33-728: The Cloncurry River is situated in the Gulf Country of north west Queensland , Australia . The headwaters of the river rise west of Mount Boorama near Mount Tracey in the Selwyn Range and initially flows north west then turns north travelling more or less parallel with the Cloncurry-Dajarra road before crossing the Flinders Highway near the town of Cloncurry . The river continues north westward flowing under Mount Marathon past Fort Constantine and crossing
66-465: A boat like we do today. Then Garnguur, the seagull woman, took her raft and dragged it back and forth across the neck of the peninsula letting the sea pour in and making our homes into islands. The Lardil people , who prefer to be known as Kunhanaamendaa (meaning people of Kunhanhaa, their name for Mornington Island), are an Aboriginal Australian people and the traditional owners of Mornington Island. The Lardil language (also known as Gununa, Ladil),
99-422: A length of about 900 kilometres (560 mi) and has a drainage basin of about 47,344 square kilometres (18,280 sq mi). The watershed south of the town of Cloncurry occupies an area of 5,975 square kilometres (2,307 sq mi). Kalkatunga (also known as Kalkadoon, Kalkadunga, Kalkatungu) is an Australian Aboriginal language . The Kalkatunga language region is North-West Queensland including
132-492: A population of 1,136 people, all living on the largest island, Mornington Island . In the 2021 census , Wellesley Islands had a population of 1,022 people. Mornington Island State School is a government-run primary and secondary school at Lardil Street for boys and girls from early childhood through Year 10. ( 16°39′59″S 139°10′57″E / 16.6663°S 139.1825°E / -16.6663; 139.1825 ( Mornington Island State School ) ). In 2018,
165-530: Is changing both grasslands and wetlands while the woodlands are vulnerable to changing fire regimes. Introduced weeds include the rubber vine . Protected areas include Staaten River National Park , Boodjamulla National Park (formerly Lawn Hill), the World Heritage fossil finds at Riversleigh , Camooweal Caves National Park and Mitchell-Alice Rivers National Park on the Queensland side. However
198-527: Is generally flat and low-lying tropical savannah cut through with rivers that carry the monsoon rains to the gulf and feed coastal mudflats and patches of rainforest. The Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands and the Wellesley Islands lie off the gulf coast. The main settlements in the region include the city of Mount Isa and the towns of Doomadgee , Cloncurry , Camooweal , Kowanyama , Karumba , Normanton and Burketown . The port at Karumba
231-555: Is located in the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the eastern (Queensland) side of the gulf. The largest island in the group is Mornington Island , with most people living in the town of Gununa . Two small islands in the group, north of Mornington Island, are designated as the Manowar and Rocky Islands Important Bird Area , because of their importance for breeding seabirds , in particular the brown booby and lesser frigatebird . Other islands in
264-574: Is one of Australia's main live cattle exporting ports. The oldest building in the region is the Burketown Hotel. The climate is hot with a dry season and a monsoon. The dry season lasts from about April until November and is characterized by very dry southeast to east winds, generated by migratory winter high pressure systems to the south. The wet season lasts from December to March and is characterised by humid northerly monsoonal airflows. This wet season can be very erratic: at Burketown , which
297-480: Is source of great mineral wealth such as copper, zinc, lead and silver. Mount Isa Mines includes a number of copper, lead, zinc and silver mines in Mount Isa where production began in 1931. Century Mine , Australia's largest zinc mine began operations near Mount Isa in 1997 and is expected to be exhausted by 2016. Other mines in the region include George Fisher mine , Cannington Mine and Hilton Mine . Due to
330-712: Is spoken on Mornington Island and on the northern Wellesley Islands. The islands were charted by Matthew Flinders on 6 December 1802, and named by him some years later. He probably did not name them until sometime between 1803 and 1810, when he was in French captivity on Mauritius Island ; he devoted that time to working on his charts and journals. Flinders probably named the island group in honour of Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley , Governor of Madras and Governor-General of Bengal from 1797 to 1805. Wellesley, along with Lord William Bentinck , Governor of Madras , tried to secure Flinders' release. He definitely named
363-642: Is the region of woodland and savanna grassland surrounding the Gulf of Carpentaria in north western Queensland and eastern Northern Territory on the north coast of Australia. The region is also called the Gulf Savannah . The Gulf Country is crossed by the Savannah Way highway. The flat, savannah land has a dry season and a monsoon, containing the largest areas of native grassland in Australia. It
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#1732776687235396-408: Is typical of the region, the rainfall of various wet seasons has ranged from as little as 150 millimetres (5.9 in) to as much as 2,000 millimetres (79 in). Overall rainfall is low (from 750 mm on the coast to 500 mm inland) but if the wet season is at all strong, low-lying areas are flooded and even the few sealed roads are cut. The Gulf is also a breeding ground for cyclones during
429-514: Is used for raising cattle and mining. It contains large reserves of zinc, lead and silver. The area is home to a number of endangered species and is crossed by a number of major rivers. The first known European explorer of the region was Willem Janszoon . The Gulf Country is a block of dry savanna between the wetter areas of Arnhem Land and the Top End of the Northern territory to the west and
462-714: The Cape York Peninsula of Far North Queensland to the east, while to the south and east lie upland plains of Mitchell grasses and the Einasleigh Uplands . The Northern Territory side of the area is the Gulf Fall area of sandstone slopes and gorges draining the interior uplands into the gulf. The main land uses in the Gulf Country are beef cattle and mining. The region covers an area of 186,000 km (72,000 sq mi). The landscape
495-457: The IBRA -defined Gulf Plains bioregion of Australia. According to Indigenous lore , possibly mixed with fact, the islands were once part of mainland Australia: In the beginning, as far back as we remember, our home islands were not islands at all as they are today. They were part of a peninsula that jutted out from the mainland and we roamed freely throughout the land without having to get in
528-673: The North Wellesley Islands , is a group of islands off the coast of Far North Queensland , Australia, in the Gulf of Carpentaria . It is a locality within the Shire of Mornington local government area. The traditional owners of the islands are the Lardil people . In the 2021 census , Wellesley Islands had a population of 1,022 people. The Wellesley Islands, also known as the North Wellesley Islands,
561-560: The Shire of McKinlay , Shire of Cloncurry and Shire of Richmond , including the Flinders River area, and the towns of Kynuna and Richmond . Yukulta (also known as Ganggalida ) is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Gulf Country. The Yukulta language region includes the local government areas of the Aboriginal Shire of Doomadgee and Shire of Mornington . The first known European explorer to visit
594-658: The Wills Developmental Road . Continuing northward the river is a series of braided channel running parallel with the Burke Developmental Road across the mostly uninhabited plains with many tributaries entering then across Simpson Plain before discharging into the Flinders River of which it is a tributary near Wondoola in Stokes . The riverbed is composed of Silt with clay and sand, sand and gravel and gravel with cobble. The river has
627-399: The lead production in the town, Mount Isa has one of the most intensive air quality monitoring systems in Australia. Concerns have been raised over childhood lead contamination and air pollution within the region. In the Gulf Country there are no mountains to restrict rainfall to the coastal band and the transition from the coastal mangroves through Acacia stenophylla woodlands to
660-582: The Gulf Country is one of the largest areas of native grassland in Australia. The sandstone gorges of the Gulf Fall are home to a specific wildlife. Finally the Pellew Islands have retained original mangroves and thick woodland.. The area is home to a number of endangered species including an endemic rodent, the Carpentarian rock rat (Zyzomys palatalis) and endemic reptiles such as the Carpentarian lerista skink . The mudflats and saltpans on
693-743: The Gulf Country, which led to the deaths of at least 600 Aboriginal people. The book won the State Records – John and Patricia Ward History Prize in the New South Wales Premier's History Awards ; the Australian Historical Association 's WK Hancock Prize ; and the Chief Minister's Northern Territory Book History Award . The 1964 Mount Isa Mines Strike was a prolonged strike between miners and management at Mount Isa Mines. The region
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#1732776687235726-665: The area was the Prussian Ludwig Leichhardt who traversed the area in 1844 and 1845. He was followed by Augustus Gregory of the North Australian Expedition in 1856, and then Burke and Wills in 1861. John McKinlay , Frederick Walker and William Landsborough lead separate search parties into the Gulf looking for Burke and Wills in 1861 and 1862. As pastoralists settled in the area there were significant clashes with local Aboriginal populations. Historian Tony Roberts has described
759-597: The arid scrubs of central Australia is gradual. There are up to nineteen important areas for bird migration in rivermouths along the gulf coast including the Gregory River - Nicholson River estuary and the Roper River in Limmen Bight . The patches of rainforest habitat occur in parts that are less vulnerable to the grassland fires. On the savanna dicanthium bluegrass grows tall after the monsoon rains as
792-409: The coast are home to waterbirds such as the magpie goose . One endemic grassland bird, the Carpentarian grasswren , is suffering as changing fire regimes (the way grasses are systematically burnt and allowed to renew) are reducing their habitat. The region is a hotspot for birdwatching . Much of the area is unspoilt vegetation but overgrazing of cattle and the introduction of feed grass species
825-459: The coastal wetlands are little protected. Lawn Hill crater , an impact crater with a ring of limestone hills, is also located in the Gulf Country. Finally Barranyi (North Island) National Park is one of the Pellew Islands. 17°52′22.33″S 140°10′28.36″E / 17.8728694°S 140.1745444°E / -17.8728694; 140.1745444 Wellesley Islands Download coordinates as: The Wellesley Islands , also known as
858-651: The group include (from north to south): Immediately to the south is a group known as the West Wellesley Islands or Forsyth Islands, and to the south-east of them are the South Wellesley Islands , while the Bountiful Islands lie to the east of Mornington Island. Politically, all 26 islands in these groups are within the local government area of the Shire of Mornington . Ecologically, they constitute subregion GUP10 of
891-491: The largest island in the group, Mornington Island, after Wellesley, who was also the second Earl of Mornington . The main town on Mornington Island, Gununa (a Lardil word) was founded in 1914 as Mornington Island Community, and renamed by the Queensland Place Names Board on 16 January 1982. Mornington Island State School opened on 28 January 1975. In the 2016 census , Wellesley Islands had
924-437: The local government area of the Shire of Flinders , including Dutton River , Flinders River , Mount Sturgeon, Caledonia , Richmond , Corfield , Winton , Torrens, Tower Hill, Landsborough Creek, Lammermoor Station, Hughenden, and Tangorin . Waanyi (also known as Wanyi , Wanyee , Wanee , Waangyee , Wonyee , Garawa , and Wanji) is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Gulf Country. The language region includes
957-548: The local government areas of the City of Mount Isa . The river was named by the explorer Robert O'Hara Burke on New Years Day 1861 during his disastrous expedition after a friend from Ireland , Lady Cloncurry. A gauging station was installed at Cloncurry to measure flow rates and river heights in 1969. This Queensland river or creek related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gulf Country The Gulf Country or North West Queensland
990-494: The nature of massacres and violent encounters in the Gulf Country (part of the Australian frontier wars ) in his book titled Frontier Justice: A History of the Gulf Country to 1900 (2005). His research showed that senior colonial politicians, including former South Australian colonial premiers Sir John Colton and Sir John Downer , along with South Australian police , "masterminded, condoned or concealed... atrocities" in
1023-655: The period between November and April. In September and October the Morning Glory Cloud appears in the Southern Gulf. The best vantage point to see this phenomenon is in the Burketown area shortly after dawn. Jirandali (also known as Yirandali , Warungu , and Yirandhali ) is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Gulf Country, particularly the Hughenden area. The language region includes
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1056-668: The region was the Dutch Willem Janszoon (whose name is also written as Jansz ) in his 1605–6 voyage . His fellow countryman Jan Carstenszoon (or Carstensz ) visited in 1623 and named the gulf in honour of Pieter de Carpentier , at that time the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies . Abel Tasman also explored the coast in 1644. The region was later explored and charted by Matthew Flinders in 1802 and 1803. The first overland explorer in
1089-590: The western parts of Lawn Hill Creek and Nicholson River , from about the boundary between the Northern Territory and Queensland, westwards towards Alexandria station , Doomadgee , and Nicholson River. It includes the local government area of the Aboriginal Shire of Doomadgee . Wanamarra (also known as Maykulan and Wunumura is an Australian Aboriginal language in North West Queensland. The language region includes areas within
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