1.
McArthur River zinc mine
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It is operated by McArthur River Mining, a subsidiary of the Swiss mining company Xstrata. Although discovered in the 1950s, when it was called the HYC or Heres Your Chance deposit, it only opened as a mine in 1995. Initially an underground mining operation, the mine has been converted to open-cut, the McArthur River zinc mine is based on one of the worlds largest zinc, lead and silver deposits. Tom Lynott, the manager of McArthur River station is attributed with identifying the valuable metals in the area as early as 1887, small mining ventures were attempted and failed due to the cost of transport. The deposit was proven in 1955 by a party from Mount Isa Mines. The name came out of a conversation between chief geologist Syd Carter and fellow geologist Ron Beresford who were reviewing the progress of the party in 1956. Bemoaning that Beresford was naming all the prospects, Carter asked him what the area of the zinc deposit was going to be named. Bereford replied heres your chance Syd to which Carter replied, that will do, by 1977 the first feasibility studies commenced and a pilot operation and temporary work camp were established. Costs prohibited further development at the time, but by 1989 MIM Holdings were issued the necessary leases to bring the mine into operation, in 1992 it joined forces with Japanese consortium ANT Minerals to develop the mine, forming McArthur River Mining Pty Ltd to operate on their behalf. In November 1993, the McArthur River Project Agreement Ratification Act was passed by the Northern Territory Government, by 2001, most of the accessible underground ore was extracted and MIM reported a $900,000 loss. It began looking at the feasibility of turning the mine into an open-cut operation, terms of Reference for an Environmental Impact Statement were released in 2003. MIM was acquired by Xstrata in the year, wholly owning the mine by September 2005. Plans to expand the mine were announced in 2005, as the main ore body lies directly beneath the river, the expansion required the diversion of 5.5 km of the McArthur River. The mines expansion was approved, with the support of Prime Minister John Howard. This decision was also overturned within days and the given the go-ahead once more by parliamentary vote. The Traditional Owners continued to protest, taking the matter to the Federal Court of Australia and they won the case, only to have this decision declared invalid. The final decision was left to Peter Garrett, the Federal Environmental Minister at the time, Xstrata had threatened to sack all 170 staff unless Garrett made a quick decision. Later in 2009, a report found that the environmental impact was not being monitored
2.
Moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer
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The instruments capture data in 36 spectral bands ranging in wavelength from 0.4 µm to 14.4 µm and at varying spatial resolutions. Together the instruments image the entire Earth every 1 to 2 days, MODIS has used the marine optical buoy for vicarious calibration. MODIS is succeeded by the VIIRS instrument on board the Suomi NPP satellite launched in 2011, the MODIS characterization support team is dedicated to the production of high-quality MODIS calibrated product which is a precursor to every geophysical science product. A detailed description of the MCST mission statement and other details can be found at MCST Web, with its low spatial resolution but high temporal resolution, MODIS data is useful to track changes in the landscape over time. The United States Forest Services Remote Sensing Applications Center analyzes MODIS imagery on a basis to provide information for the management. The following MODIS Level 3 datasets are available from NASA, as processed by the Collection 5 software, most of the data is available in the HDF-EOS format — a variant of Hierarchical Data Format prescribed for the data derived from Earth Observing System missions. Imaging spectroscopy NASA World Wind Official NASA site MODIS bands and spectral ranges MODIS Images of the Day MODIS Image of the Day – Google Gadget referring to MODIS image of the day
3.
Karumba, Queensland
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Karumba is a town in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia,71 kilometres by road from Normanton and 2,159 kilometres from the state capital, Brisbane. The settlement was known as Norman Mouth and Kimberley. Karumba was used by the aborigines to describe the place. This name was used for the township by the 1880s. Karumba forms part of Carpentaria Shire Council, the headquarters of which is in Normanton. At the 2006 census, Karumba had a population of 518, the town is sited at the mouth of the Norman River, and enjoys the distinction of being the only town along the southern Gulf of Carpentaria that is within sight of the Gulf itself. As such, the economy revolves largely around fishing. The Karumba port services the Century Zinc Mine as well as fishing, the prawn industry expanded in the 1960s. The rare Morning Glory cloud rolls through Karumba in the hours of some mornings in September and October. In the late 1930s the town was a refueling and maintenance stop for the boats of the Qantas Empire Airways. The Red Hot Chili Peppers song Animal Bar from their 2006 album Stadium Arcadium is about Karumba and it is named after a bar called the Animal Bar. Karumba Post Office opened on 22 August 1889 and closed in 1919, Karumba State School opened in September 1968. Karumba has a library, visitor information centre, parks, bowls club, golf course, swimming pool. Karumba has a climate with warm, wet summers and mild
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Sea
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A sea is a large body of salt water that is surrounded in whole or in part by land. More broadly, the sea is the system of Earths salty. The sea moderates Earths climate and has important roles in the cycle, carbon cycle. Although the sea has been traveled and explored since prehistory, the scientific study of the sea—oceanography—dates broadly to the British Challenger expedition of the 1870s. Owing to the present state of continental drift, the Northern Hemisphere is now equally divided between land and sea but the South is overwhelmingly oceanic. Salinity in the ocean is generally in a narrow band around 3. 5% by mass, although this can vary in more landlocked waters, near the mouths of large rivers. About 85% of the solids in the sea are sodium chloride. Deep-sea currents are produced by differences in salinity and temperature, surface currents are formed by the friction of waves produced by the wind and by tides, the changes in local sea level produced by the gravity of the Moon and Sun. The direction of all of these is governed by surface and submarine land masses, former changes in sea levels have left continental shelves, shallow areas in the sea close to land. The most diverse areas surround great tropical coral reefs, whaling in the deep sea was once common but whales dwindling numbers prompted international conservation efforts and finally a moratorium on most commercial hunting. Life may have started there and aquatic microbial mats are generally credited with the oxygenation of Earths atmosphere, the sea is an essential aspect of human trade, travel, mineral extraction, and power generation. It is the scene of activities including swimming, diving, surfing. However, population growth, industrialization, and intensive farming have all contributed to marine pollution. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is being absorbed in increasing amounts, lowering its pH in a known as ocean acidification. The shared nature of the sea has made overfishing an increasing problem, both senses of sea date to Old English, the larger sense has required a definite article since Early Middle English. Seas are generally larger than lakes and contain salt water, while the defining elements of size and being bounded are generally used, there is no formally accepted technical definition of sea among oceanographers. In international law, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that all the ocean is the sea. Earth is the known planet with seas of liquid water on its surface, although Mars possesses ice caps
6.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
7.
Arafura Sea
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The Arafura Sea lies west of the Pacific Ocean overlying the continental shelf between Australia and Indonesian New Guinea. The Arafura Sea is bordered by Torres Strait and through that the Coral Sea to the east, the Gulf of Carpentaria to the south, the Timor Sea to the west and it is 1,290 kilometres long and 560 kilometres wide. The depth of the sea is primarily 50–80 metres with the depth increasing to the west, as a shallow tropical sea, its waters are a breeding ground for tropical cyclones. The sea lies over the Arafura Shelf, part of the Sahul Shelf, the combined landmass formed the continent of Sahul. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the Arafura Sea as being one of the waters of the East Indian Archipelago, the IHO defines its limits as follows, On the North. The Southeastern limit of the Ceram Sea and the Eastern limit of the Banda Sea, the Southwest coast of New Guinea from Karoefa to the entrance to the Bensbak River, and thence a line to the Northwest extreme of York Peninsula, Australia. By the North coast of Australia from the Northwest extreme of York Peninsula to Cape Don, a line from Cape Don to Tanjong Aro Oesoe, the Southern point of Selaroe. The seas name appeared in George Windsor Earls 1837 Sailing Directions for the Arafura Sea which he compiled from the narratives of Lieuts, Kolff and Modera of the Dutch Navy. The Arafura Sea name is from the name for the people of mountains in the Moluccas as identified by Dutch Lieutenants Kolff. Thomas Forrest sailed thru the Moluccas in 1775 and retailed reports of Harafora people living in the end of New Guinea in subordination to the Papuas. The geographer Conrad Malte-Brun repeated Forrests reports of a race of Haraforas, in 1822, the form Horrafora was recorded by John Coulter, in his account of a sojourn in the interior of south-west New Guinea in 1835, and applied to the tribespeople there. Coulter concluded that Papuans and Horraforas were two races in New Guinea. The Arafura Sea is a fishery resource, particularly for shrimp. Economically important species include Barramundi, grouper, Penaeid shrimp, Nemipteridae fishes, in a world where marine ecosystems and fish stocks are generally collapsing, the Arafura Sea stands out as among the richest marine fisheries in the world. However, the Arafura is coming under more intense pressure from illegal. If this trend persists, the local communities who surround the sea. Increasing economic growth and maintaining environment quality are two challenges to achieve sustainable development in coastal areas of the sea. Established in 2002, the Arafura and Timor Seas Expert Forum seeks to economically and environmentally sustainable management of the seas
8.
New Guinea
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New Guinea is a large Island in the South West Pacific region. It is the worlds second-largest island, after Greenland, covering an area of 785,753 km2. The island is divided between two countries, Papua New Guinea to the east, and Indonesia to the west, the island has been known by various names. The name Papua was used to refer to parts of the island before contact with the West and its etymology is unclear, one theory states that it is from Tidore, the language used by the Sultanate of Tidore, which controlled parts of the islands coastal region. The name came from papo and ua, which means not united or, ploeg reports that the word papua is often said to derive from the Malay word papua or pua-pua, meaning frizzly-haired, referring to the highly curly hair of the inhabitants of these areas. When the Portuguese and Spanish explorers arrived in the island via the Spice Islands, when the Dutch colonized it as part of Netherlands East Indies, they called it Nieuw Guinea. The name Irian was used in the Indonesian language to refer the island and Indonesian province, the name was promoted in 1945 by Marcus Kaisiepo, brother of the future governor Frans Kaisiepo. It is taken from the Biak language of Biak Island, and means to rise and this name of Irian is the name used in the Biak language and other languages such as Serui, Merauke and Waropen. The name was used until 2001, when the name Papua was again used for the island, the name Irian, which was originally favored by natives, is now considered to be a name imposed by the authority of Jakarta. New Guinea is an island to the north of Australia, and it is isolated by the Arafura Sea to the west and the Torres Strait and Coral Sea to the east. A spine of east–west mountains, the New Guinea Highlands, dominates the geography of New Guinea, stretching over 1,600 km from the head to the tail of the island. The western half of the island of New Guinea contains the highest mountains in Oceania, rising up to 4,884 m high, the tree line is around 4,000 m elevation and the tallest peaks contain permanent equatorial glaciers—which have been retreating since at least 1936. Various other smaller mountain ranges occur both north and west of the central ranges, except in high elevations, most areas possess a warm humid climate throughout the year, with some seasonal variation associated with the northeast monsoon season. At 4,884 metres, Puncak Jaya makes New Guinea the worlds fourth highest landmass, Puncak Mandala, located in Papua, is the second highest peak on the island at 4,760 metres. Puncak Trikora, also in Papua, is 4,750 metres, mount Wilhelm is the highest peak on the PNG side of the border at 4,509 metres. Its granite peak is the highest point of the Bismarck Range, mount Giluwe 4,368 metres is the second highest summit in PNG. It is also the highest volcanic peak in Oceania, another major habitat feature is the vast southern and northern lowlands. Stretching for hundreds of kilometres, these include lowland rainforests, extensive wetlands, savanna grasslands, the southern lowlands are the site of Lorentz National Park, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site
9.
Cape York Peninsula
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Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining areas on Earth. The land is flat and about half of the area is used for grazing cattle. Edmund Kennedy was the first European explorer to attempt an expedition of Cape York Peninsula. He had been second-in-command to Thomas Livingstone Mitchell in 1846 when the Barcoo River was discovered, the aim was to blaze a trail to the tip of the peninsula where some Sydney businessmen thought of developing a port for trade with the East Indies. The expedition set out from Rockingham Bay near the present town of Cardwell in May 1848, of the thirteen men who set out, only three survived. The others died of fever or starvation, or were speared by hostile aborigines, Kennedy died of spear wounds almost within sight of his destination in December 1848. The only survivor to complete the journey was Jackey Jackey, an aborigine from New South Wales and he led a rescue party to the other two who had been unable to continue. En route they lost most of their horses, many of their stores and fought pitched battles with aborigines, the west coast borders the Gulf of Carpentaria and the east coast borders the Coral Sea. The peninsula is bordered on three sides, there is no clear demarcation to the south, although the official boundary in the Cape York Peninsula Heritage Act 2007 of Queensland runs along at about 16°S latitude. At the peninsula’s widest point, it is 430 km from the Bloomfield River in the southeast and it is some 660 km from the southern border of Cook Shire, to the tip of Cape York. The largest islands in the strait include Prince of Wales Island, Horn Island, Moa, at the tip of the peninsula lies Cape York, the northernmost point on the Australian continent. The tropical landscapes are among the most stable in the world, the backbone of Cape York Peninsula is the peninsula ridge, part of Australia’s Great Dividing Range. This mountain range is made up of ancient Precambrian and Palaeozoic rocks, to the east and west of the peninsula ridge lie the Carpentaria and Laura Basins, themselves made up of ancient Mesozoic sediments. The soils are remarkably infertile even compared to areas of Australia, being almost entirely laterised and in most cases so old. The temperature is warm to hot, with a climate in higher areas. The mean annual temperatures range from 18 °C at higher elevations to 27 °C on the lowlands in the drier southwest, temperatures over 40 °C and below 5 °C are rare. Annual rainfall is high, ranging from over 2,000 millimetres in the Iron Range, almost all this rain falls between November and April, and only on the eastern slopes of the Iron Range is the median rainfall between June and September above 5 millimetres
10.
Northern Territory
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The Northern Territory is a federal 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, to the north, the territory is bordered by the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Despite its large area—over 1,349,129 square kilometres, the Northern Territorys population of 244,000 makes it the least populous of Australias eight major states and territories, having fewer than half as many people as Tasmania. The archaeological history of the Northern Territory begins over 40,000 years ago when Indigenous Australians settled the region, makassan traders began trading with the indigenous people of the Northern Territory for trepang from at least the 18th century onwards. The coast of the territory was first seen by Europeans in the 17th century, the British were the first Europeans to attempt to settle the coastal regions. After three failed attempts to establish a settlement, success was achieved in 1869 with the establishment of a settlement at Port Darwin. Today the economy is based on tourism, especially Kakadu National Park in the Top End and the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in central Australia, the capital and largest city is Darwin. The population is not concentrated in regions but rather along the Stuart Highway. The other major settlements are Palmerston, Alice Springs, Katherine, Nhulunbuy, residents of the Northern Territory are often known simply as Territorians and fully as Northern Territorians, or more informally as Top Enders and Centralians. With the coming of the British, there were four attempts to settle the harsh environment of the northern coast. The Northern Territory was part of colonial New South Wales from 1825 to 1863, except for a time from February to December 1846. It was part of South Australia from 1863 to 1911, under the administration of colonial South Australia, the overland telegraph was constructed between 1870 and 1872. A railway was built between Palmerston and Pine Creek between 1883 and 1889. The economic pattern of raising and mining was established so that by 1911 there were 513,000 cattle. Victoria River Downs was at one time the largest cattle station in the world, gold was found at Grove Hill in 1872 and at Pine Creek, Brocks Creek, Burrundi, and copper was found at Daly River. On 1 January 1911, a decade after federation, the Northern Territory was separated from South Australia, alfred Deakin opined at this time To me the question has been not so much commercial as national, first, second, third and last. Either we must accomplish the peopling of the territory or submit to its transfer to some other nation. In late 1912 there was growing sentiment that the name Northern Territory was unsatisfactory, the names Kingsland, Centralia and Territoria were proposed with Kingsland becoming the preferred choice in 1913
11.
Arnhem Land
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Arnhem Land is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the corner of the territory and is around 500 km from the territory capital Darwin. The region has an area of 97,000 km2, which covers the area of Kakadu National Park. The area covers about 34,000 km2 and has an population of 16,000, of whom 12,000 are Yolngu. The region’s service hub is Nhulunbuy,600 km east of Darwin, other major population centres are Yirrkala, Gunbalanya, Ramingining, and Maningrida. A substantial proportion of the population, which is mostly Aboriginal and this outstation movement started in the early 1980s. Many Aboriginal groups moved to very small settlements on their traditional lands. These population groups have very little western influence culturally speaking, many of the regions leaders have called and continue to call for a treaty that would allow the Yolngu to operate under their own traditional laws. In 2013-14, the region contributed around $1.3 billion or 7% to the Northern Territory’s gross state product. Arnhem Land has been occupied by people for tens of thousands of years and is the location of the oldest-known stone axe. The Gove Peninsula was heavily involved in the defence of Australia during World War II, at least since the 18th century Muslim traders from Makassar visited Arnhem Land each year to trade, harvest, and process sea cucumbers or trepang. This sea slug is highly prized in Chinese cuisine, for folk medicine and this Macassan contact with Australia is the first recorded example of interaction between the inhabitants of the Australian continent and their Asian neighbours. This contact had an effect on local indigenous Australians. The Makassans exchanged goods such as cloth, tobacco, knives, rice, Makassar pidgin became a lingua franca along the north coast among several indigenous Australian groups who were brought into greater contact with each other by the seafaring Makassan culture. These traders from the southwest corner of Sulawesi also introduced the word balanda for white people, in Arnhem Land, the word is still widely used today to refer to white Australians. The Dutch started settling in Sulawesi Island in the early 17th century, archeological remains of Makassar contact, including trepang processing plants from the 18th and 19th centuries, are still found at Australian locations such as Port Essington and Groote Eylandt. The Makassans also planted tamarind trees, after processing, the sea slugs were traded by the Makassans to Southern China. In 2014, an 18th-century Chinese coin was found in the area of Wessel Islands off the coast on a beach on Elcho Island during a historical expedition
12.
Tidal range
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The tidal range is the vertical difference between the high tide and the succeeding low tide. Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun. The tidal range is not constant, but changes depending on where the sun and this type of tide is known as a spring tide. During neap tides, when the Moon and Suns gravitational force vectors act in quadrature, neap tides occur during the first and last quarters of the moons phases. The largest annual tidal range can be expected around the time of the equinox, tidal data for coastal areas is published by the national hydrographic service of the country concerned. Tidal data is based on phenomena and is predictable. Storm force winds blowing from a direction for a prolonged time interval combined with low barometric pressure can increase the tidal range. Such weather-related effects on the tide, which can cause ranges in excess of predicted values, the typical tidal range in the open ocean is about 0.6 metres. Closer to the coast, this range is much greater, coastal tidal ranges vary globally and can differ anywhere from near zero to over 11 metres. The exact range depends on the volume of water adjacent to the coast, larger bodies of water have higher ranges, and the geography can act as a funnel amplifying or dispersing the tide. The worlds largest tidal range of 16.3 metres occurs in Bay of Fundy, Canada, the top 50 locations with the largest tidal ranges world-wide are listed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States. Some of the smallest tidal ranges occur in the Mediterranean, Baltic, a point within a tidal system where the tidal range is almost zero is called an amphidromic point. The tidal range has been classified as, Micromareal, when the range is lower than 2 metres. Mesomareal, when the range is between 2 metres and 4 metres. Macromareal, when the range is higher than 4 metres
13.
Sahul Shelf
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The Sahul Shelf /səˈhuːl/ is part of the continental shelf of the Australian continent and lies off the coast of mainland Australia. The Sahul Shelf proper stretches northwest from Australia much of the way under the Timor Sea towards Timor, another part of the Sahul Shelf is known also as the Arafura Shelf and runs all the way from the northern coast of Australia under the Arafura Sea to New Guinea. The Aru Islands rise from the Arafura Shelf, the Sahul Shelf is sometimes taken to also include the Rowley Shelf which runs out under the Indian Ocean from the northwest coast of Australia as far south as North West Cape. When sea levels fell during the Pleistocene ice age, including the last glacial maximum about 18,000 years ago, evidence of the shoreline of this time has been identified in locations which now lie 100 to 140 metres below sea level. A useful interactive timeline of sea level changes has been developed by Monash University, the Arafura Shelf formed a land bridge between Australia, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands, and these lands share many marsupial mammals, land birds, and freshwater fish as a result. Lydekkers Line, a line, runs along the edge of Sahul Shelf where it drops off into the deep waters of the Wallacea biogeographical area. Wallacea sits in a gap between the Sahul Shelf and the Sunda Shelf, part of the shelf of Southeast Asia. The name Sahull or Sahoel appeared on 17th century Dutch maps applied to a sandbank between Australia and Timor. On his 1803 map, Matthew Flinders noted the Great Sahul Shoal where Malays came from Makassar to fish for trepang, the existence of the much larger Sahul Shelf was suggested in 1845 by G. W. Earl who called it the Great Australian Bank and noted that macropods were found on Australia, New Guinea, earl also suggested the existence of the Sunda Shelf which he called the Great Asiatic Bank. The Sahul and Sunda shelves were given their present names by G. A. F, molengraaff and Max Wilhelm Carl Weber in 1919
14.
Ice age
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An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earths surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within a long-term ice age, individual pulses of cold climate are termed glacial periods, in the terminology of glaciology, ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in both northern and southern hemispheres. In 1742 Pierre Martel, an engineer and geographer living in Geneva, two years later he published an account of his journey. He reported that the inhabitants of that valley attributed the dispersal of erratic boulders to the glaciers, later similar explanations were reported from other regions of the Alps. In 1815 the carpenter and chamois hunter Jean-Pierre Perraudin explained erratic boulders in the Val de Bagnes in the Swiss canton of Valais as being due to glaciers previously extending further. An unknown woodcutter from Meiringen in the Bernese Oberland advocated a similar idea in a discussion with the Swiss-German geologist Jean de Charpentier in 1834, comparable explanations are also known from the Val de Ferret in the Valais and the Seeland in western Switzerland and in Goethes scientific work. Such explanations could also be found in parts of the world. When the Bavarian naturalist Ernst von Bibra visited the Chilean Andes in 1849–1850, meanwhile, European scholars had begun to wonder what had caused the dispersal of erratic material. From the middle of the 18th century, some discussed ice as a means of transport, the Swedish mining expert Daniel Tilas was, in 1742, the first person to suggest drifting sea ice in order to explain the presence of erratic boulders in the Scandinavian and Baltic regions. In 1795, the Scottish philosopher and gentleman naturalist, James Hutton, two decades later, in 1818, the Swedish botanist Göran Wahlenberg published his theory of a glaciation of the Scandinavian peninsula. He regarded glaciation as a regional phenomenon, only a few years later, the Danish-Norwegian geologist Jens Esmark argued a sequence of worldwide ice ages. In a paper published in 1824, Esmark proposed changes in climate as the cause of those glaciations and he attempted to show that they originated from changes in Earths orbit. During the following years, Esmarks ideas were discussed and taken over in parts by Swedish, Scottish, at the University of Edinburgh Robert Jameson seemed to be relatively open to Esmarks ideas, as reviewed by Norwegian professor of glaciology Bjørn G. Andersen. Jamesons remarks about ancient glaciers in Scotland were most probably prompted by Esmark, in Germany, Albrecht Reinhard Bernhardi, a geologist and professor of forestry at an academy in Dreissigacker, since incorporated in the southern Thuringian city of Meiningen, adopted Esmarks theory. In a paper published in 1832, Bernhardi speculated about former polar ice caps reaching as far as the zones of the globe. When he read his paper before the Schweizerische Naturforschende Gesellschaft, most scientists remained sceptical, finally, Venetz convinced his friend Jean de Charpentier. De Charpentier transformed Venetzs idea into a theory with a limited to the Alps. In fact, both men shared the same volcanistic, or in de Charpentiers case rather plutonistic assumptions, about the Earths history, in 1834, de Charpentier presented his paper before the Schweizerische Naturforschende Gesellschaft
15.
Willem Janszoon
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Willem Janszoon, sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz. was a Dutch navigator and colonial governor. Janszoon served in the Netherlands East Indies in the periods 1603–11 and 1612–16 and he is the first European known to have seen the coast of Australia during his voyage of 1605–06. Willem Janszoon was born around 1570, but nothing is known of his early life, Van Neck, dispatched by the Dutch to the Dutch East Indies. On 5 May 1601, he sailed for the East Indies as master of the Lam. Janszoon sailed from the Netherlands for the East Indies for the time on 18 December 1603, as captain of the Duyfken. When the other ships left Java, Janszoon was sent to search for other outlets of trade, particularly in the land of New Guinea and other East. On 18 November 1605, the Duyfken sailed from Bantam to the coast of western New Guinea, after that, Janszoon crossed the eastern end of the Arafura Sea, without seeing the Torres Strait, into the Gulf of Carpentaria. On 26 February 1606, he made landfall at the Pennefather River on the shore of Cape York in Queensland. This is the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, Janszoon proceeded to chart some 320 km of the coastline, which he thought was a southerly extension of New Guinea. Finding the land swampy and the inhospitable, at Cape Keerweer, south of Albatross Bay, Willem Janszoon decided to return. He called the land he had discovered Nieu Zeland after the Dutch province of Zeeland, the Duyfken was actually in Torres Strait in March 1606, a few months before Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through it. In 1607 Cornelis Matelieff de Jonge sent him to Ambon and Banda, in 1611 Janszoon returned to the Netherlands believing that the south coast of New Guinea was joined to the land along which he sailed, and Dutch maps reproduced this error for many years. Janszoon reported that on 31 July 1618, he had landed on an island at 22° South with a length of 22 miles and 240 miles SSE of the Sunda Strait. Around 1617/18 he was back in the Netherlands and was appointed as a member of the Council of the Indies, in 1620 he was one of the negotiators with the English. In a combined fleet sailed to Manila to prevent Chinese merchants dealing with the Spanish. Janszoon became vice-admiral, and the later admiral. Near the end of his life, Janszoon served as governor of Banda and he returned to Batavia in June 1627 and soon afterwards, as admiral of a fleet of eight vessels, went on a diplomatic mission to India. On 4 December 1628, he sailed for Holland and on 16 July 1629 and he was now probably about sixty years old and ready to retire from his strenuous and successful career in the service of his country
16.
Pieter de Carpentier
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Pieter de Carpentier was a Dutch, or Flemish, administrator of the Dutch East India Company who served as Governor-General there from 1623 to 1627. The Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia is named after him, Pieter de Carpentier was born in Antwerp in 1586, shortly after the formation of the newly independent Dutch Republic. He studied philosophy in Leiden, from 1603, in 1616 he sailed on board the sailing vessel De Getrouwheid to Indonesia. There he had a number of functions, including Director-General of the Trade, Member to the Council of the Indies, from 1 February 1623 to 30 September 1627 he was the fifth Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. He participated in the conquest of Jakarta and helped to build the town of Batavia and he did much for the town, including setting up a school, a Town Hall, and the first Orphanage Home. He also designed the structure of the churches in the town, on 12 November 1627 Pieter de Carpentier sailed from the East Indies as Head of the Fleet. Two ships and a yacht being soon ready to sail, the senate sent them to Texel so as to no time. These vessels were the Batavia the Dordrecht and the Assendelft and they left Texel for their destination on 28 October 1628. De Carpentier was made Member of the Board of the Dutch East India Company in October 1629 and his maternal uncle, Louis Delbeecque, had been one of the initiators of the VOC. Pieter de Carpentier married Maria Ravevelt in Middelburg on 2 March 1630 and she died in September 1641 and was buried on in the Westerkerk in Amsterdam. De Carpentier died in Amsterdam on 5 September 1659, and was buried in the Westerkerk. Western Australia, a history from its discovery to the inauguration of the Commonwealth by J S Battye Chapter 1, much of the information for this article was provided by Mr Jaap de Carpentier Wolf, a descendant of Pieter de Carpentier. The source of the image of Pieter de Carpentier is Genealogy of the De Carpentier familie of Holland by Edwin Jaquett Sellers, Allen, Lane & Scott, USA, Philadelphia 1909. The original oil painting of this gravure is hanging in The Hague in one of the buildings of the heart of The Netherlands
17.
Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies
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The Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies represented Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and Dutch recognition of the independence of Indonesia in 1949. The first Governors-General were appointed by the Dutch East India Company, after the VOC was formally dissolved in 1800, the territorial possessions of the VOC were nationalised under the Dutch Government as the Dutch East Indies, a colony of the Netherlands. Governors-General were now appointed by either the Dutch monarch or the Dutch government, during the Dutch East Indies era most Governors-General were expatriate Dutchmen, while during the earlier VOC era most Governors-General became settlers who stayed and died in the East Indies. Under the period of British control, the equivalent position was the Lieutenant-Governor, between 1942 and 1945, while Hubertus Johannes van Mook was the nominal Governor-General, the area was under Japanese control, and was governed by a two sequence of governors, in Java and Sumatra. After 1948 in negotiations for independence, the equivalent position was named High Commissioner of the Crown in the Dutch East Indies, since the VOC era, the highest Dutch authority in the colonial possessions of the East Indies resided with the Office of the Governor-General. During the Dutch East Indies era the Governor-General functioned as chief executive, president of colonial government. A Governor-General represented the Dutch Empire and Monarch and was the most influential party in the colony, until 1815 the Governor-General had the absolute right to ban, censor or restrict any publication in the colony. The so-called Exorbitant powers of the Governor-General allowed him to exile anyone regarded as subversive and dangerous to peace and order, until 1848 the Governor-General was directly appointed by the Dutch monarch, and in later years via the Crown on advice of the Dutch metropolitan cabinet. During two periods the Governor-General ruled jointly with a board called the Raad van Indie. Overall colonial policy and strategy were the responsibility of the Ministry of Colonies based in The Hague, often headed by a former Governor-General. From 1815 to 1848 the Ministry was under authority of the Dutch King. In 1922 the colony came on equal footing with the Netherlands in the Dutch constitution, during the tenure of Governors-General who were proponents of the Ethical policy a Peoples Council called the Volksraad for the Dutch East Indies was installed in 1918. The Volksraad, an infant form of council, was limited to an advisory role. The Council comprised 30 indigenous members,25 European and 5 from Chinese and other populations, in 1925 the Volksraad was made a semilegislative body, and the Governor-General was expected to consult the Volksraad on major issues. List of Governors-General of the Dutch East Indies Media related to Governor-Generals of the Dutch East Indies at Wikimedia Commons
18.
Abel Tasman
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Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company. In 1633 he sailed from Texel to Batavia in the service of the Dutch East India Company, Tasman took part in a voyage to Seram Island, the locals had sold spices to others than the Dutch. He had a escape from death, when in an incautious landing several of his companions were killed by people of Seram. In August 1637 he was back in Amsterdam, and the year he signed on for another ten years. On 25 March 1638 he tried to sell his property in the Jordaan, in 1639 he was second-in-command of an exploration expedition in the north Pacific under Matthijs Quast. The fleet included the ships Engel and Gracht and reached Fort Zeelandia and this expedition used two small ships, the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen. According to Marco Polo, Locach was a kingdom where gold was “so plentiful that no one who did not see it could believe it”, Beach was in fact a mistranscription of Locach. Locach was Marco Polo’s name for the southern Thai kingdom of Lavo, or Lop Buri, in Chinese, Lavo was pronounced “Lo-huk”, from which Marco Polo took his rendition of the name. In the German cursive script, “Locach” and “Boeach” look similar and they seem to have drawn on the map of the world published in Florence in 1489 by Henricus Martellus, in which provincia boëach appears as the southern neighbour of provincia ciamba. Book III of Marco Polo’s Il Milione described his journey by sea from China to India by way of Champa, Java, Locach, after a chapter describing the kingdom of Champa there follows a chapter describing Java. Locach, located between Champa and Sumatra, was likewise misplaced far to the south of Java, by some geographers on or near an extension of the Terra Australis. Gerard Mercator did just that on his 1541 globe, placing Beach provincia aurifera in the northernmost part of the Terra Australis in accordance with the faulty text of Marco Polo’s Travels. Following Mercator, Abraham Ortelius also showed BEACH and LVCACH in these locations on his map of 1571. Confirmation that land existed where the maps showed Beach to be had come from Dirk Hartog’s landing in October 1616 on its west coast, which he called Eendrachtsland after the name of his ship. In accordance with Visschers directions, Tasman sailed from Batavia on 14 August 1642 and arrived at Mauritius on 5 September 1642, the reason for this was the crew could be fed well on the island, there was plenty of fresh water and timber to repair the ships. Tasman got the assistance of the governor Adriaan van der Stel, because of the prevailing winds Mauritius was chosen as a turning point. After a four-week stay on the island both ships left on 8 October using the Roaring Forties to sail east as fast as possible. On 7 November snow and hail influenced the ships council to alter course to a more north-eastern direction, on 24 November 1642 Abel Tasman reached and sighted the west coast of Tasmania, north of Macquarie Harbour
19.
Matthew Flinders
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Captain Matthew Flinders RN was an English navigator and cartographer, who was the leader of the first circumnavigation of Australia and identified it as a continent. Flinders made three voyages to the ocean between 1791 and 1810. In the second voyage, George Bass and Flinders confirmed that Van Diemens Land was an island, in the third voyage, Flinders circumnavigated the mainland of what was to be called Australia, accompanied by Aboriginal man Bungaree. Heading back to England in 1803, Flinders vessel needed urgent repairs at Isle de France, although Britain and France were at war, Flinders thought the scientific nature of his work would ensure safe passage, but a suspicious governor kept him under arrest for more than six years. Flinders health had suffered, however, and although he reached home in 1810, he did not live to see the publication of his widely praised book and atlas, A Voyage to Terra Australis. Flinders was born in Donington, Lincolnshire, England, the son of Matthew Flinders, a surgeon, and his wife Susannah, née Ward. In his own words, he was induced to go to sea against the wishes of my friends from reading Robinson Crusoe, initially serving on HMS Alert, he transferred to HMS Scipio, and in July 1790 was made midshipman on HMS Bellerophon under Captain Pasley. By Pasleys recommendation, he joined Captain Blighs expedition on HMS Providence and this was also Blighs second Breadfruit Voyage following on from the ill-fated voyage of the Bounty. The passage between the Australian mainland and Tasmania enabled savings of several days on the journey from England, in honour of this discovery, the largest island in Bass Strait would later be named Flinders Island. The town of Flinders near the mouth of Western Port also commemorates Bass discovery of that bay, Flinders never entered Western Port, and passed Cape Schanck only on 3 May 1802. Flinders once more sailed the Norfolk, this time north on 17 July 1799 and he touched down at Pumicestone Passage, Redcliffe and Coochiemudlo Island and also rowed ashore at Clontarf. During this visit he named Redcliffe after the Red Cliffs, in March 1800, Flinders rejoined the Reliance and set sail for England. Banks used his influence with Earl Spencer to convince the Admiralty of the importance of an expedition to chart the coastline of New Holland. As a result, in January 1801, Flinders was given command of the Investigator, a 334-ton sloop, the Investigator set sail for New Holland on 18 July 1801. Attached to the expedition was the botanist Robert Brown, botanical artist Ferdinand Bauer, due to the scientific nature of the expedition, Flinders was issued with a French passport, despite England and France then being at war. On 17 April 1801, Flinders married his longtime friend Ann Chappelle and had hoped to bring her with him to Port Jackson, however the Admiralty had strict rules against wives accompanying captains. This is well documented in correspondence between Flinders and his benefactor, Sir Joseph Banks in May 1801. I have but time to tell you that the news of your marriage, the Lords of the Admiralty have heard also that Mrs. Flinders is on board the Investigator, and that you have some thought of carrying her to sea with you
20.
Burke and Wills expedition
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At that time most of the inland of Australia had not been explored by non-Indigenous people and was largely unknown to the European settlers. The expedition left Melbourne in winter, bad weather, poor roads and broken-down wagons meant they made slow progress at first. After dividing the party at Menindee on the Darling River Burke made good progress, the expedition established a depot camp at the Cooper, and Burke, Wills and two other men pushed on to the north coast. The return journey was plagued by delays and monsoon rains, Burke and Wills died on or about 30 June 1861. Several relief expeditions were sent out, all contributing new geographical findings, all together, seven men lost their lives, and only one man, the Irish soldier John King, crossed the continent with the expedition and returned alive to Melbourne. Gold was discovered in Victoria in 1851 and the subsequent gold rush led to an influx of migrants. The colony became very wealthy and Melbourne grew rapidly to become Australias largest city, the boom lasted forty years and ushered in the era known as marvellous Melbourne. The influx of educated gold seekers from England, Ireland and Germany led to growth of schools, churches, learned societies, libraries. The University of Melbourne was founded in 1855 and the State Library of Victoria in 1856, the Philosophical Institute of Victoria was founded in 1854 and became the Royal Society of Victoria after receiving a Royal Charter in 1859. By 1855 there was speculation about possible routes for the Australian Overland Telegraph Line to connect Australia to the new cable in Java. There was fierce competition between the colonies over the route with governments recognising the benefits that would result from becoming the centre of the telegraph network. The Victorian government organised the Burke and Wills expedition to cross the continent in 1860, the South Australian government offered a reward of £2000 to encourage an expedition to find a route between South Australia and the north coast. In 1857 the Philosophical Institute formed an Exploration Committee with the aim of investigating the practicability of fitting out an exploring expedition, while interest in inland exploration was strong in the neighbouring colonies of New South Wales and South Australia, in Victoria enthusiasm was limited. The Exploration Committee called for offers of interest for a leader for the Victorian Exploring Expedition, only two members of the Committee, Ferdinand von Mueller and Wilhelm Blandowski, had any experience in exploration but due to factionalism both were consistently outvoted. Several people were considered for the post of leader and the Society held a range of meetings in early 1860, robert OHara Burke was selected by committee ballot as the leader, and William John Wills was recommended as surveyor, navigator and third-in-command. Burke had no experience in exploration and it is strange that he was chosen to lead the expedition, Burke was an Irish-born ex-officer with the Austrian army, and later became police superintendent with virtually no skills in bushcraft. Wills was more adept than Burke at living in the wilderness, rather than take cattle to be slaughtered during the trip the Committee decided to experiment with dried meat. The weight required three extra wagons and was to slow the expedition down appreciably, the Exploration Committee of the Royal Society of Victoria included, Sir William Foster Stawell, Chief Justice of Victoria Dr David Elliott Wilkie MD
21.
Robert O'Hara Burke
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Robert OHara Burke was an Irish soldier and police officer who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. The expedition party was equipped, but Burke was not experienced in bushcraft. A Royal Commission report conducted upon the failure of the expedition was a censure of Burkes judgement, Burke was born in St Clerens, County Galway, Ireland in May 1821. He was the second of three sons of James Hardiman Burke, an officer in the British army 7th Royal Fusiliers, Burke entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in May 1835. In December 1836 he failed his exam and went to Belgium to further his education. In 1841, at the age of twenty he entered the Austrian army and he spent most of his time in the Imperial Austrian Army posted to northern Italy and in April 1847 was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. After returning to Ireland in 1848, he joined the Irish Constabulary and he did his cadet training at Phoenix Park Depot in Dublin between November 1849 and January 1850, was promoted to 3rd Class Sub-Inspector and stationed in County Kildare. At the end of 1850 he transferred to the Mounted Police in Dublin, Burke migrated to Australia in 1853. He landed in Hobart, Tasmania but soon moved to Melbourne, on 31 December 1853 he was promoted to District Inspector of the Ovens District and early in 1854 he moved to Beechworth to relieve Inspector John Giles Price. After the death of his brother, James Thomas, in the Crimean War and he left Australia in March 1856 and returned to England. However peace was signed and the war had ended by the time Burke arrived in Liverpool in June 1856 and he resumed his posting at Beechworth and from there attended the Buckland Valley riots near Bright against the Chinese gold miners in 1857. In November 1858 he was transferred to Castlemaine as Police Superintendent on £550 p. a. plus a groom and he also partnered with another explorer who wanted to discover things about Australia. In June 1860, Burke was appointed to lead the Victorian Exploring Expedition with William John Wills, his third-in-command, as surveyor, the expedition left Melbourne on Monday,20 August 1860 with a total of 19 men,27 camels and 23 horses. They reached Menindee on 23 September 1860 where several people resigned, including the second-in-command, George James Landells, Cooper Creek,400 miles further on, was reached on 11 November 1860 by the advance group, the remainder being intended to catch up. After a break, Burke decided to make a dash to the Gulf of Carpentaria, William Brahe was left in charge of the remaining party. The small team of Burke, William Wills, John King and Charley Gray reached the mangroves on the estuary of the Flinders River, near where the town of Normanton now stands, flooding rains and swamps meant they never saw open ocean. Already weakened by starvation and exposure, progress on the journey was slow. Gray died four days before they reached the rendezvous at Cooper Creek, the other three rested for a day when they buried him
22.
William John Wills
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William John Wills was a British surveyor who also trained as a surgeon. Wills was born in Totnes in Devon, the child to Dr William Wills. He was one of seven children, Elizabeth Rose Wills and he lived at the family home at Ipplepen and as a young child he contracted a fever which left him with slow and hesitating speech. He was home-tutored by his father until the age of 11 and then from 1845 to 1850 he attended St Andrews Grammar School and he was then articled to Wills surgical practice. In 1852 he studied chemistry under John Stenhouse at St Bartholomews Hospital in London. Dr Wills bought a share in the Melbourne Gold Mining Company in 1852 and planned to migrate to Australia with William, however Sarah Wills objected to him leaving so Dr Wills delayed his departure and the two boys went alone. Eighteen-year-old William and fifteen-year-old Thomas left Dartmouth on 1 October 1852 aboard the Janet Mitchell and they arrived in Melbourne on 3 January 1853 with 197 fellow unassisted passengers. William and Thomas found accommodation at the Immigrants Home in South Melbourne, in February 1853 the Wills brothers found work as shepherds at a property owned by the Royal Bank Company on the Edward River near Deniliquin. They were paid £30 p. a. plus rations and were in charge of a flock of 1300 rams at the Ram Station. Dr Wills followed his sons out to Australia, arriving in August 1853, in 1854 he worked as assistant surgeon in his fathers practice and later he opened his own gold office. In early 1855, William worked on William Skenes Kanawalla Station on the Wannon River near Hamilton and he returned to Ballarat in April 1855 and towards the end of the year he began to study surveying. He was appointed as an amateur to the office of John Hamlet Taylor, William spent several months learning trigonometry, Euclid drawing and geometry and then in 1856 he went on to learn field-surveying. He started his experience at Glendaruel, near Tourello, where he worked under the supervision of Frederick John Byerly, Assistant Surveyor. In February 1857 he was working at Bullarook Creek Camp and in March 1857 he was surveying at Kingower near Inglewood, in the middle of 1857 he was promoted to foreman and placed in charge of a field party and his salary increased to ₤185 p. a. From April to June 1858 he was surveying at St Arnaud and his field party contract was terminated in June and he returned to Ballarat in July and took occasional contracts surveying for Clement Hodgkinson, the Deputy Surveyor General. Wills moved to Melbourne in August 1858 and from August to December he lodged with Mrs E Henderson at 1 Dorcas Street, Wills replaced him, and in March 1859 when his permanent appointment was confirmed, he moved into a room at the Observatory. Robert OHara Burke was appointed leader of the Victorian Exploring Expedition with George James Landells as second-in-command, Wills was appointed third-in-command, surveyor, astronomical and meteorological observer in July 1860 on a salary of £300 a year. The expedition left Melbourne on Monday,20 August 1860 with a total of 19 men,27 camels and 23 horses and they reached Menindee on 16 October 1860 where Landells resigned following an argument with Burke
23.
Melbourne
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Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in Australia and Oceania. The name Melbourne refers to an urban agglomeration spanning 9,900 km2, the metropolis is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip and expands into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of 4,641,636 as of 2016, and its inhabitants are called Melburnians. Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemens Land on 30 August 1835, in what was then the colony of New South Wales, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837. It was named Melbourne by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria, to whom Lord Melbourne was close, in 1847, during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the worlds largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as the interim seat of government until 1927. It is a financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region. It is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a centre for street art, music. It was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the main passenger airport serving the metropolis and the state is Melbourne Airport, the second busiest in Australia. The Port of Melbourne is Australias busiest seaport for containerised and general cargo, Melbourne has an extensive transport network. The main metropolitan train terminus is Flinders Street Station, and the regional train. Melbourne is also home to Australias most extensive network and has the worlds largest urban tram network. Before the arrival of settlers, humans had occupied the area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years. At the time of European settlement, it was inhabited by under 2000 hunter-gatherers from three indigenous tribes, the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung and Wathaurong. The area was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and it would be 30 years before another settlement was attempted. Batman selected a site on the bank of the Yarra River. Batman then returned to Launceston in Tasmania, in early August 1835 a different group of settlers, including John Pascoe Fawkner, left Launceston on the ship Enterprize
24.
Victoria (Australia)
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Victoria is a state in southeast Australia. Victoria is Australias most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall, most of its population is concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australias second-largest city. Prior to British European settlement, the area now constituting Victoria was inhabited by a number of Aboriginal peoples. With Great Britain having claimed the entire Australian continent east of the 135th meridian east in 1788, Victoria was included in the wider colony of New South Wales. The first settlement in the area occurred in 1803 at Sullivan Bay, and much of what is now Victoria was included in the Port Phillip District in 1836, Victoria was officially created as a separate colony in 1851, and achieved self-government in 1855. Politically, Victoria has 37 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Australian Senate, at state level, the Parliament of Victoria consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. Victoria is currently governed by the Labor Party, with Daniel Andrews the current Premier, the personal representative of the Queen of Australia in the state is the Governor of Victoria, currently Linda Dessau. Local government is concentrated in 79 municipal districts, including 33 cities, although a number of unincorporated areas still exist, Victorias total gross state product is ranked second in Australia, although Victoria is ranked fourth in terms of GSP per capita because of its limited mining activity. Culturally, Melbourne is home to a number of museums, art galleries and theatres and is described as the sporting capital of Australia. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is the largest stadium in Australia, and the host of the 1956 Summer Olympics, Victoria has eight public universities, with the oldest, the University of Melbourne, having been founded in 1853. Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, who had been on the British throne for 14 years when the colony was established in 1851. The first British settlement in the later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip. In the year 1826 Colonel Stewart, Captain S. Wright, fly and the brigs Dragon and Amity, took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. Victorias next settlement was at Portland, on the south west coast of what is now Victoria, edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman, who set up a base in Indented Head, from settlement the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. Shortly after the now known as Geelong was surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe. And in 1838 Geelong was officially declared a town, despite earlier white settlements dating back to 1826, days later, still in 1851 gold was discovered near Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at sites across Victoria
25.
Top End
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The Top End contains both of the Territorys cities and one of its major towns, Darwin, Palmerston and Katherine. The well-known town of Alice Springs is located south, in the arid southern part of the Northern Territory. The rivers that form the wetlands include the South and East Alligator Rivers, Mary River, the climate is tropical monsoon with a wet and dry season, bringing the highest rainfall in northern Australia. Temperatures do not fluctuate widely throughout the year, there are a number of islands off the Top End coast including the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt as well as many smaller ones. The sandstone plateau area of the ecoregion is a rich centre of biodiversity supporting a unique heathland flora. Much of the Top End is within the Arnhem Land tropical savanna ecoregion, which to the south merges into the semi-arid mulga scrubland, mallee, the transition is gradual, and the demarcation line that divides the Top End from the centre is arbitrary. This area is home to unique wildlife, the rivers and estuaries are home to large populations of both saltwater and freshwater crocodiles, as well as bull sharks, sawfish, and dugongs. Endemic species of the Top End include the Woodwards wallaroo, Oenpelli python, chestnut-quilled rock-pigeon, Arnhem Land rock rat, other reptiles include frill-necked lizards and large monitor lizards. Snakes include the python, death adder, mulga, water python. The plateau is home to many of these endemics, especially invertebrates, fish, the offshore islands are home to unique subspecies of some of this wildlife. The landscape is preserved and most of the area is traditionally managed by Aboriginal land trusts, including Kakadu, which is Australias largest national park. Although some populations have declined, there have no major extinctions of wildlife in this area. Darwin, though, is a city and a base for agriculture, tourism and mining. Also there was a large trade in that area which has mostly settled down. Top End travel guide from Wikivoyage
26.
Groote Eylandt
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Groote Eylandt is the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the fourth largest island in Australia. It is the homeland of, and is owned by, the Warnindhilyagwa who speak the isolated Anindilyakwa language, Groote Eylandt lies about 50 km from the Northern Territory mainland and eastern coast of Arnhem Land, about 630 km from Darwin, opposite Blue Mud Bay. The island measures about 50 km from east to west and 60 km from north to south and it is generally quite low-lying, with an average height above sea level of 15 metres, although Central Hill reaches an elevation of 219 metres. It was named by the explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 and is Dutch for Large Island in an archaic spelling, the modern Dutch spelling is Groot Eiland. Together with Bickerton Island and a few smaller islands, Groote Eylandt forms Anindilyakwa Ward of East Arnhem Region. It contains the communities of Angurugu, Alyangula, Umbakumba, Yadagba District, Uburamudja District and Sandy Hill, outside the local government subdivision is the mining company GEMCO town of Alyangula, which is unincorporated territory within the Northern Region of Northern Territory. Groote Eylandt is part of the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve, GEMCO, a South32 / Anglo American plc joint venture, operates a large manganese mine near the community of Angurugu. In operation since the early 1960s, the mine more than 3.8 million tonnes annually - about a quarter of the worlds total. The island has recently been open to the public only with permission. There is now a resort hotel on the island and visitors are welcome. The whole of Groote Eylandt and its surrounding waters lie within the Anindilyakwa Indigenous Protected Area, an unnamed islet off the north-eastern coast has been classified by BirdLife International as an important bird area because of its global importance as a roseate tern breeding site. The first recorded sighting of Groote Eylandt was in 1623, by the Dutch ship Arnhem, however, the relative prevalence of the hereditary Machado-Joseph Disease in the Groote Eylandt community has been suggested as evidence of early contact with Portuguese sailors. Japan used to trade with Macassan traders and presumably the genes were transferred to them, the island was given its current name in 1644, when Tasman arrived. The first European settlement on the island was established at Emerald River in 1921, during World War II, in 1943, the mission moved to Angurugu, as the RAAF required the use of the missions airstrip, the ruins of the RAAF base are still evident today. In 1856 the local aboriginal conglomerate that regularly passed was known as the Jurambunga tribe, the island was also used as a flying boat base by Qantas for a period of time. In 1979, control of the island was transferred to the local Aboriginal Town Council, Groote Eylandt was converted to Aboriginal freehold title land following the passing of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1976. On May 20,2008, the Federal Government signed a deal with local Aborigines from Groote Eylandt to lease land to the Government for 40 years. In return, the government will spend money in the community with the aim of improving housing, education, the Eylandt Echo newsletter is produced each fortnight
27.
Torres Strait
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The Torres Strait /ˈtɔːrᵻs/ is a strait which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is approximately 150 km wide at its narrowest extent, to the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost continental extremity of the Australian state of Queensland. To the north is the Western Province of Papua New Guinea and it is named after navigator Luís Vaz de Torres, who passed through the Strait in 1606. The strait links the Coral Sea to the east with the Arafura Sea, although it is an important international sea lane, it is very shallow, and the maze of reefs and islands can make it hazardous to navigate. In the south the Endeavour Strait is located between Prince of Wales Island and the mainland, shipping enters Torres Strait via the Adolphus Channel which joins to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon to the southeast. Strong tidal currents occur in the channels between islands and reefs, and large submarine sand dunes migrate across the seafloor. Some 580 coral reefs, including the Warrior Reefs and Eastern Patch Reefs, cover an area of 2,400 km2 in the region. Several clusters of islands lie in the Strait, collectively called the Torres Strait Islands, there are at least 274 of these islands, of which 17 have present-day permanent settlements. Over 6,800 Torres Strait Islanders live on the Islands and 42,000 live on the mainland and these islands have a variety of topographies, ecosystems and formation history. Several of those closest to the New Guinea coastline are low-lying, the central islands are predominantly coral cays, and those of the east are of volcanic origins. The islands are considered Australian territory and are administered from Thursday Island, most important of these is the Torres Strait Treaty entered into by Australia and Papua New Guinea in February 1985. The Treaty defines sovereignty and maritime boundaries in the area between the two countries, the Treaty established a Torres Strait Protected Zone within which both nations manage access to fisheries resources. Each country exercises sovereign jurisdiction for resources on either side of the agreed jurisdiction lines, the islands indigenous inhabitants are the Torres Strait Islanders, Melanesian peoples related to the Papuans of adjoining New Guinea. The various Torres Strait Islander communities have a culture and long-standing history with the islands. In the 2001 Australian national census, the population of the islands was recorded as 8,089, the islands of the Torres Strait have been inhabited for at least 2,500 years and possibly much longer. After Queiróss ship returned to Mexico, Torres resumed the voyage to Manila via the Maluku Islands. He sailed along the south coast of New Guinea, and may also have sighted the northernmost extremity of the Australian mainland and it was Dalrymple who named the strait after Torres. In 1770 Cook claimed the whole of eastern Australia for the British Crown, in 1823 Lieutenant John Lihou, then Master of HMS Zenobia, was on passage from Manila to South America and chose a route through Torres Strait
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Coral Sea
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The Coral Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. In the northwest, it reaches to the south coast of eastern New Guinea and it merges with the Tasman Sea in the south, with the Solomon Sea in the north and with the Pacific Ocean in the east. On the west, it is bounded by the mainland coast of Queensland, the sea is characterised by its warm and stable climate, with frequent rains and tropical cyclones. It contains numerous islands and reefs, as well as the worlds largest reef system, the Great Barrier Reef, all previous oil exploration projects were terminated at the GBR in 1975, and fishing is restricted in many areas. The reefs and islands of the Coral Sea are particularly rich in birds and aquatic life and are a popular tourist destination, both nationally and internationally. While the Great Barrier Reef with its islands and cays belong to Queensland, most reefs, in addition, some islands west of and belonging to New Caledonia are also part of the Coral Sea Islands in a geographical sense, such as the Chesterfield Islands and Bellona Reefs. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Coral Sea as follows, the parallel of 30° South to the Australian coast. The Eastern limit of the Arafura Sea and the East Coast of Australia as far south as Latitude 30° South, the sea has been an important source of coral for the Great Barrier Reef, both during its formation and after sea level lowering. The geological formation processes are proceeding, as partly evidenced by the seismic activity. Several hundred earthquakes with the magnitude between 2 and 6 were recorded in the period 1866–2000 along the Queensland coast and in the Coral Sea, on 2 April 2007, the Solomon Islands were struck by a major earthquake followed by a several metres tall tsunami. The epicentre of this magnitude 8.1 earthquake was 349 km northwest of Honiara and it was followed by more than 44 aftershocks of a magnitude 5.0 or greater. The resulting tsunami killed at least 52 people and destroyed more than 900 homes, the sea received its name because of its numerous coral formations. They include the GBR, which extends about 2,000 km along the northeast coast of Australia, the Chesterfield Islands and Lihou Reef are the largest atolls of the Coral Sea. Major Coral Sea currents form a counter-clockwise gyro which includes the East Australian Current and it brings warm nutrient-poor waters from the Coral Sea down the east coast of Australia to the cool waters of the Tasman Sea. This current is the strongest along the Australian coasts and transforms 30 million m3/s of water within a band of about 100 kilometres wide and 500 metres deep. The current is strongest around February and weakest around August, the major river flowing into the sea is the Burdekin River, which has its delta southeast of Townsville. Owing to the seasonal and annual variations in occurrence of cyclones and in precipitation and this irregularity results in concomitant fluctuations of the sea water composition near the river delta. The surface water temperature varies on the south of the sea from 19 °C in August to 24 °C in February and it is rather warm and stable at 27–28 °С in the north all through the year
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Gulf Country
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The region is also called the Gulf Savannah. It contains large reserves of zinc, lead and silver, the Gulf Country is crossed by the Savannah Way highway. 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 km2, the landscape 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 is one of Australias 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 erratic, at Burketown, which is typical of the region. Overall rainfall is low but if the wet season is at all strong, low-lying areas are flooded, the Gulf is also a breeding ground for cyclones during 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. The first known European explorer to visit the region was the Dutch Willem Janszoon in his 1605–6 voyage and his fellow countryman Jan Carstenszoon 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 the area was the Prussian Ludwig Leichhardt who traversed the area in 1844 and 1845 and 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, as pastoralists settled in the area there were significant clashes with local aboriginal populations. Historian Tony Roberts has described the nature of massacres and violent encounters in the Gulf Country in his book titled Frontier Justice, the 1964 Mount Isa Mines Strike was a prolonged strike between miners and management at Mount Isa Mines. The region is source of mineral wealth such as copper, zinc, lead. Mount Isa Mines includes a number of copper, lead, zinc, century Mine, Australias largest zinc mine began operations near Mount Isa in 1997 and is expected to be exhausted by 2016
30.
Tropical cyclone
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Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as hurricane, typhoon /taɪˈfuːn/, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone. A hurricane is a storm that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean, a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, Tropical cyclones typically form over large bodies of relatively warm water. They derive their energy through the evaporation of water from the ocean surface and this energy source differs from that of mid-latitude cyclonic storms, such as noreasters and European windstorms, which are fueled primarily by horizontal temperature contrasts. The strong rotating winds of a tropical cyclone are a result of the conservation of momentum imparted by the Earths rotation as air flows inwards toward the axis of rotation. As a result, they form within 5° of the equator. Tropical cyclones are typically between 100 and 2,000 km in diameter, Tropical refers to the geographical origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively over tropical seas. Cyclone refers to their nature, with wind blowing counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. The opposite direction of circulation is due to the Coriolis effect, in addition to strong winds and rain, tropical cyclones are capable of generating high waves, damaging storm surge, and tornadoes. They typically weaken rapidly over land where they are cut off from their energy source. For this reason, coastal regions are vulnerable to damage from a tropical cyclone as compared to inland regions. Heavy rains, however, can cause significant flooding inland, though their effects on human populations are often devastating, tropical cyclones can relieve drought conditions. They also carry heat away from the tropics and transport it toward temperate latitudes. Tropical cyclones are areas of low pressure in the troposphere. On Earth, the pressures recorded at the centers of tropical cyclones are among the lowest ever observed at sea level, the environment near the center of tropical cyclones is warmer than the surroundings at all altitudes, thus they are characterized as warm core systems. The near-surface wind field of a cyclone is characterized by air rotating rapidly around a center of circulation while also flowing radially inwards. At the outer edge of the storm, air may be nearly calm, however, due to the Earths rotation, as air flows radially inward, it begins to rotate cyclonically in order to conserve angular momentum. At an inner radius, air begins to ascend to the top of the troposphere and this radius is typically coincident with the inner radius of the eyewall, and has the strongest near-surface winds of the storm, consequently, it is known as the radius of maximum winds. Once aloft, air flows away from the center, producing a shield of cirrus clouds
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Great Dividing Range
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The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australias most substantial mountain range and the third longest land-based range in the world. The width of the range varies from about 160 km to over 300 km, the Dividing Range does not consist of a single mountain range. It consists of a complex of ranges, plateaus, upland areas and escarpments with an ancient. The physiographic division name for the landmass is called the East Australian Cordillera, in some places the terrain is relatively flat, consisting of very low hills. Typically the highlands range from 300 m to 1,600 m in height, the mountains and plateaus, which consist of limestones, sandstone, quartzite, schists and dolomite, have been created by faulting and folding processes. In the north, the rivers on the west side of the drain towards the Gulf of Carpentaria. The higher and more rugged parts of the range do not necessarily part of the crest of the range. At some places it can be up to 400 km wide, notable ranges and other features which form part of the range complex have their own distinctive names. The Great Dividing Range was formed during the Carboniferous period—over 300 million years ago—when Australia collided with what is now parts of South America, the range has experienced significant erosion since. For tens of thousands of years prior to British colonisation the ranges were home to various Aboriginal Australian nations and clans, evidence remains in some places of their traditional way of life including decorated caves, campsites and trails used to travel between the coastal and inland regions. Many descendants of these still exist today and remain the traditional owners. After British colonisation in 1788, the ranges were an obstacle to exploration, although not high, parts of the highlands were very rugged. Towns in the Blue Mountains were later named each of these men. This was the start of the development of the districts of inland New South Wales. A road was built to Blaxland by convicts within six months, easier routes to inland New South Wales were discovered towards Goulburn to the southwest, and westwards from Newcastle. Subsequent explorations were made across and around the ranges by Allan Cunningham, John Oxley, Hamilton Hume, Paul Edmund Strzelecki, Ludwig Leichhardt and these explorers were mainly concerned with finding and appropriating good agricultural land. By the late 1830s the most fertile rangelands adjacent to the ranges had been explored, appropriated from the traditional inhabitants. These included the Gippsland and Riverina regions in the south, up to the Liverpool Plains, various road and railway routes were subsequently established through many parts of the ranges, although many areas remain remote to this day
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Morning Glory cloud
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The Morning Glory cloud is a rare meteorological phenomenon consisting of a low-level atmospheric solitary wave and associated cloud, occasionally observed in different locations around the world. The wave often occurs as a series of waves forming bands of roll clouds. Morning Glory clouds can be observed from Burketown from late September to early November, the town attracts glider pilots intent on riding this phenomenon. There are generally only a handful of well formed spectacular clouds during this period at Burketown, during the 2012 season there were only four to be seen from there, but quite a few ragged unspectacular cloud lines were seen. Often they start to break up before arriving at Burketown or pass to the north, in an aircraft there is a significantly better chance of sighting the cloud. A Morning Glory cloud is a cloud, or arcus cloud. The cloud often travels at the rate of 10 to 20 metres per second, sometimes there is only one cloud, sometimes there are up to ten consecutive roll clouds. Three distinct types of Morning Glory clouds have been identified, the Morning Glory is often accompanied by sudden wind squalls, intense low-level wind shear, a rapid increase in the vertical displacement of air parcels, and a sharp pressure jump at the surface. Cloud is continuously formed at the edge while being eroded at the trailing edge. Showers or thunderstorms may develop in its wake, the cloud quickly dissipates over land where the air is drier. The cloud can also be described as a wave or a soliton or an undular bore. As such, it is the worlds biggest wave, the wave may occur without the appearance of any clouds. Unusual cloud formations have been noticed here since ancient times, the local Garrawa Aboriginal people called it kangólgi. Royal Australian Air Force pilots first reported this phenomenon in 1942, the Morning Glory cloud of the Gulf of Carpentaria has been studied by multiple teams of scientists since the early 1970s. The first studies were published by Reg H. Clarke, multiple studies have followed since then, proposing diverse mathematical models explaining the complex movements of air masses in the region. The Morning Glory cloud is not clearly understood because their rarity means they have little significance in terms of rainfall or climate, regardless of the complexity behind the nature of this atmospheric phenomenon, some conclusions have been made about its causes. Through research, one of the causes of most Morning Glory occurrences is the mesoscale circulations associated with sea breezes that develop over the peninsula. On the large scale, Morning Glories are usually associated with frontal systems crossing central Australia, the following is a summary of the conditions that cause the Morning Glory cloud to form in the Gulf of Carpentaria
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Burketown, Queensland
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Burketown is an isolated town and locality in the far north-western Shire of Burke, Queensland, Australia. It is located 898km west of Cairns on the Albert River, the town is the administrative centre of the vast Burke Shire Council. In the 2011 census, Burketown had a population of 201 people, the town is roughly 30 kilometres inland from the Gulf of Carpentaria. On 2 August 1841, Captain J. Lort Stokes discovered the mouth of a river he named the Albert after Prince Albert, Stokes party ascended the river for a distance of 50 river miles in a long boat in a search for fresh water. Having followed a wet season Stokes was greeted by endless grassy plains. The area was named for the Plains of Promise or Province of Albert after Prince Albert. Burketown was named in honour of explorer Robert OHara Burke, who died shortly after making the first recorded successful south-north crossing of the continent in 1860-1, the first European settlers arrived in the local region not long after Burke and partner William John Wills expedition. By the mid-1860s, several cattle stations - including Gregory Downs, Floraville, Burketown was formally established in 1865 by Robert Towns, chiefly to serve as a port and supply centre for his extensive properties in the Gulf country. Towns chartered a vessel the Jacmel Packet and on 12 June 1865 it arrived off the mouth of the Albert River. The goods were landed on the present site of Burketown. Towns, a prominent Sydney pastoralist and financier, also established Townsville in the same year, by September 1865 the population was about 40 and by October a store and a hotel were under construction, the balance of buildings were humpies. Rations and grog were plentiful but already one evil was noted, the town grew, however currency, both notes and coins, were so short in early Burketown that the business people issued their own currency, dubbed shinplaster or calabashers. These were in the form of IOUs hand printed on paper so that they had as short a life as possible. The pioneer spirit was indomitable and the first official meeting was held 25 July 1866 with prize money at $200. In October 1868 Towns and Co traded wool, tallow, hides, Burketown Post Office opened on 1 July 1866, closed in 1871 and reopened in 1883. In the same year, settlement of the region was assisted by the arrival of the Native Police, massacres of local Aboriginal people soon followed. As the Burketown correspondent of the Port Dennison Times reported on 4 June 1868, the newspaper paid thanks to those involved in ridding the district of fifty-nine myalls or local Aboriginal people. At first, hopes the town would develop into a settlement in north-western Queensland were high
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Geoscience Australia
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Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian Government. The agency is the technical adviser on all aspects of geoscience. On a user pays basis it produces products such as topographic maps. It is also a contributor to the Australian Governments free. Geoscience Australia came into being in 2001 when the Australian Surveying and its history dates back almost to Federation in 1901 when it was decided to set aside land for the national capital. This decision led to the establishment of the Australian Survey Office in 1910, aUSLIGs main function was to provide national geographic information. It was formed in 1987, when the Australian Survey Office joined with the Division of National Mapping, aGSOs predecessor organisation the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics was established in 1946, with the name changing to AGSO in 1992. The BMR was a Geological Survey with the objective was the systematic geological and geophysical mapping of the continent as the basis for informed mineral exploration. Geoscience Australias activities have expanded and today it has responsibility for meeting the Australian Governments geoscience requirements, Geoscience Australias remit also extends beyond the Australian landmass to Australias vast marine jurisdiction. It has a place name search and its earthquake monitoring services can be freely accessed. The Library is the premier geoscience library in Australia providing services to organisations, universities, research centres, the mining and petroleum industries. Geological Survey of South Australia Geological Survey of Western Australia List of national mapping agencies Geoscience Australia home page, Geoscience Australia in Google Cultural Institute As the cocky flies distance calculator International Map of the World
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RV Southern Surveyor
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The RV Southern Surveyor was an Australian marine research vessel. It was built in the UK in 1972 and acquired by CSIRO in 1988 and it was replaced in 2014 by the RV Investigator. The ship has carried out 111 Marine National Facility research voyages in the course of which she has travelled 481,550 km, in 2012 the Southern Surveyor confirmed the undiscovery of Sandy Island. CSIRO Marine National Facility – Southern Surveyor
36.
Roper River
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The Roper River is a large perennial river located in the Katherine region of the Northern Territory, Australia. The river is joined by fifteen tributaries including the Chambers, Strangways, Jalboi, Hodgson and the Wilton Rivers. The river descends 126 metres over its 1, 010-kilometre course and has a catchment area of 81,794 square kilometres, which is one of the largest river catchment areas in the Northern Territory. The Roper River is navigable for about 145 kilometres, until the limit at Roper Bar. Mataranka Hot Springs and the township of Mataranka lie close to the river at its western end, Port Roper lies near its mouth on Limmen Bight. The river has a mean annual outflow of 5,000 gigalitres, the first European to explore the Roper River was Ludwig Leichhardt in 1845 as he made his way from Moreton Bay to Port Essington. Leichhardt crossed the river at Roper Bar, a shelf which conveniently lies at the high tide limit on the river. He named the river after John Roper, a member of the expedition, list of rivers of Northern Territory
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Leichhardt River
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The Leichhardt River is a river in north west Queensland, Australia. The source of the river is in the Selwyn Range under Rifle Creek Hill and it runs in a generally northerly direction almost parallel with the Diamantina Development Road until it reaches Mount Isa and crosses the Barkly Highway. It continues in a easterly direction across the Gulf Country passing through Lake Moondarra past Glenroy Station then through Lake Julius. It then bears east then north again almost parallel with the Burke Developmental Road until crossing it near Nardoo, continuing north past Augustus Downs to its mouth at the Gulf of Carpentaria. The river is named after the explorer of Australia, Ludwig Leichhardt. Leichhardt River has a catchment area of 32,878 square kilometres, primary activities undertaken in the watershed include mining and grazing. The river is ephemeral and in the dry season the upstream reaches retract to a series of waterholes, the drainage basin and river estuary are in a near pristine condition. The river is dammed near Mount Isa to form Lake Moondarra, other storage facilities in the catchment include Julius Dam, East Leichhardt Dam and Rifle Creek Dam. Around 50 kilometres upstream from its mouth are the Leichhardt Falls, as well as Mount Isa, the small community of Kajabbi is located on the river. The river has an annual discharge of 2,179 gigalitres. In 2009 Xstrata spent $3 million for work involving the removal of 40,000 tonnes of material from the riverbed. Fossil remains have been found along the rivers course, in 2011 an unidentified ancient marsupial was discovered by paleontologists. List of rivers of Queensland Media related to Leichhardt River at Wikimedia Commons
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McArthur River
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The McArthur River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia which flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria at Port McArthur, opposite the Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands. The river was named by Ludwig Leichhardt while he explored the area in 1845 and he names the River after James MacArthur and the MacArthur family of Camden who were enthusiastic supporters of his expedition. The McArthur River has significance for the local Aboriginal communities who use it for fishing, the McArthur River basin covers 20,010 km2. The basin is situated between the Rosie River catchment to the north, the Limmen Bight River to the east, the Barkly River catchment to the south, the mean annual runoff is 3,270,000 ML per year. The headwaters of the rise on the northern edge of the Barkly Tableland. Tributaries of the McArthur River include Tooganginie Creek, and the Kilgour, the river has a long tidal estuary which extends inland to the town of Borroloola. The estuary is in pristine condition, and forms part of the Port McArthur Tidal Wetlands System Important Bird Area. In 2007, plans to expand the McArthur River zinc mine, one of the worlds largest zinc mines, were halted by a decision of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory and it was found that the approval of the expansion by Mines Minister Chris Natt was invalid. Traditional owners were concerned the proposal, which included a 5.5 km river diversion, had serious, long term, in 2008, the case was heard by the Federal Court, which found that the expansion was illegal. In early 2009, the Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett formally approved the mines expansion, Garrett placed conditions on the project which aimed to reduce the impact on the freshwater sawfish and migratory birds. List of rivers of Northern Territory
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Flinders River
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The Flinders River is the longest river in Queensland, Australia at approximately 1,004 kilometres. It was named in honour of the explorer Matthew Flinders, the catchment is sparsely populated and mostly undeveloped. The south of the catchment is bordered by the Selwyn Range, at 1,004 kilometres in length it is the eighth longest river in Australia. The catchment covers 109,000 square kilometres, the primary land use in the catchment is grazing and other agriculture, the catchment covers 1. 5% of the continent. A total of 36 tributaries flow into the Flinders, the tributaries are the Cloncurry, Saxby. Another major tributary of the Flinders River is Porcupine Creek, the creek has carved out a dramatic gorge which is located in the Porcupine Gorge National Park. There are two dams on the river - the Flinders River Dam and Corella Dam, the river flows through one permanent waterhole, Flagstone waterhole. Several towns are found within the catchment including, McKinlay, Burke and Wills Junction, Hughenden, Richmond, Julia Creek, the river produces a mean annual discharge of 3,857 gigalitres. The maximum flow recorded is 18,000 gigalitres, the riverbed is composed of silt with clay and sand, sand and gravel and gravel with cobble. A large, flat claypain is located in the area where the Flinders, Gregory, the mouth of the river lies in the Gulf Plains Important Bird Area. In 2015 the population living within the catchment was 6,600 people of which 12% are indigenous, other species found include the wattle. Infestations of Weeds such as Prickly acacia, Noogoora burr, Rubber vine, the understorey is dominated by a closed cover of riparian grasses including native couch on the sandy loams adjacent the stream channels. The Flinders River was named in honour of the explorer Matthew Flinders by Captain Wickham, Stokes chartered and surveyed the estuary of the Flinders and albert rivers and named many other features in the area including Disaster Inlet, Morning Inlet and Van Deiman River. Robert OHara Burke, William John Wills and Charles Gray reached the delta in 1861 completing the goal of their expedition. Gray died on the back to Cooper Creek and both Burke and Wills died after reaching the creek to find their depot abandoned. The first pastoralist to stock country along the Flinders was James Gibson who established Prairie Station in 1861, in 1864 more cattle stations were established by Gibson including Millungera and Taldora Stations. Massive flooding occurred along the river in July 1870, one station lost over 4,000 sheep and roads were cut. In 1917 even larger floods were recorded with Hughenden inundated several people drowned, more heavy flooding occurred in 1955,1960,1974,1991 and 2000
