The Oakover 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

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The headwaters of the river rise north of the Wadara Range and west of the Saltbush range near Junction Well then flows in a northerly direction. The river continues north running parallel to the Gregory Range until merging with the

Nullagine River The Nullagine River is a river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The headwaters of the river rise south of Bonney Downs and then flow in a northerly direction. The river crosses the Marble Bar road at Nullagine and continues to flow ...

to form the

De Grey River The De Grey River is a river located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It was named on 16 August 1861 by the explorer and surveyor Francis Gregory after Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey, who was at the time the president of the Royal ...

. The river flows through many permanent pools on its journey, including Toocoonaragee Pool, Carawine Pool, Yilgalong Pool and Ngumberramooring Pool. There are 22 tributaries of the river, including Davis River, Stag Arrow Creek, Woodie Woodie Creek, Vanadium Creek, Yownama Creek and Yilgalong Creek. The first European explorer to find the Oakover was

Francis Thomas Gregory Francis Thomas "Frank" Gregory (19 October 1821 – 23 October 1888) was an Australian explorer and politician. Born in England, he emigrated with his family to Australia as a boy. He was the younger brother of the explorer and politician Augu ...

. Fellow explorer Peter Warburton crossed the river strapped to a

camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

toward the end of his trek across the

Great Sandy Desert The Great Sandy Desert is an interim Australian bioregion,IBRA Version 6.1
data

in 1873. 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 Njamal or

Nyamal The Nyamal are an Indigenous Australian, Indigenous Australian people of the Pilbara area of north-western Western Australia. Language A version of Nyamal language, Nyamal became the basis of a pidgin used among workers on pearling luggers in th ...

people.

References

Rivers of the Pilbara region {{WesternAustralia-river-stub