The Berkeley River is a river in the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The river flows for 135 km to the

Timor Sea The Timor Sea (, , or ) is a relatively shallow sea in the Indian Ocean bounded to the north by the island of Timor with Timor-Leste to the north, Indonesia to the northwest, Arafura Sea to the east, and to the south by Australia. The Sunda Tr ...

via the

Joseph Bonaparte Gulf Joseph Bonaparte Gulf is a large body of water off the coast of the Northern Territory and Western Australia and part of the Timor Sea. It was named after Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon and King of Naples (1806–1808) and then Spain (18 ...

near Reveley Island and Cape St Lambert. The river rises from the Tadrida Scarp and flows in a north-easterly direction through the

Drysdale River National Park Drysdale River (or Drysdale River National Park) is a national park in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, northeast of Perth. The park lies about south of Kalumburu and west of Wyndham. The park is the largest and least accessible ...

and the Oombulgarri Indigenous Reserve before discharging into the Timor Sea. The river has two

tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' 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 into which the ...

, the De Lancourt River and Casuarina Creek. 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 areas around the river are the

Miwa people The Miwa are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Name ''Miwa'' in this area of the Kimberley region is used in the sense of "salt water/sea", indicating peoples near or on the coast. Three different group ...

. The river was named in 1911 by the explorer

Charles Price Conigrave Charles Price Conigrave (1882–1961) was a West Australian zoologist, author and explorer. He led the Kimberley Exploring Expedition of 1911, making collections of flora and fauna, and mapping the region between Cambridge Gulf and Napier Broom ...

. He named the river after his brother Berkeley Fairfax Conigrave.

References

{{Rivers of Western Australia Rivers of the Kimberley region of Western Australia