__NOTOC__ The Douglas-Daly Experiment Station was an extensive research site of the Northern Territory Administration (NTA) of the Government of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and, after statehood, of the

Northern Territory Government The Northern Territory Government is the executive branch of the Northern Territory. The Government of Northern Territory was formed in 1978 with the granting of self-government to the Territory. The Northern Territory is a territory of the Co ...

. It formed part of a string of similar research sites in northern Australia. Located at the junction of the Douglas and Daly Rivers and covering an area of approximately 100 km², the site spanned three major soil types of the Top End of the Northern Territory — Blain, Tippera and Florina soil types. The climate is hot-humid tropical with a distinct six-month dry season and an annual

rainfall Rain is a form of precipitation where water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. ...

of around 1 m. It was used mainly for

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used m ...

, and

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

experiments, with its main research activity beginning in the 1960s and continuing until the break-up of the site into development farms in the 1980s. Research from the site is mainly documented in scientific journal papers and annals of the NTA. Among the researchers on the site have been Bruce Franks, John Sturtz, John Austin and Lindsay Falvey, who were supported by the manager Heinz Mollman. The site was also used by

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

, especially for the rock-phosphate research of Ray Swaby.

Douglas Daly School

The research farm has hosted a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

for the children of farm employees and local residents since 1982. In 2018, the school, which is operated by the Northern Territory Government, had a total enrolment of 12 students and a teaching staff of three.

Weather station

The Douglas-Daly Research Farm has been the site of an official weather station since January 1968.

References

External links

Douglas Daly School website
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307041747/http://www.douglasdalyschool.nt.edu.au/?page_id=4 , date=7 March 2019 Scientific organisations based in Australia Government agencies of the Northern Territory

Douglas Daly School

Weather station

References

Further reading

External links