The Watson River is a river located in Far North Queensland, Australia. The headwaters of the river rise near the Aurukun Road and flows in a south westerly direction to Watson Crossing and continues through a valley before discharging into Archer Bay near

Aurukun Aurukun is a town and coastal locality in the Shire of Aurukun and the Shire of Cook in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is an Indigenous community. In the , the locality of Aurukun had a population of 1,269 people. Geography Aurukun is ...

along with the

Archer River The Archer River is a river located on the Cape York Peninsula, Far North Queensland, Australia. Course and features The headwaters of the river rise in the McIlwraith Range and it flows west, traversing tropical savanna plains and wetlands, ...

and the Ward River, then onto the Gulf of Carpentaria. From source to mouth, the Watson River is joined by four

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 drainag ...

; descending over its course. The catchment occupies an area of and is bordered by the Archer River drainage basin to the south. The catchment contains large

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

areas with the margins covered in stringybark forests and

paperbark ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of ''Leptospermum''). They range in size f ...

lined lagoons that are vital refuges for wildlife during the dry season. Several species of fish are known to inhabit the river including the empire gudgeon, northern trout gudgeon, chequered rainbowfish, black-banded rainbowfish, banded rainbowfish, spotted blue-eye, Obbes catfish, delicate blue-eyes fish and

barramundi The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'') or Asian sea bass, is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Perciformes. The species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, spanning the waters of the Middle East, Sout ...

. 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 right ...

of the area are the Wik, Winda winda and Mbelwum peoples.

References

{{Rivers of Queensland Rivers of Far North Queensland Gulf of Carpentaria

See also

References