The Sale 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 ...
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 was seen and named on 9 June 1865 by an expedition from the short-lived Camden Harbor settlement (in Camden Sound) searching for pastoral land. The expedition comprised
Alexander McRae,
Trevarton Sholl,
PC William Gee, John Stainer and an Aboriginal constable named Billy.
The
headwaters of the river rise near Spong Pyramid at the southern edge of the Elizabeth and Catherine Range and flow in a westerly direction before discharging into Doubtful Bay near Storr Island. The only
tributary
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 drai ...
of the Sale is the
Berckelman River, which was named after the
family of Trevarton Sholl's mother.
The
mouth of the Sale River at Doubtful Bay has a depth of about but the mouth itself is blocked by a
rock bar at
low tide. Cruise boats regularly enter the river from the bay and many anchorages exist along the length of the river with
gorges and sandy
beach
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc sh ...
es that are popular with tourists.
References
Rivers of the Kimberley region of Western Australia
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