

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User comments

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