Rivers of Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea

The rivers of Oceania. In Australia, the Murray and its tributary the Darling form the country's largest river system; the Hunter waters a famous wine valley; the Ord and the Fitzroy flow through the tropical north; and Cooper Creek wanders across the outback. New Zealand adds the Waikato, its longest river, and the Clutha, its most powerful. In Papua New Guinea, the Sepik and the Fly are the great rivers.

Cooper and Murray have double letters. Fly and Ord, three letters each, both run down.

Rivers of Oceania and Australian Waterways Vocabulary: 10 Words to Find

Words run across, up and down; 5 of the 10 read backwards. The longest words are Darling, Fitzroy and Waikato, with 7 letters each.

Clutha: The river that carries the most water in New Zealand, on the South Island.
Cooper: Cooper Creek, an Australian outback river that reaches Lake Eyre only in wet years.
Darling: Australia's third-longest river, a tributary of the Murray.
Fitzroy: The name of rivers in Western Australia and Queensland.
Fly: A large river of Papua New Guinea.
Hunter: A river of New South Wales, Australia, known for its wine region.
Murray: Australia's longest river, about 2,500 km.
Ord: A river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Sepik: The longest river of Papua New Guinea, famous for its carved art.
Waikato: The longest river in New Zealand, about 425 km.

How to Solve the Rivers of Oceania and Australian Waterways Word Search

"Fitzroy" has the only Z and reads backwards, like "Clutha" and "Darling", which has the only G. "Waikato" has the only W and reads normally across, like "Murray". "Sepik" and "Hunter" run upward.

Oceania Rivers Activities

Sort the rivers by country: Australia, New Zealand or Papua New Guinea.
Trace the Murray–Darling system on a map.
Ask why so many Australian rivers dry up.