The Robinson River is a river in
Australia's
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...
.
Description
The headwaters of the river rise on the
Barkly Tableland
The Barkly Tableland is a rolling plain of grassland in Australia. It runs from the eastern part of the Northern Territory into western Queensland. It is one of the five regions in the Northern Territory and covers , 21% of the Northern Terr ...
and flow in a northerly direction across mostly uninhabited plains, crossing
Highway 1 then past the
Seven Emu homestead before eventually discharging into the
Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary ...
approximately east of
Borroloola
Borroloola ( local Aboriginal languages: ''Burrulula'') is a town in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located on the McArthur River, about 50 km upstream from the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Location
Borroloola lies on the traditional c ...
.
The
estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...
at the river mouth occupies an area of and is in near pristine condition. It is river dominated in nature with a wave dominated delta and has an area of covered with
mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...
s.
The drainage basin occupies an area of and is wedged between the catchment areas for
McArthur River
The McArthur River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia which flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria at Port McArthur, opposite the Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands. The river was named by Ludwig Leichhardt while he explored the ...
to the west and
Calvert River to the east and the Barkly to the south. The river has a mean annual outflow of ,
Flora and fauna
Stands of ''
Cycas angulata'' are found along the lower reaches of the river.
A total of 33 species of fish are found in the river including:
sailfin glassfish,
barred grunter,
snub-nosed garfish,
fly-specked hardyhead,
mouth almighty,
golden flathead goby,
spangled perch,
barramundi
The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'') or Asian sea bass, is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Perciformes. The species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, spanning the waters of the Middle East, Sou ...
,
mangrove jack,
chequered rainbowfish,
giant gudgeon,
spotted scat
''Scatophagus argus'', the spotted scat, butterfish, mia mia, spotted butterfish or tiger scat, is a species of fish in the scat family Scatophagidae. It occurs in two basic color morphs which are called green scat and ruby or red scat. This f ...
,
freshwater longtom, and
seven-spot archerfish.
The critically endangered
largetooth sawfish
The largetooth sawfish (''Pristis pristis'', syn. ''P. microdon'' and ''P. perotteti'') is a species of sawfish, family Pristidae. It is found worldwide in tropical and subtropical coastal regions, but also enters freshwater. It has declined dras ...
has been caught in the river mouth. The endangered
gulf snapping turtle has been found in the upper reaches of the Robinson.
History
The
traditional owners
Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...
of the area are the ''
Garawa'' and the ''
Gunindiri'' peoples.
The river was named by
Ludwig Leichhardt
Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt (), known as Ludwig Leichhardt, (23 October 1813 – c. 1848) was a German explorer and naturalist, most famous for his exploration of northern and central Australia.Ken Eastwood,'Cold case: Leichhardt's dis ...
during his expedition from
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
to
Port Essington
Port Essington is an inlet and historic site located on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. It was the site of an early attempt at British settlement, but now exists only as a remot ...
in 1845. Leichhardt named the river after one of the supporters of the expedition,
Joseph Phelps Robinson, a well known philanthropist, banker and Quaker.
In 1992 the Robinson River
pastoral lease and surrounding areas were handed back to the Garawa people who had started working on the land claim in 1980.
See also
*
List of rivers of the Northern Territory
References
{{Rivers of the Northern Territory , state=collapsed
Rivers of the Northern Territory
Gulf of Carpentaria