Billabong

The word billabong is most likely derived from the Wiradjuri language of southern New South Wales, which "describes a pond or pool of water that is left behind when a river alters course or after floodwaters recede".

[3][4] The attribution of this last part of the word was contested in 2004 by Frederick Ludowyk of the Australian National Dictionary Centre, whose view was that that "-bong" or "-bang" was a suffix "signifying a continuation in time or space".

[12] Billabongs are usually formed when the path of a creek or river changes due to bank erosion, leaving the former channel deprived of further inflow and becoming a dead-end gully holding only residual water that has not yet drained or evaporated.

[13] Many billabongs are of cultural significance and social importance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and used as sources of fresh water as well as other resources.

[1] In the days since the colonisation of Australia, these were important landmarks for European settlers to identify, and many billabongs were given names relating to the local areas.

[14] Billabongs are significant because they do not have outflow and can hold water longer than sections of rivers especially during drier season, thus serving important ecological functions as waterholes and habitats for freshwater animal and plant species, including the water-holding frog.

Feral animals have caused salt water to flow into Arafura Swamp, a large freshwater basin in the Top End in the Northern Territory,[1] in which there are many permanent billabongs.

[citation needed] They are mentioned in the title of the song Billabong Valley by Australian prog-rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.