Wickham River

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Wickham
Australia Northern Territory relief location map.png
Red pog.svg
Location of the Wickham River mouth in the Northern Territory
Etymology John Clements Wickham [1]
Location
Country Australia
Territory Northern Territory
Region Victoria Bonaparte (IBRA)
Physical characteristics
SourceMount Kimon
 ⁃ elevation330 m (1,080 ft)
Mouth Victoria River
 ⁃ coordinates
 17°01′31″S129°57′52″E / 17.02528°S 129.96444°E / -17.02528; 129.96444 Coordinates: 17°01′31″S129°57′52″E / 17.02528°S 129.96444°E / -17.02528; 129.96444
 ⁃ elevation
74 m (243 ft)
Length198 km (123 mi)
Basin size5,018 km2 (1,937 sq mi)
Discharge 
 ⁃ average11.9 m3/s (420 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Tributaries 
 ⁃ leftMidnight Creek, Broadarrow Creek, Cusack Creek, Humbert River
 ⁃ rightSoda Springs Creek, Depot Creek (Northern Territory), Gibbie Creek
National park Judbarra / Gregory NP
[2] [3]

The Wickham River is an ephemeral river, located in the Victoria Bonaparte bioregion of the Northern Territory in Australia.

River Natural flowing watercourse

A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water. Small rivers can be referred to using names such as stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill. There are no official definitions for the generic term river as applied to geographic features, although in some countries or communities a stream is defined by its size. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; examples are "run" in some parts of the United States, "burn" in Scotland and northeast England, and "beck" in northern England. Sometimes a river is defined as being larger than a creek, but not always: the language is vague.

Victoria Bonaparte Region in Australia

The Victoria Bonaparte, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, comprising 7,301,242 hectares.

A bioregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone, but larger than an ecoregion or an ecosystem, in the World Wildlife Fund classification scheme. There is also an attempt to use the term in a rank-less generalist sense, similar to the terms "biogeographic area" or "biogeographic unit".

Contents

Course and features

The headwaters of the Wickham River are situated on an area of rugged stony hills and a sandstone plateau [3] as the river rises on the southeastern slopes of Mt Kimon. It flows generally northeast, joined by seven tributaries including the Humbert River, Soda Springs Creek, Depot Creek and Broadarrow Creek and through one permanent waterhole, Johnston Billabong, before reaching its confluence with the Victoria River, south of the Fitzgerald Range near Pompey Knob. The Wickham River descends 256 metres (840 ft) over its 198-kilometre (123 mi) course. [2]

Sandstone A clastic sedimentary rock composed mostly of sand-sized particles

Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized mineral particles or rock fragments.

Tributary stream or river that flows into a main stem river or lake

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater, leading the water out into an ocean.

Billabong Australian term for a seasonal oxbow lake

A billabong is an Australian term for an oxbow lake, an isolated pond left behind after a river changes course. Billabongs are usually formed when the path of a creek or river changes, leaving the former branch with a dead end. As a result of the arid Australian climate in which these "dead rivers" are found, billabongs fill with water seasonally; they are dry for a greater part of the year.

The Judbarra / Gregory National Park was established in 1981 encompassing much of the catchment. Mount Sanford was exhumed to enlarge the park boundaries in 1996. [3]

Judbarra / Gregory National Park Protected area in the Northern Territory, Australia

Judbarra National Park, formerly Gregory National Park, is a national park in the Northern Territory (Australia), 359 km south of Darwin.

Drainage basin Area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet

A drainage basin is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water. The drainage basin includes all the surface water from rain runoff, snowmelt, and nearby streams that run downslope towards the shared outlet, as well as the groundwater underneath the earth's surface. Drainage basins connect into other drainage basins at lower elevations in a hierarchical pattern, with smaller sub-drainage basins, which in turn drain into another common outlet.

The Wickham flows for only six months of the year, during the wet season. During the dry season, a string of waterholes form along the course of the river some of which are spring-fed and almost permanent. [3]

Wet season yearly period of high rainfall, especially in the tropics

The wet season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally the season lasts at least a month. The term "green season" is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the tropics and subtropics.

The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The tropical rain belt lies in the southern hemisphere roughly from October to March; during that time the northern tropics have a dry season with sparser precipitation, and days are typically sunny throughout. From April to September, the rain belt lies in the northern hemisphere, and the southern tropics have their dry season. Under the Köppen climate classification, for tropical climates, a dry season month is defined as a month when average precipitation is below 60 millimetres (2.4 in).

When Lawrence Wells started his trigonometric survey of the Northern Territory in 1905 he formed his depot on the Wickham River not too far from Victoria River Downs Station homestead. [4]

Lawrence Wells Australian explorer

Lawrence Allen "Larry" Wells, frequently spelled Laurence Allen Wells, was an Australian explorer.

Victoria River Downs Station

Victoria River Downs Station also often called Victoria Downs and often referred to as The Big Run is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station.

The area surrounding the Wickham River are the traditional lands of the Aboriginal community of Yarralin, also known as Walangeri. [5]

Yarralin, Northern Territory Town in the Northern Territory, Australia

Yarralin, also known as Walangeri is a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory of Australia. At the 2011 census, Yarralin had a population of 266. The community is located on the banks of the Wickham River, about 15 km (9.3 mi) west of Victoria River Downs, a major cattle station along the Buchanan Highway.

Etymology

The river is named in honour of Captain John Clements Wickham who sailed up the 200 kilometres (124 mi) Victoria River in 1839 aboard HMS Beagle. [1]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "Victoria River Downs (VRD) - The Big Run". Flinders Ranges Research. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Map of Wickham River, NT". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Overview of the Victoria River Catchment" (PDF). Top End Waterways Project. Government of the Northern Territory. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "Lands and Survey Branches". National Archives of Australia . Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "Yarralin". Katherine West Health Board Aboriginal Corporation. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
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