Roe Plains

Last updated

View of the Roe Plains from Eucla, Western Australia Roe Plains, Eucla, 2017 (03).jpg
View of the Roe Plains from Eucla, Western Australia

The Roe Plains is a coastal plain in the southeastern corner of Western Australia.

The Roe Plains are predominantly marine dunes on a coastal plain. [1] The plains are bounded on the south by the Great Australian Bight. They are bounded on the west by the Baxter Cliffs, which extend for nearly 200 km along the shore of the bight, and on the east by the Bunda Cliffs, which extend eastwards from near Eucla for 220 km along the coast of South Australia.

The plains are bounded on the north by the Hampton Tableland, an escarpment which rises to the Nullarbor Plain, and which is a continuation of the Baxter and Bunda cliffs.

The Eyre Highway traverses the Roe Plains between the Madura Pass on the west and the Eucla Pass on the east.

The only current human settlements on the Roe Plains are Madura and Mundrabilla roadhouses and the nearby stations — Madura Station and Mundrabilla Station. The Roe Plains extend further west than Madura Pass to Twilight Cove, roughly south of Cocklebiddy on the Eyre Highway and Nullarbor Plain.

The Roe Plains constitute most of the Hampton bioregion, and include areas of coastal scrub, mallee woodland, and tall eucalypt woodlands near the base of the Hampton escarpment. The western portion of the plains is in Nuytsland Nature Reserve. Eyre Bird Observatory is located in the nature reserve, near the western end of the plains.

The plains are considered geologically to be late Neogene. [2] Similar to the caves of the Hampton Tableland, the Roe Plains have a resource of fossil deposits. [3]

Related Research Articles

Nullarbor Plain Geographical feature in Western Australia and South Australia

The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single exposure of limestone bedrock, and occupies an area of about 200,000 square kilometres (77,000 sq mi). At its widest point, it stretches about 1,100 kilometres (684 mi) from east to west across the border between South Australia and Western Australia.

Great Australian Bight Open bay off southern Australia

The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.

Eyre Highway Highway in South Australia and Western Australia

Eyre Highway is a 1,660-kilometre (1,030 mi) highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, it forms part of Highway 1 and the Australian National Highway network linking Perth and Adelaide. It was named after explorer Edward John Eyre, who was the first European to cross the Nullarbor by land, in 1840–1841. Eyre Highway runs from Norseman in Western Australia, past Eucla, to the state border. Continuing to the South Australian town of Ceduna, it then crosses the top of the Eyre Peninsula before reaching Port Augusta.

Eucla, Western Australia Town in Western Australia

Eucla is the easternmost locality in Western Australia, located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia along the Eyre Highway, approximately 11 kilometres (7 mi) west of the South Australian border. At the 2016 Australian census, Eucla had a population of 53.

John Baxter was an Irish convict who became an Australian pioneer, overlander, explorer, and offsider of explorer Edward John Eyre.

Mundrabilla, Western Australia Community in Western Australia

Mundrabilla is in a very sparsely populated area in the far south east of Western Australia. The two significant features are Mundrabilla Roadhouse and Mundrabilla Station, which are approximately 35 kilometres (22 mi) apart. At the 2016 census, Mundrabilla had a population of 23, 32% male and 68% female. The time zone in use is UTC+08:45.

The Eucla Basin is an artesian depression located in Western Australia and South Australia. The onshore-offshore depression covers approximately 1,141,000 km² and slopes southward to an open bay known as the Great Australian Bight.

Eyre Bird Observatory Bird observatory on the south east coast of Western Australia

Eyre Bird Observatory is an educational, scientific and recreational facility in the Nuytsland Nature Reserve, Western Australia. Cocklebiddy is the nearest locality on the Eyre Highway, 49 km (30 mi) to the north. It is in the Hampton bioregion, which is sandwiched between the Nullarbor Plain to the north and the Great Australian Bight to the south, in one of the least populated places on the Australian continent. It was established in 1977 by Birds Australia in the disused Eyre Telegraph Station as Australia's first bird observatory, to provide a base for the study and enjoyment of the birds of the area.

Madura, Western Australia Town in Western Australia

Madura is a small roadhouse community located on the Eyre Highway in Western Australia, on the Roe Plains. It is 1,253 kilometres (779 mi) from Perth. It is at the foot of the escarpment next to the Madura Pass down from the Nullarbor Plain. UTC+8:45 is the local time zone in use.

Nuytsland Nature Reserve Protected area in Western Australia

Nuytsland Nature Reserve is a protected area of Western Australia in the south-eastern part of the state, on the south coast.

Hampton bioregion Bioregion in Western Australia

Hampton is an interim Australian bioregion located in southeastern coastal Western Australia, with a small portion (4%) extending into adjacent South Australia. It has an area of 1,088,198 hectares. The Hampton bioregion is part of the Coolgardie woodlands ecoregion.

The Mirning, also known as the Ngandatha, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands lay on the coastal region of the Great Australian Bight extending from Western Australia into south-west South Australia.

Bunda cliffs Escarpment in South and Western Australia

The Bunda cliffs are part of a larger scarp of the Eucla Basin that spreads from the western part of South Australia across to the south eastern corner of Western Australia. As a geographical feature, they form part of the longest uninterrupted line of sea cliffs in the world.

Coolgardie woodlands Terrestrial ecoregion in Western Australia

The Coolgardie woodlands is an ecoregion in southern Western Australia. The predominant vegetation is woodlands and mallee scrub. The ecoregion is a transitional zone between the Mediterranean-climate forests, woodlands, and shrublands of Southwest Australia and the deserts and dry scrublands of the Australian interior.

Nurina Land District Cadastral in Western Australia

Nurina Land District is a land district of Western Australia, located within the Eucla Land Division on the Nullarbor Plain. It spans roughly 31°00'S - 32°20'S in latitude and 125°30'E - 127°30'E in longitude.

Mundrabilla Land District Cadastral in Western Australia

Mundrabilla Land District is a land district of Western Australia, located within the Eucla Land Division on the Nullarbor Plain. It spans roughly 31°00'S - 32°00'S in latitude and 127°30'E - 129°00'E in longitude.

Nuyts Land District Cadastral in Western Australia

Nuyts Land District is a land district of Western Australia, located within the Eastern and Eucla land divisions on the Nullarbor Plain. It spans roughly 31°00'S - 32°50'S in latitude and 124°00'E - 125°30'E in longitude.

Hampton Tableland Tableland in Western Australia

Hampton Tableland is a feature that is found at the northern side of the current alignment of the Eyre Highway between Madura and Eucla in Western Australia, at the southern edge of the Nullarbor Plain.

Wilson Bluff is a coastal cliff on the Australian continental coastline, extending from east of Eucla in Western Australia to south of Border Village in South Australia. It was first recorded in 1885 as Wilson Point, but was Wilson Bluff in volume one of the Australian Pilot 1914–1918 edition. It is reported as being named after "Professor Wilson of Victoria" by E. A. Delisser, a surveyor employed by DeGraves and Co., a pastoral company.

Baxter Cliffs

The Baxter Cliffs is a long stretch of coastal cliff on the south coast of Western Australia.

References

  1. "Crossing the Nullarbor". Travelling Australia. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  2. James, NP; Bone, Y; Carter, Bob; Murray-Wallace, CV (June 2006), Origin of the Late Neogene Roe Plains and their calcarenite veneer: implications for sedimentology and tectonics in the Great Australian Bight, Taylor & Francis, retrieved 14 December 2015
  3. Kendrick, George W; McNamara, Kenneth J; Brimmell, K; Western Australian Museum. Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences (1997), A guide to the fossils of the Roe Plains, Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Western Australian Museum, retrieved 14 December 2015

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Roe Plains at Wikimedia Commons