The Kimberley is one of the nine
regions of Western AustraliaRegionalisations of Western Australia are systems by which Western Australia is divided into distinct geographic regions.The most commonly known regionalisation is the governmental division of the state into regions for economic development purposes....
. It is located in the northern part of
Western AustraliaWestern Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. Australia's largest state and the second largest subnational entity in the world, it has 2.2 million inhabitants , 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state.The state's capital...
, bordered on the west by the
Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
, on the north by the
Timor SeaThe Timor Sea is a sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, to the south by Australia and to the west by the Indian Ocean.- Geography :...
, on the south by the
Great SandyThe Great Sandy Desert is a 360,000 km² expanse in northwestern Australia. Roughly the same size as Japan, it forms part of a larger desert area known as the Western Desert. The vast region of Western Australia is sparsely populated, without significant settlements. The Great Sandy Desert is...
and
TanamiThe Tanami Desert is a desert in northern Australia situated in the Northern Territory.It has a rocky terrain with small hills.The Tanami Desert is one of the most isolated and arid places on Earth . The Tanami was the Northern Territory's final frontier and wasn't fully explored until well into...
Deserts, and on the east by the
Northern TerritoryThe Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
.
The region was named after the
KimberleyKimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...
diamond fields in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
. This was due to the two areas sharing a similar landscape. The discovery of diamond fields in the Kimberley region has subsequently added to the likeness.
Size
It covers an area of , which is about three times the size of
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
or comparable to the size of
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
or 15% larger than
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
or twice the size of
VictoriaVictoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, with over 70% of...
or one sixth the size of
Western AustraliaWestern Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. Australia's largest state and the second largest subnational entity in the world, it has 2.2 million inhabitants , 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state.The state's capital...
. It has a population of 38,000 est.
History
The Kimberley was one of the earliest settled parts of
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
, with the first arrivals landing about 40,000 years ago from the islands of what is now
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
Alexander ForrestAlexander Forrest CMG, was an explorer and surveyor of Western Australia, as well as a politician.-Early life:Forrest was born at Picton, near Bunbury in Western Australia, the son of William and Margaret Forrest...
trekked across from the western coast to the Northern Territory in 1879. Forrest was the first European man to discover and name the Kimberley district, the Margaret and Ord Rivers, the King Leopold Ranges, and the fertile area between the
FitzroyThe Fitzroy River is located in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia.-Discovery:The Fitzroy River was discovered by the West in 1837 by George Grey in the H.M.S. Beagle. The river was subsequently named by Lt J L Stokes on 26/2/1838 after Captain Robert FitzRoy R.N...
and
Ord RiverThe Ord River is a 320-kilometer-long river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was named in honor of Harry Ord, Governor of Western Australia from 1877 to 1880....
. He subsequently set himself up as a land agent specialising in the Kimberleys and was thus instrumental in the leasing of over in the region during 1883.
In 1881, Philip Saunders and Adam Johns, in the face of great difficulties and dangers found gold in various parts of the Kimberleys. Early in 1881 the first five graziers, who called themselves the Murray Squatting Company, took up 120,000 behind Beagle Bay and named it Yeeda Station. They became the first men to shear sheep in the southern Kimberleys in 1883. There was further European settlement in 1885, when cattle were driven across Australia from the eastern states in search of good
pasturePasture is land with low-growing vegetation cover used for grazing of livestock as part of a farm, or in ranching or other unenclosed pastoral systems. Prior to the advent of factory farming, pasture was the primary source of food for grazing animals such as cattle and horses...
lands. Many other Europeans arrived soon after, when gold was discovered around
Halls CreekHalls Creek is a small town situated in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is located between the towns of Fitzroy Crossing and Warmun on the Great Northern Highway.-Functions:...
.
The
populationIn biology, a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular species; in sociology, a collection of human beings. Individuals within a population share a factor may be reduced by statistical means, but such a generalization may be too vague to imply anything...
of the Kimberley is only about 41,000, but this figure is growing at a rate of 4.8% per year, around three times the state average. The population is fairly evenly distributed, with only three towns having populations in excess of 2,000:
BroomeBroome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, 2200 km north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...
(15,000),
DerbyDerby is a town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. At the 2006 census, Derby had a population of 3,093. Along with Broome and Kununurra, it is one of only three towns in the Kimberley to have a population over 2,000...
(3,600) and Kununurra (5,000). Approximately 33% of the region's population are of
AboriginalIndigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands, and these peoples' descendants. Indigenous Australians are distinguished as either Aboriginal people or Torres Strait Islanders, who currently together make up about 2.6% of Australia's...
descent.
Geography, climate and vegetation
The Kimberley consists mainly of ancient, steep-sided mountain ranges from which the extreme climate has removed most soil except in the valleys of the Ord and Fitzroy Rivers in the southern part of the region. In these areas the soils are relatively usable
cracking claysIn both the FAO and USA soil taxonomy, a vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay known as montmorillonite that forms deep cracks in drier seasons or years. Alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-mulching, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing...
, whilst elsewhere they are
lateriticLaterite is a surface formation in hot and wet tropical areas which is rich in iron and aluminium and develops by intensive and long lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock. Nearly all kinds of rocks can be deeply decomposed by the action of high rainfall and elevated temperatures...
OrthentIn USDA soil taxonomy, Orthents are defined as Entisols that lack horizon development due to either steep slopes or parent materials that contain no permanent weatherable minerals . Typically, Orthents are exceedingly shallow soils. They are often referred to as "skeletal soils" or, in the FAO soil...
s. Although none of the mountains reach even , there is so much steep land as to make much of the region very difficult to traverse, especially during the wet season when even sealed roads are often flooded.
The Kimberley has a tropical
monsoonA pennis is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but now is used to describe seasonal changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the African and Asia-Australian monsoons...
climate. During the wet season, from November to April, the region receives about 90% of its rainfall, and
cyclonesA tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones feed on heat released when moist air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor contained in the moist air...
are common especially around Broome. The annual rainfall, however, is highest in the northwest, where Kalumburu averages per year, and lowest in the southeast where it is around . In the dry season, from May to October, south easterly breezes bring sunny days and cool nights.
Climate changeClimate change has become a major issue in Australia due to drastic climate events since the turn of the century that have focused government and public attention.. Rainfall in Australia has increased over the past century, both nationwide and for all four quadrants of the nation...
since 1967 has led to large increases of as much as per year in annual rainfall over the whole region. Recent studies suggest
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
n
pollutionAir pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment, into the atmosphere....
and not
global warmingGlobal warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C during the last century...
as the cause of this increased rainfall. In 1997 and 2000 the region received especially heavy rains, leading to record flooding of the Fitzroy and other rivers.
The Kimberley is the hottest part of Australia, with mean maxima almost always above even in July and ranging in November before the rains break from on the coast to in the south around Halls Creek. Mean minima in July range from around in the south to around Kalumburu, whilst in November and December they are generally around .
The aboriginal people of the Kimberley recognise traditional seasons based on meteorological events as well as observed events relating to fauna and flora.
The Kimberley is chiefly covered in open
savannaA savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close...
woodland dominated by low
eucalyptEucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera:Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora.In 1995 new evidence, largely genetic, indicated that some prominent Eucalyptus species were actually more closely related to Angophora than to the other eucalypts; they were split off into the...
and
boabAdansonia gregorii, commonly known as boab, is a tree in the family Malvaceae. As with other baobabs, it is easily recognised by the swollen base of its trunk, which gives the tree a bottle-like appearance. Endemic to Australia, boab occurs in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, and east...
trees. In sheltered gorges of the high rainfall north, however, are patches of rainforest. These were not known to science until 1965. This wet area is one of the most floristically rich parts of Australia outside the Wet Tropics and southwestern WA.
Geology
During the
DevonianThe Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era spanning from . It is named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first studied....
period, a barrier reef system formed before a subsequent drop in sea levels over the Kimberley. This reef system was similar to the
Great Barrier ReefThe Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
and is still visible today in the form of the
Napier RangeThe Napier Ranges are located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The range is South of and runs parallel to the King Leopold Range.They feature the impressive Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek and Geikie Gorge that were formed over 350 million years ago as part of a limestone reef.The...
and the Ningbing Range. Some of the features are
Tunnel CreekTunnel Creek is located within the grounds of Tunnel Creek National Park in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. Along with Geikie Gorge and Windjana Gorge, Tunnel Creek is part of an ancient barrier reef that developed during the Devonian Period...
,
Windjana GorgeWindjana Gorge is a gorge in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is located at , within the Windjana Gorge National Park.The gorge was formed by the Lennard River having eroded away a section of the Napier Range...
and
Geikie GorgeGeikie Gorge is a feature of the Napier Range and is located within the grounds of Geikie Gorge National Park, 20km from Fitzroy Crossing, 1831 km northeast of Perth and 420 km east of Broome in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia...
.
This area is also known as the
Kimberly Block physiographic province, of which it is part of the larger
West Australian ShieldThe Australian Shield, also called the Western Australian Shield or Western Plateau, occupies more than half of the continent of Australia. It occupies the portion of Australia west of a line running north-south roughly from the eastern shore of Arnhem Land on the Bay or Gulf of Carpentaria to the...
division. This province contains the King Leopold Range, Durack Range, Leveque Rise, Browse Depression, and Londonderry Rise physiographic sections.The Aboriginals used this to their advantage.
Pearling
Broome supports a flourishing pearling industry which operates around the Kimberley coast. Some of the major farmers are Paspaley Pearls, Clipper Pearls, Broome Pearls and the Willie Creek Pearl Farm.
Mining
One third of the worlds annual production of diamonds are mined at the
ArgyleThe Argyle diamond mine is a diamond mine located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The Argyle mine is the largest diamond producer in the world by volume, although due to the low proportion of gem-quality diamonds, is not the leader by value...
and the Ellendale diamond mines.
OilAn oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and is hydrophobic but soluble in organic solvents. Oils have a high carbon and hydrogen content and are nonpolar substances. The general definition above includes compound classes with otherwise unrelated chemical structures,...
is extracted from the Blina oil field and
gasThis page is about the physical properties of gas as a state of matter. For the uses of gases, and other meanings, see Gas .A gas is one of four states of matter. Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid...
is expected to be taken from offshore sources soon.
ZincZinc , also known as spelter, is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
and
leadLead is a main-group element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metals. Lead has a bluish-white color when freshly cut, but tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed to air...
are mined at the Pillara, Sallay Mallay and Cadjebut mines near Fitzroy Crossing.
DerbyDerby is a city in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
is the nearest export base for shipping these metals.
Agriculture and aquaculture
Traditionally, the region was oriented towards
pastoral leases - with most of the region utilised by the leases.
More recently
agricultureAgriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and...
has been focused on the
Ord RiverThe Ord River is a 320-kilometer-long river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was named in honor of Harry Ord, Governor of Western Australia from 1877 to 1880....
Irrigation Area near
KununurraKununurra is a town in far northern Western Australia located at the eastern side of the Kimberley Region approximately from the Northern Territory. With 3,748 inhabitants, many of whom are Indigenous Australians, it is the largest town in Western Australia north of Broome...
. Irrigation was also trialled in the West Kimberley by way of the now defunct
Camballin Irrigation SchemeThe Camballin Irrigation Scheme consisted of the Fitzroy River Barrage, the Seventeen Mile Dam, Company Pump, numerous irrigation channels, a seventeen kilometre levee bank, silos for grain storage which were built at the Broome Jetty and other support infrastructure located at the Camballin...
. There are also fruit growers in
BroomeBroome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, 2200 km north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...
and in other areas in the West Kimberley. Beef cattle are grown in the Kimberley and exported live. Wyndham features the last remaining meatworks in the Kimberley - there were formerly works at Broome and Derby but financial constraints have caused these to be closed.
BarramundiThe Barramundi is a species of catadromous fish in family Latidae of order Perciformes. The native species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific region from the Persian Gulf, through Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea and Northern Australia...
are bred in
Lake ArgyleLake Argyle is Australia's second largest artificial lake by volume. It is part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme and is located near the East Kimberley town of Kununurra...
and
BroomeBroome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, 2200 km north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...
features a fully equipped Aquaculture Park near the port which is tenanted by amongst others Paspaley Pearls and Broome TAFE. The Kimberley also has a thriving fishing industry.
Indigenous art
Some of Australia's most prominent Indigenous artists and art centres are in or adjacent to the Kimberley region. Artists such as
Paddy BedfordPaddy Bedford was a major Australian Indigenous artist from Warmun in the Kimberley, and one of eight Australian artists selected for an architectural commission for the Musée du Quai Branly.-Life and family:...
and
Freddy TimmsFreddy Timms is a leading Australian Indigenous artist from the Kimberley region.-Life and art:Timms commenced painting on canvas in the 1990s at Turkey Creek / Warmun in the Kimberley region of Western Australia....
have an international profile, and there are a number of Aboriginal-owned and controlled art centres and companies that assist artists, arrange exhibitions and sell works. The art centres in the region are also organised through the Association of Northern, Kimberley and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists. Issues have been raised regarding the exploitation of Indigenous artists by businesses and individuals, including in the Kimberley, which were canvassed in an
Australian SenateThe Senate is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia. The lower house is known as the House of Representatives. Senators, popularly elected under a system of proportional representation, serve terms of six years...
parliamentary committee report.
See Also :
Tourism
The Kimberley is a popular tourist destination, with areas such as the Bungle Bungle, the
Gibb River RoadThe Gibb River Road is a former cattle route that stretches almost through The Kimberley between the Western Australian town of Derby and the Kununurra and Wyndham junction of the Great Northern Highway. Like its namesake, which does not actually cross the road but runs nearby at , it is named...
,
Lake ArgyleLake Argyle is Australia's second largest artificial lake by volume. It is part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme and is located near the East Kimberley town of Kununurra...
, El Questro Station,
Horizontal FallsThe Horizontal Falls, also called Horizontal Waterfalls are a natural phenomenon in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, in Australia....
and
Cape LevequeCape Leveque Cape Leveque Cape Leveque (is the northernmost tip of the Dampier Peninsula in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Cape Leveque is 240 km (via the Cape Leveque Road) north of Broome, and is remote having few facilities. Nevertheless, the Cape's sandy beaches are attracting...
. The Gibb River Road and the road into the Bungle Bungles can at times be accessed in a
two-wheel driveTwo wheel drive or 2WD describes vehicles with a drivetrain that allows two wheels to receive power from the engine simultaneously.-Four wheeled vehicles:...
car, although one can access many additional areas in a
four-wheel driveFour-wheel drive, 4WD, 4x4 , or AWD is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...
vehicle.
See also:
- Drysdale River National Park
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....
- Geikie Gorge National Park
Geikie Gorge National Park is in Western Australia, 1831 km northeast of Perth and 420 km east of Broome.The gorge was named in honour of Sir Archibald Geikie, the Director General of Geological Survey for Great Britain and Ireland when it was given its European name in 1883...
- Mirima National Park
- Mitchell River National Park
Mitchell River is a national park in the Kimberley region of Western Australia , northeast of Perth. The park adjoins the northern boundary of the Prince Regent Nature Reserve....
- Point Coulomb National Park
- Purnululu National Park
Purnululu National Park is a World Heritage Site in Western Australia.It was declared in 1987 -Location:It is located in north east of Western Australia. The nearest major town is Kununurra to the north, or Halls Creek to the south....
- Tunnel Creek National Park
Tunnel Creek National Park is in Kimberley region of Western Australia , northeast of Perth and east of Broome. The natural cave Tunnel Creek is a major attraction of the park.The park is located in the Napier Range and covers an area of...
- Windjana Gorge National Park
Windjana Gorge National Park is in the Kimberley region of Western Australia , 1855 km northeast of Perth and 355 km east of Broome.-See also:* Protected areas of Western Australia...
- Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater National Park
Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater is a national park in Western Australia , 1854 km northeast of Perth. It contains Wolfe Creek crater.Fact sheet*Area: 15 km²*Coordinates: *Date of establishment: 1969...
Political
At federal level, the Kimberley is represented by the member for
KalgoorlieThe Division of Kalgoorlie is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Western Australia. It is named after the town of Kalgoorlie. The Division covers most of rural Western Australia, and extends from the South Australian and Northern Territory borders in the east, to the Indian Ocean in...
. At state level, the
KimberleyKimberley is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the far north of the Australian state of Western Australia.The electorate has one of the highest Aboriginal enrolments of any seat in the Parliament and since the 1980 state election has typically been held by the Labor Party, but it...
electorate takes in most of the region and all of its major towns, while Pilbara includes south-eastern areas such as
Halls CreekHalls Creek is a small town situated in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is located between the towns of Fitzroy Crossing and Warmun on the Great Northern Highway.-Functions:...
and
Fitzroy CrossingFitzroy Crossing is a small town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, 400 km east of Broome and 300 km west of Halls Creek. It is approximately 2,524 km from the state capital of Perth....
.
The Kimberley region consists of the
local government areasThe Australian state of Western Australia is divided into 142 Local Government Areas . Their mandate and operations are governed by the Local Government Act 1995...
of:
- Broome
The Shire of Broome is one of the four Local Government Areas in the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia, covering an area of , most of which is sparsely populated. It has a population of 16,360 , most of whom reside in the town of Broome...
- Derby-West Kimberley
- Halls Creek
The Shire of Halls Creek is one of the four Local Government Area in the Kimberley Region of northern Western Australia, covering an area of , most of which is sparsely populated. The Shire's seat of government is the town of Halls Creek...
- Wyndham-East Kimberley
External links
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