Roper Bar is a location in Australia's

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

. It lies on the traditional land of the Ngalakgan people, who refer to it as ''Yurlhbunji''. This part of Australia is extremely remote for travellers, although there are a number of Aboriginal communities in the region including Ngukurr, Urapunga and Minyerri. A

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer ca ...

trek through these parts can be an extension of the Gulf Track on a journey further up north to

Darwin Darwin may refer to: Common meanings * Charles Darwin (1809–1882), English naturalist and writer, best known as the originator of the theory of biological evolution by natural selection * Darwin, Northern Territory, a territorial capital city i ...

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Company ...

Location

Roper Bar is a settlement on the

Roper River The Roper River is a large perennial river located in the Katherine region of the Northern Territory of Australia. Location and features Formed by the confluence of the Waterhouse River and Roper Creek, the Roper River rises east of Mataranka ...

, 606 km southeast of Darwin, 312 km east of

Katherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

and 1,235 km from

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

. The first European to explore the Roper River was

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 ...

in 1845 as he made his way 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 ...

Port Essington Port Essington is an inlet and historic site located on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. It was the site of an early attempt at British settlement, but now exists only as a remot ...

. Leichhardt crossed the river at Roper Bar, a rocky shelf that lies at the high tide limit on the river. He named the river after John Roper, a member of the expedition. The town is a small settlement with a police station, a motel, the Roper Bar store, a caravan park and roadhouse facilities. Fishing in the Roper River, particularly for the prized

barramundi The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'') or Asian sea bass, is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Perciformes. The species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, spanning the waters of the Middle East, Sou ...

, has attracted fishermen to the area. The partially unsealed road from the

Stuart Highway Stuart Highway is a major Australian highway. It runs from Darwin, in the Northern Territory, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta in South Australia; a distance of . Its northern and southern extremities are segments of Aust ...

is flat and monotonous; at the road's end is a tropical river which, like all of the rivers around the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary ...

, is unsuitable for swimming as it is the habitat of the

saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been list ...

History

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 were the Ngalakgan Aboriginal people, one of the Gunwinyguan people who traditionally spoke the

Ngalakgan language Ngalakan (Ngalakgan) is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Ngalakgan people. It has not been fully acquired by children since the 1930s. It is one of the Northern Non-Pama–Nyungan languages formerly spoken in the Roper river region of t ...

, although today many speak the Arnhem Kriol. The first European to the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

was Ludwig Leichhardt who crossed the Roper River at the Roper Bar in 1845, and in 1855

Augustus Charles Gregory Sir Augustus Charles Gregory (1 August 1819 – 25 June 1905) was an English-born Australian explorer and surveyor. Between 1846 and 1858 he undertook four major expeditions. He was the first Surveyor-General of Queensland. He was appointed a ...

passed to the south of the hundred on his route to

Gladstone, Queensland Gladstone () is a coastal city in the Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia. Gladstone has an urban population of 34,703, and together with Boyne Island and Tannum Sands, had an estimated population of 50,317 at August 2021. This urban area ...

. In the 1870s pastoral leases were being taken up, gold had been discovered at Pine Creek to the north and in 1872 a store depot for the

Australian Overland Telegraph Line The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a telegraphy system to send messages over long distances using cables and electric signals. It spanned between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital of ...

was established at Roper Bar, it being the furthest point up river that was navigable to ships. Roper Bar
''The Sydney Morning Herald''. February 8, 2004. The hundred was anticipated to be the seat of a prosperous port. In the 1890s the area was a favourite stop over for drovers bringing

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...

between

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and the Kimberley region, and it had a very wild reputation. In 1902 Jeannie Gunn moved to nearby

Elsey Station Elsey Station is a pastoral lease that once operated as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is situated about east of Mataranka and north of Larrimah. The Roper River and many of its tributary creeks run through the ...

and wrote of her experience in the area, in the novel '' We of the Never Never''.Rutledge, Martha (2000). "Gunn, Jeannie (1870–1961)".

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

Press. Retrieved 13 March 2007.

References

{{authority control