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Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park
Rinyirru (Lakefield) is a national park in Lakefield, Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia, 1,707 km northwest of Brisbane and 340 km north-west of Cairns by road, on Cape York Peninsula. At 5,370 km2 (2,073 sq. miles) - making it bigger than Trinidad and Tobago and almost as big as Brunei - Rinyirru is the second largest park in Queensland and a popular place for fishing and camping. The park stretches from Princess Charlotte Bay in the north to the town of Laura. It covers 537,000 ha of land, and includes sections of the Normanby River, Morehead River and North Kennedy Rivers, as well as lakes, billabongs and wetlands. There are more than 100 permanent riverine lagoons in the park. There is one main, unsealed road (Lakefield Road) through the park but it is impassable through much of the wet season, when the park closes. There is a ranger station within the park which can assist with information or give help in emergencies. Climate From early December to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cooktown, Queensland
Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs in 1770. Both the town and Mount Cook (431 metres or 1,415 feet) which rises up behind the town were named after James Cook. Cooktown is one of the few large towns in the Cape York Peninsula and was founded on 25 October 1873 as a supply port for the goldfields along the Palmer River.Pike (1979), p. 23.Holthouse, Hector (1967). ''River of Gold: The Wild Days of the Palmer River Gold Rush''. Angus & Robertson. Reprint 2002. HarperCollins ''Publishers'', Australia. ; pp. 27–28. It was called "Cook's Town" until 1 June 1874.Pike (1979), p. 26. In the the locality of Cooktown had a population of 2,631 people. Geography Cooktown is located about north of Brisbane and north of Cairns, by road. Cooktown is about south of Cape York by ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wet Season
The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least a month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the tropics and subtropics. Under the Köppen climate classification, for tropical climates, a wet season month is defined as a month where average precipitation is or more. In contrast to areas with savanna climates and monsoon regimes, Mediterranean climates have wet winters and dry summers. Dry and rainy months are characteristic of tropical seasonal forests: in contrast to tropical rainforests, which do not have dry or wet seasons, since their rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year.Elisabeth M. Benders-Hyde (2003)World Climates.Blue Planet Biomes. Retr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Nailtail Wallaby
The northern or sandy nail-tail wallaby (''Onychogalea unguifera'') is a species of macropod found across northern Australia on arid and sparsely wooded plains. The largest species of the genus ''Onychogalea'', it is a solitary and nocturnal herbivorous browser that selects its food from a wide variety of grasses and succulent plant material. Distinguished by a slender and long-limbed form that resembles the typical and well known kangaroos, although their standing height is shorter, around half of one metre, and their weight is less than nine kilograms. As with some medium to large kangaroo species, such as ''Osphranter rufus'', they have an unusual pentapedal motion at slow speeds by stiffening the tail for a fifth limb. When fleeing a disturbance, they hop rapidly with the tail curled back and repeatedly utter the sound "wuluhwuluh". Their exceptionally long tail has a broad fingernail-like protuberance beneath a dark crest of hair at its end, a peculiarity of the genus that i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agile Wallaby
The agile wallaby (''Notamacropus agilis''), also known as the sandy wallaby, is a species of wallaby found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It is the most common wallaby in north Australia. The agile wallaby is a sandy colour, becoming paler below. It is sometimes solitary and at other times sociable and grazes on grasses and other plants. The agile wallaby is not considered threatened. Subspecies The four subspecies of the agile wallaby are: *''N. a. agilis'', the nominate subspecies, is found in the Northern Territory. *''N. a. jardinii'' is found on the northern and eastern coasts of Queensland. *''N. a. nigrescens'' is found in the Kimberley and Arnhem Land regions of Western Australia. *''N. a. papuanus'' is found in southern and southeastern Papua New Guinea and some neighbouring islands. Description Male agile wallabies are considerably larger than females, having a head and body length of up to and weighing while the females grow to in length and weigh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magpie Geese
The magpie goose (''Anseranas semipalmata'') is the sole living representative species of the family Anseranatidae. This common waterbird is found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. As the species is prone to wandering, especially when not breeding, it is sometimes recorded outside its core range. The species was once also widespread in southern Australia but disappeared from there largely due to the drainage of the wetlands where the birds once bred. Due to their importance to Aboriginal people as a seasonal food source, as subjects of recreational hunting, and as a tourist attraction, their expansive and stable presence in northern Australia has been "ensured yprotective management". Description Magpie geese are unmistakable birds with their black and white plumage and yellowish legs. The feet are only partially webbed, and the magpie goose feeds on vegetable matter in the water, as well as on land. Males are larger than females. Unlike true geese, their molt is gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comb-crested Jacana
The comb-crested jacana (''Irediparra gallinacea''), also known as the lotusbird or lilytrotter, is the only species of jacana in the genus ''Irediparra''. Like other jacana species, it is adapted to the floating vegetation of tropical freshwater wetlands. Description This species is unmistakable. It has a black crown and hindneck with a fleshy red wattle covering the forehead and forecrown, contrasting with a white face and throat. The comb is pinker in breeding adults, more orange when not breeding. There is a broad black band on the lower breast with white belly. The underwing and flight feathers, which show most prominently in flight, are black. Back and upperwing mainly grey-brown with black primary coverts, rump and tail. The long legs with extremely long toes trail in flight. The male is slightly smaller than the female and measures in length and weighs . The female measures in length and weighs .''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black-necked Stork
The black-necked stork (''Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus'') is a tall long-necked wading bird in the stork family. It is a resident species across the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia with a disjunct population in Australia. It lives in wetland habitats and near fields of certain crops such as rice and wheat where it forages for a wide range of animal prey. Adult birds of both sexes have a heavy bill and are patterned in white and irridescent blacks, but the sexes differ in the colour of the iris with females sporting yellow irises and males having dark-coloured irises. In Australia, it is sometimes called a jabiru although that name refers to a stork species found in the Americas. It is one of the few storks that are strongly territorial when feeding and breeding. Taxonomy and systematics First described by John Latham as ''Mycteria asiatica'', this species was later placed in the genus ''Xenorhynchus'' based on morphology. Based on behavioural similarities, Kahl suggested ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brolga
The brolga (''Antigone rubicunda''), formerly known as the native companion, is a bird in the crane family. It has also been given the name Australian crane, a term coined in 1865 by well-known ornithologist John Gould in his ''Birds of Australia''. The brolga is a common, gregarious wetland bird species of tropical and south-eastern Australia and New Guinea. It is a tall, upright bird with a small head, long beak, slender neck, and long legs. Its plumage is mainly grey, with black wing tips, and it has an orange-red band on its head. The brolga's courting dance is similar to that of other cranes. The nest is built of wetland vegetation, either on an elevated piece of land or floating on shallow water in marshland, and usually two eggs are laid. Incubation takes 32 days, and the newly hatched young are precocial. The adult diet is omnivorous and includes plant matter, invertebrates, and small vertebrates. Although the bird is not considered endangered over the majority of its r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crocodile
Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant taxon, extant members of the order (biology), order Crocodilia, which includes the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae), the gharial and false gharial (family Gavialidae) among other extinct taxa. Although they appear similar, crocodiles, alligators and the gharial belong to separate biological family (biology), families. The gharial, with its narrow snout, is easier to distinguish, while Morphology (biology), morphological differences are more difficult to spot in crocodiles and alligators. The most obvious external differences are visible in the head, with crocodiles having narrower and longer heads, with a more V-shaped than a U-shaped snout compared to alligators and caimans. Another obvious trait is that the upp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cattle Station
In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle station in the world is Anna Creek Station in South Australia, which covers an area of . Improvements Each station has a homestead where the property owner or the manager lives. Nearby cottages or staff quarters provide housing for the employees. Storage sheds and cattle yards are also sited near the homestead. Other structures depend on the size and location of the station. Isolated stations will have a mechanic's workshop, schoolroom, a small general store to supply essentials, and possibly an entertainment or bar area for the owners and staff. Water may be supplied from a river, bores or dams, in conjunction with rainwater tanks. Nowadays, if rural mains power is not connected, electricity is typically provided by a generator, although sol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Laura Homestead
Old Laura Homestead is a heritage-listed homestead in Rinyirru National Park, Lakefield, Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1902 onwards. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 July 2000. History The earliest record of an official application for a license to occupy a new run on the lower Laura River was made by Peter McDermott and Fergus O'Beirne on 14 October 1879. Occupational licenses were granted for twelve month terms and could be converted to form part of a pastoral lease once the run had been stocked to one quarter of its grazing capacity. Brixton and Fox Vale (Old Fairview) runs on the Little Laura River, Boralga Spring and the better grazing country on the Kennedy River at Lakefield and Breeza Plains, had already been occupied and unofficially stocked by this period. McDermott and O'Beirne were cousins from Ireland who had travelled overland from Rockhampton to Cooktown where they established a butcher's business and resided. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
