The Top End of Australia's

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a rather vaguely defined area of about behind the northern coast from the

capital of Darwin across to

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...

with the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

on the west, the

Arafura Sea The Arafura Sea (or Arafuru Sea) lies west of the Pacific Ocean, overlying the continental shelf between Australia and Western New Guinea (also called Papua), which is the Indonesian part of the Island of New Guinea. Geography The Arafura Sea is ...

to the north, and the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...

to the east, and with the almost waterless semi-arid interior of Australia to the south, beyond the huge

Kakadu National Park Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, southeast of Darwin. It is a World Heritage Site. Kakadu is also gazetted as a locality, covering the same area as the national park, with 313 people recorded l ...

. The Top End contains the Territory's regional center and its capital city, Darwin, as well as major towns such as Palmerston and

Katherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

. The well-known town of

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

is located further south, in the arid southern part of the Northern Territory, sometimes referred to by Australians as the Red Centre. The landscape is relatively flat with river floodplains and grasslands with

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

trees along with rocky areas and patches of rainforest, and in western Arnhem Land a high rugged

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

plateau cut through with gorges, much of which is in Kakadu National Park. The rivers that form the wetlands include the South and East Alligator Rivers, Mary River, and the Glyde River. The climate is tropical monsoon with a wet and dry season, bringing the highest rainfall in northern Australia (over per year). Temperatures do not fluctuate widely throughout the year. There are a number of islands off the Top End coast including the

Tiwi Islands The Tiwi Islands ( meaning "two islands") are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, to the north of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin adjoining the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island, Bathurst I ...

( Bathurst Island and Melville Island), and Groote Eylandt as well as many smaller ones.

Flora

Most

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

in Australia is used for grazing livestock, but in this far north, vast areas of grassland are in their original state and dotted with Darwin stringybark and Darwin woollybutt eucalyptus trees; these grasslands are a unique and highly important ecoregion. The sandstone plateau area of the ecoregion is a particularly rich centre of biodiversity supporting a unique

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

flora. The northern Top End is within the Arnhem Land tropical savanna

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

. A belt of transitional tropical savannas and woodlands ( Carpentaria,

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

, and Victoria Plains) lies between the Top End and the semi-arid mulga

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

, mallee, and

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

s of Australia's centre. The transition is gradual, and the demarcation line that divides the Top End from the centre is arbitrary.

Fauna

This area is home to unique wildlife. The rivers and estuaries are home to large populations of both saltwater and

freshwater crocodile The freshwater crocodile (''Crocodylus johnstoni)'', also known Common name, commonly as the Australian freshwater crocodile, Johnstone's crocodile, and the freshie, is a species of crocodile native to the northern regions of Australia. Unlike ...

s, as well as

bull shark The bull shark (''Carcharhinus leucas''), also known as the Zambezi shark (informally zambi) in Africa and Lake Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a species of requiem shark commonly found worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in riv ...

sawfish Sawfish, also known as carpenter sharks, are a family of very large rays characterized by a long, narrow, flattened rostrum, or nose extension, lined with sharp transverse teeth, arranged in a way that resembles a saw. They are among the lar ...

, and

dugong The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest ...

s. The wetlands are a rich habitat vital to bird migration and home to large populations of birds, including the world's largest breeding colony of magpie geese, as well as large numbers of rodents and snakes. Endemic species of the Top End include the Woodward's wallaroo,

Oenpelli python The Oenpelli python or Oenpelli rock python (''Simalia oenpelliensis'' or ''Nyctophilopython oenpelliensis'') is a species of large snake in the family Pythonidae. The species is endemic to the sandstone massif area of the western Arnhem Land regi ...

, chestnut-quilled rock-pigeon, Arnhem Land rock rat, and several species of

skink Skinks are a type of lizard belonging to the family (biology), family Scincidae, a family in the Taxonomic rank, infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one o ...

s. Other reptiles include frill-necked lizards and large

monitor lizard Monitor lizards are lizards in the genus ''Varanus,'' the only extant genus in the family Varanidae. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and West African Nile monitor, one species is also found in south America as an invasive species. A ...

s (known locally as goannas). Snakes include the

olive python The olive python (''Liasis olivaceus'')
a

, death adder (''Acanthophis''), mulga, water python ('' Liasis fuscus''), and various others. The plateau is home to many of these endemics, especially invertebrates, fish, and frogs, including, for example, hundreds of species of ants. The offshore islands are home to unique subspecies of some of this wildlife.

Threats and preservation

The landscape is well preserved and most of the area is traditionally managed by Aboriginal land trusts, including

, which is Australia's largest national park and a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. Although some populations have declined, there have been no major extinctions of wildlife in this area. Darwin, though, is a growing city and a base for agriculture and mining, both of which threaten habitats. Introduced plants and animals, such as the

water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called domestic water buffalo, Asian water buffalo and Asiatic water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also kept in Italy, the Balkans ...

, are also changing natural habitats, and there has been criticism of the way the local population has changed the

fire regime A fire regime is the pattern, frequency, and intensity of the bushfires and wildfires that prevail in an area over long periods of time. It is an integral part of fire ecology, and renewal for certain types of ecosystems. A fire regime describes th ...

s used to control the bush foliage, in which large areas are burnt each year and allowed to renew. Also there was a large aboriginal trade in that area which has mostly settled down.

References

External links

* {{Drainage basins of Australia , state=autocollapse Regions of the Northern Territory Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Drainage basins of Australia Northern Australia