The Archer River is a
river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
located on the
Cape York Peninsula
The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...
,
Far North Queensland
Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...
, Australia.
Course and features
The headwaters of the river rise in the
McIlwraith Range and it flows west, traversing
tropical savanna
Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is dominated by grass and/or shrubs located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and t ...
plains and wetlands, flowing through
Piccaninny Plains Sanctuary and
Oyala Thumotang National Park, and enters the Archer Bay in the
Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...
on the western side of the peninsula near the town of
Aurukun along with the
Watson River and the
Ward River.
The
catchment area
A catchment area in human geography, is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...
for the Archer River is .
During the
wet season
The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...
between November and April, the river floods, replenishing over a million hectares of
wetland
A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
s.
The
Coen River
The Coen River is a river in the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia.
The headwaters of the river rise at the confluence of Pandanus Creek and an unnamed creek near Bend along the Peninsula Developmental Road in the Great Dividing R ...
is a tributary of the Archer River.
The river remains in a natural state with very little development and just one small dam that supplies water for the town of
Coen.
On 3 April 2009, Queensland Premier
Anna Bligh
Anna Maria Bligh (born 14 July 1960) is an Australian lobbyist and former politician who served as the 37th Premier of Queensland, in office from 2007 to 2012 as leader of the Queensland Australian Labor Party (Queensland Branch), Labor Party. ...
announced the Archer River would be included under the ''Wild Rivers Act, 2005'' (Qld). The declaration means the river's fragile ecosystems will be protected by allowing only sustainable activities within its catchment.
The river has an average discharge of per annum.
Flora and fauna
Much of the river is bordered by
fig-dominated
gallery rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...
s, which provide habitat for animals such as the
white-tailed rat,
spotted cuscus and
palm cockatoo
The palm cockatoo (''Probosciger aterrimus''), also known as the goliath cockatoo or great black cockatoo, is a large, smoky-grey/black Psittaciformes, parrot of the cockatoo family native to New Guinea, the Aru Islands Regency, Aru Islands and ...
.
Toothless catfish are found in the river.
A total of 45 species of fish have been found in the river, including the glassfish,
barred grunter, silver cobbler, fly-specked hardyhead, mouth almighty,
goby
The Gobioidei are a suborder of percomorph fish. Many of these fishes are called gobies. It is by far the largest and most diverse order within the order Gobiiformes, and one of the most diverse groups of ray-finned fish in general.
The subord ...
,
barramundi
The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer''), Asian sea bass, or giant sea perch (also known as dangri, apahap or siakap) is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Carangiformes. The species is widely distributed in the I ...
, oxeye herring, eastern rainbowfish, bony bream, gulf saratoga, giant gudgeon, freshwater longtom and
seven-spot archerfish.
History
The
traditional owners
Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...
of the area are the
Wik,
Kaantju and
Wikampama peoples.
The river was named in 1865 by
Francis Lascelles Jardine and
Alexander Jardine during an expedition through the area. They named the river after the
Archer brothers of Gracemere in
Rockhampton
Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite.
The Scottish- ...
. The river had probably been named Dubbelde Ree by
Willem Jansz in 1606 and later named Coen River by
Jan Carstensz in 1623 and then named Peach River by
Robert Logan Jack in 1879.
See also
*
References
{{Rivers of Queensland
Rivers of Far North Queensland
Gulf of Carpentaria