The Limmen Bight River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The headwaters rise at the base of the Favenc Range near O.T. Downs and Broadmere Stations. It then flows in a northerly direction, with many smaller tributaries feeding the river which forms a series of braided channels across the plains. It flows past Sculthorpe Pound and through Limmen Gate hemmed to the east by the Tawallah Range. It continues through

Limmen National Park Limmen National Park, announced in 2012, is the third largest national park in the Northern Territory, after Judbarra / Gregory National Park, with an area of approximately . Located about 600 km south-east of Darwin on the Gulf of Carpenta ...

past the Four Archers near Burketown Crossing and eventually discharges in the

Limmen Bight Limmen Bight is a bight, or large, open bay, located in the Northern Territory of Australia at the western end of the Gulf of Carpentaria about east of the town of Katherine. It is part of the traditional lands and waters of the Marra peopl ...

in 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 is ...

. Fifteen

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or 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 drain the surrounding drainage b ...

join the river including October Creek, Balbirni Creek, Lansen Creek, Crooked Creek, Tyangkulta Creek, Cox River and Nathan River. It also flows through a large permanent

billabong Billabong ( ) is an Australian term for an oxbow lake, an isolated pond left behind after a river changes course. Billabongs are usually formed when the path of a creek or river changes, leaving the former branch with a dead end. As a result ...

, Broadmere waterhole. The catchment occupies an area of and is situated between the

Roper River The Roper River is a large perennial river located in the Katherine region of the Northern Territory of Australia. Location and features Formed by the confluence of the Waterhouse River and Roper Creek, the Roper River rises east of Mataranka ...

and Towns River catchments to the north and west, the

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 are ...

catchment to the south and the Rosie River catchment to the east. The river has a mean annual outflow of , The river's

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 environment ...

, which occupies an area of of open water, is in near pristine condition. The tide-dominated delta has multiple channels and is surrounded by an area of covered with

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, 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 evoluti ...

s. The river was named after the

which it discharges into. The bight was named by the

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

Abel Tasman Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach New Z ...

in 1644 after his ship, the ''Limmen''.

References

{{Rivers of the Northern Territory , state=collapsed Rivers of the Northern Territory Arnhem Land Gulf of Carpentaria

See also

References