Durack 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 Kimberley 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 below the Durack Range then flows north, discharging into the west arm of

Cambridge Gulf Cambridge Gulf is a gulf on the north coast of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Many rivers flow into the gulf, including the Ord River, Pentecost River, Durack River, King River and the Forrest River, making the environment an es ...

. There are 14

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 ...

of the Durack, including Chapman River, Wood River, Ellenbrae Creek, Royston Creek, Koolawerii Creek and Wilson Creek. The river was named in 1882 by the surveyor John Pentecost after explorer and Kimberley pioneer

Michael Durack Michael Patrick Durack, (22 July 1865 – 3 September 1950) was a Pastoralism, pastoralist and Western Australian pioneer, known as "M.P." or to the family as "Miguel". He was the son of Patrick Durack and Mary Costello, both Irish-Australians. ...

, who was the first

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an to cross the river. 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 that the river flows through are the Kitja, Ola and

Wilawila The Wilawila are an indigenous Australian tribe of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Name Norman Tindale gave "wilawila" as the proper tribal ethnonym, but noted that, according to reports by the missionary Theodore Hernández, the sa ...

peoples.

References

Rivers of the Kimberley region of Western Australia Cambridge Gulf {{WesternAustralia-river-stub