The Angelo 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 river rises in the hills to the western side of the

Ophthalmia Range The Ophthalmia Range is a Mountain range, range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is approximately north of Perth, Western Australia, Perth; the nearest town is Newman, Western Australia, Newman, approximately to the south in the ...

and flows in a southerly direction before veering east near Kundering Range and past the Angelo River Mine and Angelo River prospect, a

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

deposit, then finally discharging into the Ashburton River. The river has six tributaries, including Indabiddy Creek, Bukardi Creek and Kennedy Creek. The river was named in 1887 by Robert McPhee, who was prospecting the area at the time. He named the river after Colonel Fox Angelo, who was the government resident in Roebourne and later became the Superintendent of

Rottnest Island Rottnest Island ( nys, Wadjemup), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class ...

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

, the Ngarlawongga and Banjima peoples, have dreamtime songs involving the origin of the black river goanna, which is believed to have been created in the river. Likewise the

black-headed python The black-headed python (''Aspidites melanocephalus'') Mehrtens JM (1987). ''Living Snakes of the World in Color''. New York: Sterling Publishers. 480 pp. . is a species of snake in the Pythonidae (the python family). The species is endemic to A ...

is believed to have been created in Indabiddy Creek.

References

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