As a children we were always told that the floodwaters that came through the surrounding farms ended up in the Swan River. This became very visible as we flew up over the floodwaters of 2006 when 233mm of rainfall fell in Lake Grace.

These ancient riverbeds groaned and remade their pathways ever so gradually towards the Swan with the sheer amount of water that came down in 24hrs. The floodplain falls only 30cm per kilometre and drains 32,000 sqkm, a very large and flat area. Braided channels join the lakes in this ancient drainage system. Normally discontinuous they only run when there is significant summer rain or prolonged winter falls. There is one running right through our farm where the Lake Biddy/Magenta tributary joins with the Pingrup River tributary.

Examining Apple Maps I come to the realization I have always lived on the rivers of the Swan. Growing up living on the Camm River west of Karlgarin, the Eastern tributary of the Lockhart River, which joins with the Yilgarn River to make the Salt River. The Salt River flows into the Avon River, which in turn becomes the Swan River. I now live on the Pingrup River branch near Lake Grace, the western tributary of the Lockhart. My teenage years were spent at Swanleigh and Governor Stirling in Middle Swan both situated on the banks of the Swan.

We spent time exploring this ancient connection to the coast, canoeing, swimming, fixing fences, paddling and walking floodwaters on the way to school. This river joins all the salt lakes over a large part of the wheatbelt and a drying continent, disturbance of the land and a time in evolution that only lets us see when it is in flood.