Dunham River | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | Australia |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | |
• elevation | 180 metres (591 ft) [1] |
Mouth | |
• location | Ord River |
• elevation | 31 metres (102 ft) |
Length | 153 kilometres (95 mi) [2] |
Basin size | 1,631 square kilometres (630 sq mi) [3] |
Discharge | |
• average | 261,200 ML/a (8.28 m3/s; 292.3 cu ft/s) |
Dunham River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The river rises between the Durack Range and the O'Donnell Range then flows north-west parallel with the Great Northern Highway to the east and the Bedford Stock Route to the west. The river then crosses the Great Northern Highway near Cabbage Tree Creek and continues north-west crossing the Victoria Highway and discharging into the Ord River west of Kununurra.
There are five tributaries of the Dunham; Cabbage Tree Creek, Pelican Creek, Macphee Creek, Rabbit Creek and Pumpkin Lookout Creek.
The river flows through one permanent waterhole, Flying Fox waterhole, toward the end of its journey.
The river is prone to flooding during rain events. In March 2000, the peak flow of the river was estimated at 2700 m3 s−1 during floods. [4]
The river was named in 1882 by explorer and Kimberley pioneer Michael Durack after the clergyman, Father Dunham of Brisbane, who in 1871 was the first priest to visit Cooper Creek in outback Queensland.
Kununurra is a town in far northern Western Australia located at the eastern extremity of the Kimberley approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) from the border with the Northern Territory. Kununurra was initiated to service the Ord River Irrigation Scheme. It is located on the traditional lands of the Miriwoong, an Aboriginal Australian people.
The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, and on the east by the Northern Territory.
The Victoria Highway links the Great Northern Highway in Western Australia with the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory. The highway is a part of the Perth–Darwin National Highway link. It is signed as National Highway 1, and is part of Highway 1, a circular route around the country. It is 555 kilometres (345 mi) long, and most of the route – some 470 kilometres (290 mi) – lies within the Northern Territory. In some areas it runs in parallel with the Northern Territory's Victoria River, from which its name originates.
The Ord River is a 651-kilometre long (405 mi) river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river's catchment covers 55,100 square kilometres (21,274 sq mi).
Wyndham is the northernmost town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, 3,315 kilometres (2,060 mi) northeast of Perth via the Great Northern Highway. It was established in 1886 to service a new goldfield at Halls Creek, and it is now a port and service centre for the east Kimberley with a population of 941 as of the 2021 census. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up 54% of the population. Wyndham comprises two areas - the original town site at Wyndham Port situated on Cambridge Gulf, and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) by road to the south, the Three Mile area with the residential and shopping area for the port, also founded in 1886. Wyndham is part of the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley.
Bow River is a 148-kilometre (92 mi) long tributary of the Ord River in the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia. The river was named by pastoralist Michael Durack in 1882 after the Bow River in his family's ancestral home of County Clare, Ireland.
Cambridge Gulf is a gulf on the north coast of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Many rivers flow into the gulf, including the Ord River, Pentecost River, Durack River, King River and the Forrest River, making the environment an estuarine one.
Pentecost River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Durack River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The Nicholson River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It takes its name from the Nicholson Plains, named in 1879 by Alexander Forrest after Sir Charles Nicholson, the central figure in the circle of Australian "colonists" in London, and a promoter of the Forrest brothers' explorations. In 1870, Nicholson had presented a paper, entitled On Forrest's Expedition into the Interior of Western Australia, Goyder's Survey of the Neighbourhood of Port Darwin, and on the Recent Progress of Australian Discovery, to a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of London.
The King River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The Wilson River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Lake Kununurra is a freshwater man-made reservoir located in the Ord River valley. The lake was formed in 1963 by the construction of the Ord Diversion Dam in Kununurra, northern Western Australia, which was built to supply water to the Ord River Irrigation Area. Prior to the diversion dam construction a natural permanent waterhole held back by the Bandicoot Bar was known as "Carlton Reach", which was reputed to be the largest waterhole in the Kimberley.
The Ord River floodplain is the floodplain of the lower Ord River in the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley, in the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia. It lies within the Victoria Bonaparte IBRA bioregion and contains river, seasonal creek, tidal mudflat and floodplain wetlands, with extensive stands of mangroves, that support saltwater crocodiles and many waterbirds. It is recognised as an internationally important wetland area, with 1,384 square kilometres (534 sq mi) of it designated on 7 June 1990 as Ramsar Site 477 under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
The Behn River or Behm River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Argyle Downs is a pastoral lease and cattle station located about 120 kilometres (75 mi) south east of Kununurra in the Kimberley region near the border of Western Australia and Northern Territory. It is operated by the Consolidated Pastoral Company.
Ivanhoe or Ivanhoe Station is a pastoral lease and cattle station located just north of Kununurra in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Founded in 1893 by the Durack brothers, station is presently owned by the Consolidated Pastoral Company.
Carlton Hill Station is a pastoral lease and cattle station located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Situated approximately 39 kilometres (24 mi) to the north-west of Kununurra and 44 kilometres (27 mi) east of Wyndham, the station covers an area of 3,675 square kilometres (1,419 sq mi).
Gogo or Gogo Station and sometimes referred to as Margaret Downs is a pastoral lease that has operated as a cattle station. It is located about 11 kilometres (7 mi) south of Fitzroy Crossing and 83 kilometres (52 mi) north east of Yungngora in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Main Roads Western Australia controls the major roads in the state's Kimberley region. Great Northern Highway is the major road connection through the region, with sealed roads spurring off it to connect to population centres, and unsealed roads offering an alternative route between Derby and Wyndham.