33-561: Download coordinates as: Albatross Bay is a bay on the eastern shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria , Queensland , Australia. The bay is offshore from the localities of Mission River (in both Shire of Cook and Aboriginal Shire of Napranum ), a number of localities in Weipa Town ( Rocky Point , Trunding , Nanum , Evans Landing ) and Aurukun (in the Shire of Aurukun ). Three rivers flow into
66-501: A groom and quarters at Broadoaks on Gingell Street. After the South Australian explorer, John McDouall Stuart had reached the centre of Australia, the South Australian parliament offered a reward of £2,000 for the promotion of an expedition to cross the continent from the south to north, generally following Stuart's route. He also partnered with another explorer who wanted to discover things about Australia. In June 1860, Burke
99-685: A place now called Burke's Waterhole on Cooper Creek in South Australia. The exact date of Burke's death is uncertain but has generally been accepted to be 28 June 1861. King survived with the help of Aborigines until he was rescued in September by Alfred William Howitt . Howitt buried Burke and Wills before returning to Melbourne. In 1862 Howitt returned to Cooper Creek and disinterred Burke and Wills' bodies, taking them first to Adelaide and then by steamer to Melbourne where they were laid in state for two weeks. On 23 January 1863, Burke and Wills received
132-454: A water area of about 300,000 km (120,000 sq mi). The general depth is between 55 and 66 metres (30 and 36 fathoms ) with a maximum depth of 69 metres (38 fathoms). The tidal range in the Gulf of Carpentaria is between two and three metres (6.5 and 10 ft). The Gulf and adjacent Sahul Shelf were dry land at the peak of the last ice age 18,000 years ago when global sea level
165-527: A well-watered coastal strip, a fairly narrow band of mountains, and then a vast, inward-draining plain that receives little rainfall. In the Gulf Country, however, there are no mountains to restrict rainfall to the coastal band and the transition from the profuse tropical growth of the seaside areas to the arid scrubs of central Australia is gradual. In September and October the Morning Glory cloud appears in
198-432: Is hot and humid with two seasons per year. The dry season lasts from about April until November and is characterized by very dry southeast to east winds, generated by migratory winter high pressure systems to the south. The wet season lasts from December to March. Most of the year's rainfall is compressed into these months, and during this period, many low-lying areas are flooded. The Gulf is prone to tropical cyclones during
231-414: Is part of the larger East Australian Basins physiographic division. 14°S 139°E / 14°S 139°E / -14; 139 Robert O%27Hara Burke Robert O'Hara Burke (6 May 1821 – c. 28 June 1861) was an Irish soldier and police officer who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the leader of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition , which
264-664: The local government boundaries of the Shire of Cloncurry . Kayardild (also known as Kaiadilt and Gayadilta) is a language of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Kayardild language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Mornington Shire Council . The first European explorer to visit the region (and Australia) was the Dutch Willem Janszoon (whose name is also written as Jansz) in his 1605–06 voyage . His fellow countryman, Jan Carstenszoon (or Carstensz ), visited in 1623 and named
297-559: The Gulf. Zinc, lead and silver is mined from the McArthur River zinc mine and exported via the Gulf. Another zinc mine, Century Zinc is in the gulf on the Queensland side of the border. It exports its product through the port facility at Karumba . The cattle industry is also a very important part of the regional economy in the gulf. According to the then Chairman of the Gulf of Carpentaria's Commercial Fisherman's Organisation, Gary Ward,
330-767: The Hungarian Hussars. He spent most of his time in the Imperial Austrian Army posted to northern Italy and in April 1847 was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Towards the end of 1847 he suffered health problems and went to Recoaro spa in northern Italy, then Gräfenberg (now Lázně Jeseník ) and finally Aachen before resigning from the Austrian army in June 1848 after charges against him relating to debts and absence without leave were dropped. After returning to Ireland in 1848, he joined
363-700: The Irish Constabulary (later the Royal Irish Constabulary ). He did his cadet training at Phoenix Park Depot in Dublin between November 1849 and January 1850, was promoted to 3rd Class Sub-Inspector and was stationed in County Kildare . At the end of 1850, he transferred to the Mounted Police in Dublin . Burke migrated to Australia in 1853. He left Queenstown , County Cork on 24 November 1852 on
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#1732851310158396-606: The S.S. Rodney which was carrying 342 convicts. He arrived in Hobart , Tasmania on 12 February 1853 and promptly sailed for Melbourne . On 1 April 1853, he joined the recently established Victoria police force . Initially, he worked as Acting Inspector under the Chief Commissioner William Henry Fancourt Mitchell in the Parish of Jika Jika in the northern suburbs of Melbourne , but on 1 November 1853 he
429-520: The Southern Gulf. The best vantage point to see this phenomenon is in the Burketown area shortly after dawn. It has been hypothesized that the Gulf experienced a major asteroid impact event in 536 AD. The Gulf of Carpentaria is known to contain fringing reefs and isolated coral colonies, but no near-surface patch or barrier reefs exist in the Gulf at the present time. However, this has not always been
462-744: The Top End, the Roper River , Walker River and Wilton River flow into the Gulf. The Cox River , Calvert River , Leichhardt River , McArthur River , Flinders River , Norman River and the Gilbert River drain the Gulf Country. A number of rivers flow from the Cape York Peninsula into the Gulf, including Smithburne River , Mitchell River , Alice River , Staaten River , Mission River, Wenlock River , and Archer River . Extensive areas of seagrass beds have allowed commercial shrimp operations in
495-673: The battle of Giurgevo became the first British officer killed in the Crimean war . Burke entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in May 1835. In December 1836 he failed his probationary exam and went to Belgium to further his education. In 1841, at the age of twenty he entered the Austrian army and in August 1842 was promoted to Second Lieutenant in the Prince Regent's 7th Reuss Regiment of
528-609: The bay: The bay was named after the Queensland Government 's steamer Albatross . The name was chosen either by its master Captain Kerr or by John Douglas when he was the Government Resident at Thursday Island . Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria ( / k ɑːr p ən ˈ t ɛər i ə / ) is a sea off the northern coast of Australia . It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on
561-743: The case. Expeditions carried out by Geoscience Australia in 2003 and in 2005 aboard the RV ; Southern Surveyor revealed the presence of a submerged coral reef province covering at least 300 km (120 sq mi) in the southern Gulf. The patch reefs have their upper surfaces at a mean water depth of 28.6 ± 0.5 m (94 ± 1.5 ft), were undetected by satellites or aerial photographs, and were only recognised using multibeam swath sonar surveys supplemented with seabed sampling and video. Their existence points to an earlier, late Quaternary phase of framework reef growth under cooler-climate and lower sea level conditions than today. In
594-678: The gulf in honour of Pieter de Carpentier , at that time the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies . Abel Tasman also explored the coast in 1644. The region was later explored and charted by the English navigator Matthew Flinders in 1802 and 1803. The first overland expedition to reach the Gulf was the Burke and Wills expedition , led by Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills which left Melbourne , Victoria in August 1860 and reached
627-791: The mouth of the Bynoe River in February 1861. However, both men died on the return journey. The land bordering the Gulf is generally flat and low-lying. To the west is Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt , the largest island in the Gulf. To the east is the Top End of the Northern Territory, including the Cape York Peninsula , and the Torres Strait which joins the Gulf to the Coral Sea . The area to
660-581: The north by the eastern Arafura Sea , which separates Australia and New Guinea . The northern boundary is generally defined as a line from Slade Point, Queensland (the northwestern corner of Cape York Peninsula ) in the northeast, to Cape Arnhem on the Gove Peninsula , Northern Territory (the easternmost point of Arnhem Land ) in the west. At its mouth, the Gulf is 590 km (370 mi) wide, and further south, 675 km (420 mi). The north-south length exceeds 700 km (430 mi). It covers
693-524: The number of sightings of Indonesian vessels fishing illegally in the gulf's waters increased in early 2005. By 2011, the numbers of illegal fishing boat interceptions had declined significantly with the cause attributed to enforcement efforts and education programs in Indonesia. In 2012, a major new port located to the west of Karumba and rail connection to the North West Minerals Province
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#1732851310158726-418: The period between November and April. The gulf experiences an average of three cyclones each year that are thought to transport sediments in a clockwise direction along the Gulf's coast. In many other parts of Australia, there are dramatic climatic transitions over fairly short distances. The Great Dividing Range , which parallels the entire east and south-east coast, is responsible for the typical pattern of
759-498: The rendezvous point on 21 April 1861, 9 hours after the rest of the party had given up waiting and left, leaving a note and some food, as they had not been relieved by the party supposed to be returning from Menindee. They attempted to reach Mount Hopeless , the furthest outpost of pastoral settlement in South Australia, which was closer than Menindee, but failed and returned to Cooper Creek. While waiting for rescue Wills died of exhaustion and starvation. Soon after, Burke also died, at
792-509: The south (like the Cape York Peninsula, part of Queensland) is known as the Gulf Country . The Gulf Country supports the world's largest intact savanna woodlands as well as native grasslands, known as the Carpentaria tropical savanna . The woodlands also extend up the west and east coast of the Gulf. They are dominated by Eucalyptus and Melaleuca species from the family Myrtaceae. The climate
825-638: The time he arrived in Liverpool in June, peace had been declared and the war ended. Burke re-boarded the Marco Polo and returned to Victoria, arriving in Melbourne on 2 December 1856. He resumed his posting at Beechworth and from there attended the "Buckland Valley" riots near Bright against the Chinese gold miners in 1857. In November 1858 he was transferred to Castlemaine as Police Superintendent on £550 p.a. plus
858-429: The town of Normanton now stands, on 9 February 1861. Flooding rains and swamps meant they never saw the open ocean. Already weakened by starvation and exposure, their progress on the return journey was slow and hampered by the tropical monsoon downpours of the wet season. Gray died four days before they reached the rendezvous at Cooper Creek. The other three rested for a day when they buried him. They eventually reached
891-558: Was appointed a magistrate, was promoted to Police Inspector, and was posted to Carlsruhe . On 31 December 1853, he was promoted to District Inspector of the Ovens District and early in 1854 he moved to Beechworth to relieve Inspector John Giles Price . After the unfortunate death of his brother, James Thomas, in the Crimean War , Burke decided to enlist. He left Australia on the S.S. Marco Polo on 25 March 1856 for England, but, by
924-548: Was appointed to lead the Victorian Exploring Expedition with William John Wills , his third-in-command, as surveyor and astronomical observer. The expedition left Melbourne on Monday, 20 August 1860 with a total of 19 men, 27 camels and 23 horses. They reached Menindee on 23 September 1860 where several people resigned, including the second-in-command, George James Landells and the medical officer, Dr. Hermann Beckler. Cooper Creek , 400 miles further on,
957-401: Was around 120 m (390 ft) below its present position. At that time a large, shallow lake occupied the centre of what is now the Gulf. The Gulf hosts a submerged coral reef province that was only recognised in 2004. Yulluna (also known as Yalarnga, Yalarrnga, Jalanga, Jalannga, Wonganja, Gunggalida, Jokula) is an Australian Aboriginal language . The Yulluna language region includes
990-580: Was born in St Clerans, near the village of Craughwell , County Galway , Ireland in May 1821. He was the second of three sons of James Hardiman Burke (1788 – January 1854), an officer in the British army 7th Royal Fusiliers , and Anne Louisa Burke née O'Hara (married 1817, d.1844). Robert O'Hara was one of seven children: James Thomas Burke was a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers , and on 7 July 1854 at
1023-578: Was proposed by Carpentaria Rail. The advantages of a port at Karumba compared to Townsville was that it was three or four days closer to Asia via shipping routes. Additionally, expansion is taking place of the Bing Bong Port which services the McArthur River zinc mine , awarded the Northern Territory Earth award. The Gulf is one of the distinct physiographic sections of the larger (and surrounding) Carpentaria Basin province, which in turn
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1056-457: Was reached on 11 November 1860 by the advance group, the remainder being intended to catch up. After a break, Burke decided to make a dash to the Gulf of Carpentaria , leaving on 16 December 1860. William Brahe was left in charge of the remaining party. The small team of Burke, William Wills, John King and Charley Gray reached the mangroves on the estuary of the Flinders River , near where
1089-454: Was the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled areas of Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria . The expedition party was well equipped, but Burke was not experienced in bushcraft. A Commission of Inquiry held by the Government of Victoria to investigate the failure of the expedition was a censure of Burke's judgement. Burke
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