The May 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 is formed when the

Lennard River Lennard River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river was named on 8 June 1879 by the explorer Alexander Forrest, during an expedition in the Kimberley area, after Amy Eliza Barrett-Lennard (1852-1897), who he was to m ...

splits into two channels north of Mount Marmion and near the Kimberley Downs Station homestead, the other channel being the Meda River. It continues to flow west north-westward through Poulton Pool until it eventually discharges into Stokes Bay,

King Sound King Sound is a large gulf in northern Western Australia. It expands from the mouth of the Fitzroy River (Western Australia), Fitzroy River, one of Australia's largest watercourses, and opens to the Indian Ocean. It is about long, and averag ...

which is north-east of

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

. The river was named in 1881 by a pioneer of the area, George Julius Brockman, during an expedition in the Kimberley area looking for grazing land north of the Fitzroy River. He named the river after the granddaughter of

John Septimus Roe John Septimus Roe (8 May 1797 – 28 May 1878) was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia's legislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in ...

, Mary Matilda (May) Thomson. The only

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 ...

of the May and the

Lennard Lennard may refer to: * Lennard Freeman (born 1995), American basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League * Lennard Pearce (1915–1984), English actor * Dave Lennard (born 1944), English footballer * Henry Lennard (16th–17th cen ...

and Camiara Creek. The

northern river shark The northern river shark or New Guinea river shark (''Glyphis garricki'') is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, found in scattered tidal rivers and associated coastal waters in northern Australia and in Papua New Guinea. ...

is known to inhabit the tidal region of the river and has been found further upstream.

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 ...

and cherabin are also caught in the river pools after 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 ...

References

Rivers of the Kimberley region of Western Australia {{WesternAustralia-river-stub