Wildman River

Last updated

Wildman
Australia Northern Territory relief location map.png
Red pog.svg
Location of the Wildman River mouth in the Northern Territory
EtymologyE. T. Wildman [1]
Location
Country Australia
Territory Northern Territory
Region Darwin Coastal (IBRA)
Physical characteristics
Source ConfluenceEast and West Branches of the Wildman River
 - locationsouthwest of Kapalga
 - elevation20 m (66 ft)
Mouth Finke Bay, Van Diemen Gulf, Timor Sea
 - location Kakadu
 - coordinates 12°18′S132°03′E / 12.300°S 132.050°E / -12.300; 132.050 Coordinates: 12°18′S132°03′E / 12.300°S 132.050°E / -12.300; 132.050
 - elevation0 m (0 ft)
Length98 km (61 mi)
Discharge 
 - average25.4 m3/s (900 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Basin size4,818 km2 (1,860 sq mi)
Tributaries 
 - leftAlligator Creek (Northern Territory)
National park Kakadu National Park
[2]

The Wildman River is a river in the Darwin Coastal bioregion of the Northern Territory, 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.

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".

Northern Territory federal territory of Australia

The Northern Territory is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. It shares borders with Western Australia to the west, South Australia to the south, and Queensland to the east. To the north, the territory looks out to the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea and the Gulf of Carpentaria, including Western New Guinea and other Indonesian islands. The NT covers 1,349,129 square kilometres (520,902 sq mi), making it the third-largest Australian federal division, and the 11th-largest country subdivision in the world. It is sparsely populated, with a population of only 246,700, making it the least-populous of Australia's eight states and major territories, with fewer than half as many people as Tasmania.

Contents

Location and features

Formed by the confluence of the East and West Branches of the Wildman River, the river rises southwest of Kapalga in the Kakadu National Park, west of the Alligator Rivers watershed. The Wildman River flows generally northeast and then east, joined by its only major tributary, the Alligator Creek. Approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) east of Darwin , the river follows a highly meandering course as it reaches the western fringe of the Manassie Floodplain and heads northwest. At this point, the river's eastern bank define a 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) stretch of the western boundary of the Kakadu National Park. The Wildman River reaches its mouth, emptying into Finke Bay in the Van Diemen Gulf of the Timor Sea. The river descends 20 metres (66 ft) over its 98-kilometre (61 mi) course. [2]

Confluence Meeting of two or more bodies of flowing water

In geography, a confluence occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join together to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river ; or where two streams meet to become the source of a river of a new name ; or where two separated channels of a river rejoin at the downstream end.

Kakadu National Park Protected area in the Northern Territory, Australia

Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km southeast of Darwin.

Alligator Rivers estuary

Alligator Rivers is the name of an area in an Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory of Australia, containing three rivers, the East, West, and South Alligator Rivers. It is regarded as one of the richest biological regions in Australia, with part of the region in the Kakadu National Park. It is an Important Bird Area (IBA), lying to the east of the Adelaide and Mary River Floodplains IBA. It also contains mineral deposits, especially uranium, and the Ranger Uranium Mine is located there. The area is also rich in Australian Aboriginal art, with 1500 sites. The Kakadu National Park is one of the few World Heritage sites on the list because of both its natural and human heritage values. They were explored by Lieutenant Phillip Parker King in 1820, who named them in the mistaken belief that the crocodiles in the estuaries were alligators.

The river catchment occupies an area of 4,818 square kilometres (1,860 sq mi) and is wedged between the Mary River catchment to the west and the Alligator Rivers catchment to the east. [3] It has a mean annual outflow of 800 gigalitres (1.046×109 cu yd), [4]

Mary River (Northern Territory) river in the Northern Territory, Australia

The Mary River flows in the Northern Territory of Australia and is a site of the Mary River National Park.

The estuary formed at the river mouth is in near pristine condition. [5] It occupies an area of 4.37 square kilometres (2 sq mi) and is river dominated in nature with a tide dominated delta and is composed of a single channel with an area of 121.9 hectares (301 acres) covered with mangroves. [6]

Estuary A partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea

An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea.

Mangrove A shrub or small tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water

A mangrove is a shrub or small tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves occur worldwide in the tropics and subtropics, mainly between latitudes 25° N and 25° S. The total mangrove forest area of the world in 2000 was 137,800 square kilometres (53,200 sq mi), spanning 118 countries and territories.

Etymology

The river was named by John Davis, the Government store keeper in 1866, after E. T. Wildman, the Secretary to the South Australian Crown Lands Commission, who was a friend of Davis. [1]

Government of South Australia state government of South Australia

The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. The Government of South Australia, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, was formed in 1856 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended from time to time. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, South Australia has been a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the Constitution of Australia regulates its relationship with the Commonwealth. Under the Australian Constitution, South Australia ceded legislative and judicial supremacy to the Commonwealth, but retained powers in all matters not in conflict with the Commonwealth.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Mary River National Park is an Australian national park located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east and stretching to the southeast of Darwin in the Northern Territory.

The protected areas of the Northern Territory consists of protected areas managed by the governments of the Northern Territory and Australia and private organisations with a reported total area of 335,527 square kilometres (129,548 sq mi) being 24.8% of the total area of the Northern Territory of Australia.

Twin Falls (Northern Territory) waterfall in Northern Territory, Australia

The Twin Falls is a cascade waterfall on the South Alligator River that descends over the Arnhem Land escarpment within the UNESCO World Heritage–listed Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory of Australia. The Twin Falls area is registered on the Australian National Heritage List.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Place Names Register Extract - Wildman River". NT Place Names Register. Northern Territory Government . Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Map of Wildman River, NT". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "Drainage Divisions" (PDF). Commonwealth of Australia. 2005. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "Wildman River" (PDF). TRaCK. 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment" (PDF). Natural Heritage Trust. 2002. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  6. ↑ "Rosie Creek, NT". Australian online Coastal Information. Commonwealth of Australia . Retrieved 24 May 2015.
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