The Mitchell 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 w ...

located in Far North Queensland, Australia. The river rises on the Atherton Tableland about northwest of Cairns and flows about northwest across

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

from

Mareeba Mareeba is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba in Far North Queensland, Australia. Between 2008 and 2013, it was within the Tablelands Region. The town's name is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning ''meeting of the waters'' ...

to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The river's watershed covers an area of . The Mitchell River has the state's largest discharge, at annually, but is intermittent and may be dry for part of the year. Lake Mitchell is the main water storage facility on the river. It was named by

Ludwig Leichhardt Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt (), known as Ludwig Leichhardt, (23 October 1813 – c. 1848) was a German explorer and naturalist, most famous for his exploration of northern and central Australia.Ken Eastwood,'Cold case: Leichhardt's dis ...

on the 16 June 1845 after Sir Thomas Mitchell while he was on his overland expedition from

Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...

to Port Essington. It may have been previously named the Vereenighde River in 1623 by a Dutch merchant and navigator, Jan Carstensz.

Biophysical aspects

The Mitchell River and its tributaries have for a long time carved their way westwards through the rugged, weathered highlands of the Great Dividing Range, carrying away sediments to be deposited in the broad floodplains and

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 ...

s of the Gulf Savannah country. The rivers' waters 'pulse' annually with monsoonal rains, seasonally collecting water from across the local

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equa ...

s in the highlands to the east; the wet

sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

forests in the central uplands; a variety of

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

s plus savannah in the western plains; annually flooding with freshwater, the tidal plains,

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environmen ...

, and

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

of the lower Mitchell and coastal plains. From source to mouth, the Mitchell River is joined by 34

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 ...

including the McLeod River, Hodgkinson River, St George River, Dry River, Little Mitchell River, Walsh River,

Lynd River The Lynd River is a river located on the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia. Course and features The headwaters of the river rise in the Forty Mile Scrub National Park in the Great Dividing Range and flows in a north weste ...

, Palmer River and Alice River. Protected areas within the Mitchell River catchment include the Hann Tableland, Mitchell-Alice Rivers, Chillagoe-Mungana Caves, part of Bulleringa to the south, and most of the Forty Mile Scrub national parks.

Fauna and Flora

Being a large river system, the Mitchell River may contain within its catchment one of Australia's most ecologically diverse aquatic systems consisting of a rich variety of both wet and dry tropical monsoonal habitats. The catchment ecology as a whole has been generally described as follows:

''The vegetation in the Mitchell River Catchment area ranges from the World Heritage Wet Tropic rainforest on the eastern highlands to the open savannah on the western and lower Mitchell plains. The extensive mangroves and lagoon systems at the delta of the Mitchell River are recognised worldwide. The permanent waters in the upper catchment are associated with springs and water holes..''

More specifically, while this ecologically diverse river system is relatively poorly studied, it is known to contain at least 18 rare, endangered or vulnerable animal species including the

golden-shouldered parrot The golden-shouldered parrot (''Psephotellus chrysopterygius''), also known as the alwal, is a rare bird of southern Cape York Peninsula, in Queensland, Australia. A small parrot related to the more common red-rumped parrot (''Psephotus haematon ...

, the Gouldian finch and the

northern bettong The northern bettong (''Bettongia tropica'') is a small, endangered, gerbil-like mammal native to forests in northeast Australia. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it moves by hopping and lives in burrows, feeding at night on root ...

. The mouth of the river lies in the Gulf Plains Important Bird Area.

Towns

The major towns in the river's catchment are

Kowanyama Kowanyama is a town and coastal locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Kowanyama, Queensland, Australia. It is the site of the former Mitchell River Mission, founded in 1916, after the nearby Trubanamen Mission (established not far away on Tops ...

Chillagoe Chillagoe is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Chillagoe had a population of 251 people. It was once a thriving mining town for a range of minerals, but is now reduced to a small z ...

, Dimbulah, Mount Carbine, Mount Molloy. Other smaller towns in the Mitchell River catchment include Mutchilba and Almaden.

History

Kunjen (also known as Koko Wanggara, Ngundjan and Olkola) is a language of Western Cape York. The Kunjen language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of

Community Council and Cook Shire Council. ''Yir Yiront'' (also known as ''Yiront'', ''Jirjoront'', ''Yir-yiron''t, and ''Kokomindjan'') is an Australian Aboriginal language. Its traditional language region is in Western Cape York within the local government areas of

Aboriginal Shire of Kowanyama The Aboriginal Shire of Kowanyama is a special local government area which is located on western Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia. It is managed under a Deed of Grant in Trust under the ''Local Government (Community Government Areas) ...

and

Shire of Cook The Shire of Cook (The Shire) is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia. The Shire covers most of the eastern and central parts of Cape York Peninsula, the most northerly section of the Australian mainland. It covers an area ...

, in the catchments of the

Coleman River Coleman River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 26, 2011 stream that is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, mostly within Rabun County, Georgia. It is one of ...

and Mitchell River. Following the removal of Aboriginal people from their traditional lands, it is also spoken in Pormpuraaw and