The Adelaide River is a
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...
in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...
of
Australia.
Course and features
The river rises in the
Litchfield National Park and flows generally northwards to
Clarence Strait, joined by eight
tributaries
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
including the west branch of the Adelaide River, Coomalie Creek, Margaret River and Marrakai Creek, before discharging into its
mouth
In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on t ...
in Adam Bay in the Clarence Strait. The river descends over its
course
Course may refer to:
Directions or navigation
* Course (navigation), the path of travel
* Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...
.
[ The catchment area of the river is .]Stuart Highway
Stuart Highway is a major Australian highway. It runs from Darwin, in the Northern Territory, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta in South Australia; a distance of . Its northern and southern extremities are segments of Aust ...
, adjacent to the township of Adelaide River, and the Arnhem Highway near Humpty Doo.
The Adelaide River is well known for its high concentration of saltwater crocodile
The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been list ...
s, along with other wildlife including white-bellied sea eagle
The white-bellied sea eagle (''Haliaeetus leucogaster''), also known as the white-breasted sea eagle, is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it is closely relate ...
s, whistling kite
The whistling kite (''Haliastur sphenurus'') is a medium-sized diurnal raptor found throughout Australia (including coastal islands), New Caledonia and much of New Guinea (excluding the central mountains and the northwest). Also called the whi ...
s, freshwater crocodile
The freshwater crocodile (''Crocodylus johnstoni''), also known as the Australian freshwater crocodile, Johnstone's crocodile or the freshie, is a species of crocodile endemic to the northern regions of Australia. Unlike their much larger Aust ...
s, bull shark
The bull shark (''Carcharhinus leucas''), also known as the Zambezi shark (informally zambi) in Africa and Lake Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a species of requiem shark commonly found worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in ri ...
s and black flying-fox
The black flying fox or black fruit bat (''Pteropus alecto'') is a bat in the family Pteropodidae. It is among the largest bats in the world, but is considerably smaller than the largest species in its genus, '' Pteropus''. The black flying fo ...
. Its lower reaches form part of the Adelaide and Mary River Floodplains Important Bird Area. Waters of this river are also home to endangered speartooth shark and critically endangered largetooth sawfish.
History
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples o ...
including the Warray and Kungarakan owned the lands among the river for millennia.
Lieutenant Fitzmaurice, under the command of John Lort Stokes
Admiral John Lort Stokes, RN (1 August 1811 – 11 June 1885)Although 1812 is frequently given as Stokes's year of birth, it has been argued by author Marsden Hordern that Stokes was born in 1811, citing a letter by fellow naval officer Crawford ...
, sighted the river on a boating expedition. The expedition was part of the Admiralty surveying ship HMS ''Beagle'''s voyage in 1839, and the river was named in honour of Queen Adelaide.
Gallery
File:Springende Krokodile im Adelaide River Mike Krüger 070509 1.JPG, Jumping crocodile at Adelaide River
File:A140, Adelaide River, Northern Territory, Australia, saltwater crocodile misses bait, 2007.jpg, Croc whips tail to leap high but misses bait
File:Adelaide_River_NT_Australia.ogv, A video taken on Adelaide River
See also
* List of rivers of Northern Territory
* Naval Base Darwin
References
Rivers of the Northern Territory
Articles containing video clips
{{NorthernTerritory-river-stub