Misplaced Pages

#4995

44-533: Roebuck Plains Station is a pastoral lease that is located close to the township of Broome in the Kimberley region of Western Australia . It is one of the closest pastoral leases to Broome. Roebuck Plains is also the name of a roadhouse on the Great Northern Highway , just east of Broome. The Plains in the name is associated with wetlands situated adjacent to Roebuck Bay . The station

88-520: A tropical savanna climate ( Aw ); like most parts of the Australian tropics, it has two seasons: a dry season and a wet season . The dry season is from April to November with nearly every day clear and maximum temperatures around 30 °C (86 °F). The wet season extends from December to March, with maximum temperatures of around 35 °C (95 °F), with rather erratic tropical downpours and high humidity. Broome's annual rainfall average

132-514: A Catholic K–12 school. Broome hosts a lawn bowling club and a golf club. Broome is considered to be among the best places in the world to catch sailfish . Four football clubs compete in the local Broome Football Association 's BLiga competition each dry season. FC Meatworks, Pearlers, Racing G and Broome Town field sides across men's and women's divisions. The town has four Australian rules clubs; Broome Bulls (established 1949), Broome Saints, Broome Towns and Cable Beach all competing in

176-589: A divisive topic amongst locals, with many blaming the 'no' decision for the slow economic growth that characterises the region. Fossilised Megalosauropus broomensis dinosaur footprints dated as early Cretaceous in age are 30 m (98 ft) out to sea at Gantheaume Point . The fossil trackway can be viewed during very low tide. Plant fossils are preserved extensively in the Broome Sandstone at Gantheaume Point and in coastal exposures further north. The fossil trackways at Broome include possibly

220-439: A half-hour news program for regional WA, GWN7 News , at 5:30pm weeknights; GWN7 has a district newsroom covering Broome and surrounding areas based in the town. The Malcolm Douglas Crocodile Park is located about 16 kilometres (10 mi) from Broome. It was established in 1983 by the wildlife documentary maker Malcolm Douglas , and holds 30 adult crocodiles that have been captured in the wild after threatening humans. The park

264-624: A local community newspaper, the Broome Advertiser , published each Thursday, part of the Seven West Media group. Previously Broome had a Saturday weekly newspaper, published from 1912 to 1930, The Nor-West Echo , the successor to the Broome Chronicle and Nor'West Advertiser (1908–1912). Locally, television stations available include GWN7 , WIN9 , WDT10 , ABC , SBS and Goolarri Media . GWN7 broadcasts

308-457: A north–south peninsula, Broome has water on both sides of the town. On the eastern shore are the waters of Roebuck Bay extending from the main jetty at Port Drive to Sandy Point, west of Thangoo station. Town Beach is part of the shoreline and is popular with visitors on the eastern end of the town. It is the site of the 'Staircase to the Moon', where a receding tide and a rising moon combine to create

352-585: A reflection of the poor conditions endured by Aboriginal people forced to work on the pearling boats. As of May 2019 , the remains are being stored in Perth until facilities have been built to accommodate them in Broome. According to the 2021 census , there were 14,660 people in Broome. Under the Köppen climate classification , Broome has a hot semi-arid climate ( BSh ), being a little too dry to be classified as

396-473: A stunning natural phenomenon. On "Staircase to the Moon" nights, a food and craft market operates on Town Beach. Roebuck Bay is of international importance for the millions of migrating waders or shorebirds that use it seasonally on migration through the East Asian – Australasian Flyway from their breeding grounds in northern Asia. They feed on the extensive intertidal mudflats and roost at high tide on

440-401: Is 615.1 mm (24.22 in), 75% of which falls from January to March. Broome observes an average of 48.4 days a year that record measurable precipitation. According to the indigenous Yawuru calendar, there are six seasons. Broome is susceptible to tropical cyclones and these, along with the equally unpredictable nature of summer thunderstorms, play a large part in the erratic nature of

484-402: Is home to Fatso, a saltwater crocodile who on 12 July 2010 bit a Melbourne man, Michael Newman, who climbed into his enclosure. Mudflat A recent global remote sensing analysis estimated that approximately 50% of the global extent of tidal flats occurs within eight countries ( Indonesia , China , Australia , United States , Canada , India , Brazil , and Myanmar ) and that 44% of

SECTION 10

#1732790943005

528-532: Is located approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of Broome on a rich marine floodplain . It occupies an area of 2,760 square kilometres (1,066 sq mi) and is able to support around 20,000 head of cattle. The property is a mixture of floodplains and sandy pindan country. The traditional owners of the area are the Yawuru peoples. The property was acquired and developed by the pearlers , Streeter and Company, to supply meat to Broome. A slaughterhouse

572-466: Is situated 7 km (4.3 mi) from town along a bitumen road. The beach itself is 22.5 km (14.0 mi) long with white sand, washed by tides that can reach over 9 m (30 ft). Located directly east of Cable Beach over the dunes is Minyirr Park, a coastal reserve administered by a collaboration of the Shire of Broome and the Yawuru people. Broome is situated on the traditional lands of

616-609: The Baltic Sea coast of Germany in places, mudflats are exposed not by tidal action, but by wind-action driving water away from the shallows into the sea. This kind of wind-affected mudflat is called Windwatt in German. Tidal flats, along with intertidal salt marshes and mangrove forests, are important ecosystems . They usually support a large population of wildlife, and are a key habitat that allows tens of millions of migratory shorebirds to migrate from breeding sites in

660-706: The Federal Court determined the station was the exclusive possession of the Yawuru under native title . In 2014 the ILC handed the lease over to the Nyamba Buru Yawuru Corporation. Pat Dodson , the chairman of the company, accepted the lease but handed management of the station back to the ILC. The property and the adjacent commercial cattle yards are worth around A$ 15 million. The plains are also subject to analysis of indigenous perceptions of

704-582: The Governor of Western Australia from 1883 to 1889. The 1880s saw the commencement of Broome's pearling industry, which initially involved slavery and indentured labour , pearl diving being an occupation reserved for specific ethnic groups, most prominently from Japan and followed by other Asian countries. This led to numerous racially motivated conflicts, most notably the 1920 race riots between Japanese and Malay residents, resulting in 8 deaths and at least 60 injuries. The Broome community came to "reflect

748-653: The West Kimberley District League with games played at Haynes Oval. Broome is home to the Sun Picture Garden , the oldest operating open-air cinema in the world. Marrugeku is a dance company led by co-artistic directors choreographer /dancer Dalisa Pigram and director/ dramaturg Rachael Swain, who have worked together for 23 years. The company has Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians working together to create new dance performances, and works from two bases, one in Broome and

792-466: The Yawuru people , is a coastal pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia , 2,046 km (1,271 mi) north of Perth . The town recorded a population of 14,660 in the 2021 census . It is the largest town in the Kimberley region. Broome is located on Western Australia's tropical Kimberley coast on the eastern edge of the Indian Ocean . Being situated on

836-493: The Yawuru people . It is often mistakenly thought that the first European to visit Broome was William Dampier in 1688, but he only visited the north of what was later named the Dampier Peninsula . In 1699 he explored the coast from Shark Bay to La Grange Bay, from where he headed north leaving the Australian coast. Many of the coastal features of the area were later named for him. In 1879, Charles Harper proposed

880-399: The intertidal zone which is composed of a barren zone and marshes. Within these areas are various ratios of sand and mud that make up the sedimentary layers. The associated growth of coastal sediment deposits can be attributed to rates of subsidence along with rates of deposition (example: silt transported via river) and changes in sea level. Barren zones extend from the lowest portion of

924-409: The 1880s to the large present-day cultured pearl farming enterprises. At first, Indigenous people , especially women and girls, were forced to dive for pearls by European pearlers, and many died working in the industry. Report of abuses in the early days of pearling led to legislation in 1871 and 1875 regulating native labour and prohibiting the use of women as divers. By 1910, Broome was one of

SECTION 20

#1732790943005

968-482: The 1960s. The tracks can be seen only during very low tide. In 1996, some of the prints were cut from the ground and stolen, but have since been recovered. Broome entered into a sister city agreement with Taiji , Japan in 1981 as historic ties between the two towns date back to the early 1900s, when Japan became instrumental in laying the groundwork of Broome's pearling industry . The annual dolphin hunt in Taiji

1012-540: The Australian Greens, Dr Bob Brown . A concert for the campaign was held on 5 October 2012 at Federation Square in Melbourne and was attended by approximately 6,000 people. A long term protest camp operated at James Price Point. One of the campaign points was to protect the significant 'dinosaur highway' of dinosaur tracks that are found in the intertidal zone outside Broome. The campaign has since remained

1056-559: The formation of a Government Station at the Roebuck Bay Pastoral and Agricultural Association's site at Cape Villaret, at the south end of Roebuck Bay , to provide facilities for the extension of the Pearl Shell Fishery, and to form a port and base of operations for intending pastoral and agricultural settlers. In 1883, John Forrest chose the site for the town, and it was named after Sir Frederick Broome ,

1100-402: The hierarchy of the pearling industry, which was based on occupation and ethnicity". White collar occupations and positions of power were exclusively held by Europeans. As a consequence, racial segregation was common in Broome until the 1970s. In 1889, a telegraph undersea cable was laid from Broome to Banjuwangi , East Java , connecting to England . Hence the name Cable Beach given to

1144-452: The intertidal zone to the marsh areas. Beginning in close proximity to the tidal bars, sand dominated layers are prominent and become increasingly muddy throughout the tidal channels. Common bedding types include laminated sand, ripple bedding, and bay mud. Bioturbation also has a strong presence in barren zones. Marshes contain an abundance of herbaceous plants while the sediment layers consist of thin sand and mud layers. Mudcracks are

1188-578: The landfall site. Broome was attacked at least four times during World War II as part of the Japanese air raids on Australia . The worst attack in terms of loss of life was an air raid on 3 March 1942 in which at least 86 people (mostly civilian refugees from the Dutch East Indies ) were killed, making it the second deadliest Japanese attack on Australia after the bombing of Darwin . Twenty-two aircraft were destroyed, most of them flying boats,

1232-644: The landscape. In 2018, the property was flooded when it received 1,625 millimetres (64 in) of rain through the wet season , with half of it falling in one week in January. The 6,000 head of cattle had to be moved off the floodplains to higher ground. The cyclone that brought the rain also caused extensive damage to the property, with trees blown over, buildings damaged and fences washed away. 17°55′52″S 122°28′21″E  /  17.931°S 122.4725°E  / -17.931; 122.4725 Broome, Western Australia Broome , also known as Rubibi by

1276-401: The largest known dinosaur footprints , sauropod tracks upwards of 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) long. It is suspected that the sauropod that made these tracks might have been 7–8 m (23–26 ft) tall at the hip. The town has a history based around the exploits of the men and women who developed the pearling industry, starting with the harvesting of oysters for mother of pearl in

1320-425: The leading producers of pearls globally. At that time, roughly 3,500 of the town's then population of approximately 5,000 worked in the industry. At the beginning of World War I , many of the town's pearlers were requisitioned for the war effort. Asia-Pacific men, especially Japanese, excelled at pearl diving, with many of them becoming valued citizens in the town. Many Chinese and Japanese traders set up ventures in

1364-460: The mudflats surrounding Anchorage, Alaska , are made from fine glacial-silt which does not easily separate out its water, and, although seemingly solid, can quickly gel and become like quicksand when disturbed by stepping on it. Four people are known to have become stuck up to their waists and drowned when the tide came in, and many others are rescued from the Anchorage mudflats each year. On

Roebuck Plains Station - Misplaced Pages Continue

1408-624: The northern hemisphere to non-breeding areas in the southern hemisphere. They are often of vital importance to migratory birds , as well as certain species of crabs , mollusks and fish . In the United Kingdom mudflats have been classified as a Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitat. The maintenance of mudflats is important in preventing coastal erosion. However, mudflats worldwide are under threat from predicted sea level rises , land claims for development, dredging due to shipping purposes, and chemical pollution . In some parts of

1452-528: The other at Carriageworks in Sydney . Broome International Airport is the regional air hub of northwestern Western Australia and is considered the tourism gateway to the Horizontal Falls and the whole Kimberley region. The Broome Tramway was an industrial tramway used to convey goods between Mangrove Point and the town centre from 1898 until the 1960s. Since 1992 Broome has been home to

1496-729: The pearl"). In 2010, the Shire of Broome and Kimberley commissioned a Memorial to the Indigenous Female Pearl Divers. In April 2019, the skeletons of 14 Yawuru and Karajarri people which had been sold by a wealthy Broome pearler to a museum in Dresden in 1894 were brought home. The remains, which had been stored in the Grassi Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig , showed signs of head wounds and malnutrition ,

1540-511: The public about them. A mixed black flying fox and little red flying fox colony of around 50,000 megabats lives all year in mangroves next to Broome township's small Streeter's Jetty. They chatter and socialise loudly before flying out at dusk each evening. The bats are key pollinators and seed dispersers for native trees and plants. Named for the Java-to-Australia undersea telegraph cable that reaches shore there, Cable Beach

1584-488: The rainfall. For instance, in January 1922, Broome Post Office recorded just 2.8 mm (0.11 in) of rainfall while in the same month of 2018, the airport received 945.4 mm (37.22 in). Dewpoint averages at 24 °C or 75.2 °F in the wet season, but is as low as 8.4 °C or 47.1 °F in the dry season. Frost is unknown; however, temperatures during the cooler months have dropped to as low as 3.3 °C (37.9 °F). The average temperature of

1628-443: The red sand beaches of the bay. They can be seen in the largest numbers in summer, but many of the younger birds remain throughout the first and second years of their lives. The Broome Bird Observatory , sited in pindan woodland close to the northern shore of Roebuck Bay, was established by Birds Australia in 1988, and formally opened in 1990. The purpose of the observatory is to study the birds, learn how to protect them and educate

1672-399: The remains of which can still be seen in the harbour at low tide. In 1950, Broome was the setting for Arthur Upfield 's novel The Widows of Broome , his 12th novel featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte ("Bony"). Dinosaur footprints dated as Early Cretaceous in age (approximately 130 million years ago) were discovered 30 m (98 ft) out to sea at Gantheaume Point in

1716-568: The sea ranges from 24.7 °C (76.5 °F) in July and August to 30.2 °C (86.4 °F) in March. Broome contains six schools: five government, Broome Primary School, Broome North Primary School in the northern suburb of Bilingurr , Cable Beach Primary School in Cable Beach , Roebuck Primary School in the northern suburb of Djugun , and Broome Senior High School ; and St Mary's College,

1760-442: The town. Indeed, many people with Japanese names thrive in the community. Pearling was a dangerous and sometimes deadly occupation and the town's Japanese cemetery is the resting place of 919 Japanese divers who lost their lives working in the industry. Each year Broome celebrates the fusion of different cultures brought about by the pearling industry in an annual cultural festival called Shinju Matsuri (Japanese for "festival of

1804-632: The world's tidal flats occur within Asia (56,051 km or 21,641 sq mi). A 2022 analysis of tidal wetland losses and gains estimates that global tidal flats experienced losses of 7,000 km (2,700 sq mi) between 1999 and 2019, which were largely offset by global gains of 6,700 km (2,600 sq mi) over the same time period. In the past tidal flats were considered unhealthy, economically unimportant areas and were often dredged and developed into agricultural land. Some mudflats can be extremely treacherous to walk on. For example,

Roebuck Plains Station - Misplaced Pages Continue

1848-484: The world, such as East and South-East Asia, mudflats have been reclaimed for aquaculture , agriculture , and industrial development. For example, around the Yellow Sea region of East Asia, more than 65% of mudflats present in the early 1950s had been destroyed by the late 2000s. It is estimated that up to 16% of the world tidal flats have disappeared since the mid-1980s. Mudflat sediment deposits are focused into

1892-515: Was also established on the outskirts of town to process the cattle and sheep that were being raised on the property. The homestead burnt down in 1949; the fire started from a defective kerosene refrigerator . In 1953 the 2,900-square-kilometre (1,120 sq mi) station was acquired by the Harris family. It was stocked with 10,000 head of cattle at the time. The Indigenous Land Corporation acquired Roebuck Plains Station in 1999, and in 2006

1936-637: Was the subject of the 2009 documentary The Cove , and sparked a unanimous decision by Broome's council, headed by Graeme Campbell, to end the relationship with Taiji if the dolphin hunt were to continue. The decision was reversed in October 2009. The Broome community led a campaign to protest against a proposal to industrialise the James Price Point outside Broome. The campaign has received ardent support from public figures such as John Butler , Missy Higgins , Clare Bowditch and former leader of

#4995