Palm Valley (, ), within the

Finke Gorge National Park Finke Gorge National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia located about south of the territory capital of Darwin City, Northern Territory, Darwin. The national park covers an area of , and includes the desert oasis Pal ...

, is an east-west running valley in the Krichauff Range 123 km (138 km by road) southwest of

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

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 ...

. Palm Valley and the surrounding area is the only place in Central Australia where Red Cabbage Palms ('' Livistona mariae'') survive. The nearest related species is 850 kilometres away in Katherine NT. The surrounding region is largely dry

Central Ranges xeric scrub The Central Ranges xeric scrub is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion of Australia. Location and description The region consists of sandy plains with some areas of rocky highland. These plains have a dry climate but do get some rain i ...

. The average rainfall for Palm Valley is only 200 mm per year. Although the gorge usually appears dry, there are some small pockets of semi-permanent spring-fed pools that allow the unique flora in this region to survive. During significant rainfall in the region, expanses of water can be witnessed flowing through the valley gorge. During such events, a variety of aquatic life such as desert fish, shield shrimps (''

Triops australiensis ''Triops australiensis'', sometimes referred to as a shield shrimp, is an Australian species of the tadpole shrimp ''Triops''. Distribution ''Triops australiensis'' has a wide distribution across Australia, excluding the northernmost parts of ...

''), tadpoles and frogs can flourish.

Origins of the palms

It had been assumed that the cabbage palms were remnants of a prehistoric time when the climate supported tropical rainforest in what is now the arid inland of Australia. Genetic analysis published in 2012 determined that '' Livistona mariae'' at Palm Valley is actually the same species as '' Livistona rigida'' from samples collected near

Katherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

and

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive mines in world history, based on co ...

, both around away. The research by Professor David Bowman and colleagues at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

concluded that the populations separated only about 15,000 years ago. Aboriginal legend recorded in 1894 by

Carl Strehlow Carl Friedrich Theodor Strehlow (23 December 1871 – 20 October 1922) was an anthropologist, linguist and genealogist who served on two Lutheran missions in remote parts of Australia from May 1892 to October 1922. He was at Killalpaninna Missi ...

describes "gods from the north" bringing the seeds to Palm Valley.

Getting there

In early 1928,

Herbert Joseph Larkin Herbert Joseph Larkin, (8 October 1894 – 10 June 1972) was an Australian flying ace of the First World War credited with 11 confirmed victories. Postwar, he became a pioneering aviator and aircraft manufacturer in Australia. He served in the Ro ...

led an exploratory aerial expedition exploring the possibility of developing the Palm Valley into a resort. However, the exploration led to naught. The track to Palm Valley is still only accessible with a

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...

vehicle. It departs from the town of

Hermannsburg Hermannsburg is a village and a former municipality in the Celle (district), Celle district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the municipality Südheide (municipality), Südheide. It has been a state-recognised resort t ...

and travels south, following the usually dry bed of the

Finke River The Finke River, or Larapinta in the Indigenous Arrernte language, is a river in central Australia, whose bed courses through the Northern Territory and the state of South Australia. It is one of the four main rivers of Lake Eyre Basin and is th ...

. Palm Creek flows into the Finke River from the west about 15 km (by track) south of Hermannsburg. The track follows the creek to Palm Valley about 5 km west of the Finke River.

Gas field

The Palm Valley gas field is an onshore source of natural gas north of the valley itself. The gas field is part of the

Amadeus Basin The Amadeus Basin is a large (~170,000 km2) intracratonic sedimentary basin in central Australia, lying mostly within the southern Northern Territory, but extending into the state of Western Australia. Origins The Amadeus Basin is name ...

and supplies gas to

and beyond via the Amadeus Gas Pipeline.

Gallery

File:Trudy Hayes 052.tif,

Gerhardt Johannsen Gerhardt Andreas Johannsen (14 November 1876 – 4 April 1951) was a stonemason, builder and pastoralist in the Northern Territory. Early life Johannsen was born in Denmark on 14 November 1876 and, in 1899, he left to emigrate to Australia: ...

in a car at Palm Valley in the 1920s File:Kleinig 013.tif, Palm Valley in the 1920s File:Kleinig 027.tif, Palm Valley in 1922 or 1923; the image later tinted by Trudy Hayes File:Palm Valley(GN05666).jpg, A man washing himself in Palm Valley, 1935 File:Jessie May Gunn 032.tif, Palm Valley in 1946 File:Jessie May Gunn 034.tif, Palm Valley in 1946 File:Harry Birtwhistle 012.tif, The Amphitheatre, Palm Valley, c1955 File:Harry Birtwhistle 013.tif, The Amphitheatre, Palm Valley, c1955 File:Harry Birtwhistle 051.tif, Washing dishes in a Palm Valley waterhole, c1955 File:Harry Birtwhistle 053.tif, The track into Palm Valley, c1955 File:Whittaker 001 J.jpg, Weapon carrier crossing the Finke River on the way to Palm Valley, Easter, 1968.

References

External links

Fairfax Digital - Hermannsburg
Valleys of Australia Canyons and gorges in the Northern Territory Natural gas fields in Australia {{NorthernTerritory-geo-stub