To the profound disappointment of Rockhampton's civic and commercial pioneers, hopes of becoming a world-class port on Australia's eastern seaboard did not come to fruition. Today, the only shipping wharf is located at distant Port Alma, amid the saltpans and mudflats on Raglan Creek just south of the Fitzroy mouth. (Its cargo now is largely salt and explosives.) While other traces of port operations in Rockhampton have long since disappeared, the legacy of decades of waterway engineering is a significant alteration to the river's original form. Time and vegetation growth have largely obliterated the natural contours of the Fitzroy, but modern users of the river are familiar with the stone walls which, in various states of repair, line some 30 km of banks below Rockhampton. The best preserved examples are 'The Stone Wall' opposite the Nerimbera slipway and Satellite Wall farther downstream. These walls were integral in changing the shape nature carved on the landscape with the Fitzroy. [River banks and walls.]

Photos by B.Webster 2/2002