Archer River is a rural

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

in the

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 ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. In the , Archer River had a population of 27 people.

Geography

This inland locality takes its name from the

Archer River The Archer River is a river located on the Cape York Peninsula, Far North Queensland, Australia. Course and features The headwaters of the river rise in the McIlwraith Range and it flows west, traversing tropical savanna plains and wetlands ...

which flows from east to west across the locality towards the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...

. Bald Hill is in the east of the locality (), rising to above sea level. The

Peninsula Developmental Road The Peninsula Developmental Road (PDR) runs from Lakeland to Weipa. It is the main road transport link within Cape York Peninsula and to the rest of the Australian mainland. The segment from Weipa Town to south of the town is within the Rio ...

passes through the locality in a NW-SE direction connecting

Weipa Weipa () is a coastal mining town in the local government area of Weipa Town in Queensland. It is one of the largest towns on the Cape York Peninsula. It exists because of the enormous bauxite deposits along the coast. The Port of Weipa is main ...

on the

to Lakeland. There are two major road junctions within Archer River from the Peninsula Developmental Road. At there is a turn-off towards the north onto the Telegraph Road towards

Bamaga Bamaga ( , ) is an Indigneous town and locality about from the northern tip of Cape York in the north of Queensland, Australia. It is within the Northern Peninsula Area Region. It is one of the northernmost settlements in continental Australi ...

at the northern tip of

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

. At there is a turn-off towards the north-east on Portland Road to the Lockhart River community on the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...

coast. The Oyala Thumotang National Park (formerly known as Mungkan Kandju National Park and Archer Bend National Park) is in the south-west of the locality. Apart from this protected area, the land use is predominantly

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

on native vegetation.

History

Kaanju (also known as Kaanju and Kandju) is a language of Cape York. The Kaanju language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the

Cook Shire Council 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 ...

. '' Linngithigh'' (also known as ''Winda Winda'' and ''Linginiti'') an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

spoken by the Linngithigh people. The Linngithigh language region includes landscape within the local government boundaries of the

: Western Cape York, Winda Winda Creek,

Mission River The Mission River is a river located in Texas, in the United States of America. It is formed by the confluence of Blanco and Medio creeks in central Refugio County (at 28°19' N, 97°19' W) and runs southeast, past Refugio, for to its mout ...

, and Archer River.

Demographics

In the Archer River had a population of 22 people. In the , Archer River had a population of 27 people.

Heritage listings

The Wenlock Goldfield is a

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

site ().

Education

There are no schools in Archer River. The nearest government primary school is the Coen campus of the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy (with the main campus in Hope Vale). However, most students in Archer River are too distant to attend this school. Also, there are no nearby secondary schools. The alternatives are

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

and boarding school.

Amenities

The Archer River Roadhouse () is located on the Peninsula Developmental Road immediately south of the Archer River. It provides accommodation, laundry, meals, fuel, minor motor vehicle repairs, and internet access.

References

{{Shire of Cook Shire of Cook Populated places in Far North Queensland Localities in Queensland