Van Diemen Gulf is a gulf in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It connects to the

Timor Sea The Timor Sea (, , or ) is a relatively shallow sea in the Indian Ocean bounded to the north by the island of Timor with Timor-Leste to the north, Indonesia to the northwest, Arafura Sea to the east, and to the south by Australia. The Sunda Tr ...

in the north via

Dundas Strait Dundas Strait is a sea passage in the Northern Territory of Australia located between Melville Island and the Cobourg Peninsula. It connects the Timor Sea The Timor Sea (, , or ) is a relatively shallow sea in the Indian Ocean bounded to t ...

. Most of its area is also gazetted as a locality with the name Van Diemen Gulf.

History

The gulf was named after the Dutch colonial governor,

Anthony van Diemen Anthony van Diemen (also ''Antonie'', ''Antonio'', ''Anton'', ''Antonius''; 1593 – 19 April 1645) was a Dutch colonial governor. Early life Van Diemen was born in Culemborg (now in the Netherlands, then in a county in the Holy Roman Empire) ...

(1593–1645).

Phillip Parker King Phillip Parker King (13 December 1791 – 26 February 1856) was an early explorer of the Australian and Patagonian coasts. Early life and education King was born on Norfolk Island, to Philip Gidley King and Anna Josepha King ''née'' Coo ...

and his crew in the 76-tonne cutter surveyed the coastline in early 1818, encountering local

Aboriginal people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

and

proa The ProA is the German basketball league system, second-tier Sports league, league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 16 teams. Officially the ProA is part of the ''2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which consists of the t ...

s sailed by

Makassan Makassar ( ), formerly Ujung Pandang ( ), is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan, and Ba ...

s, and passed by the Gulf on other voyages.

Geography

The gulf connects to the Timor Sea in the north via Dundas Strait, and is also connected to the

Beagle Gulf Beagle Gulf is a Bay, gulf in the Northern Territory of Australia which opens on its west side to the Timor Sea. The gulf is bounded to the south by the mainland and to the north by Bathurst Island (Northern Territory), Bathurst and Melville Isl ...

in the west by the Clarence Strait. It is partially enclosed by Melville Island and the

Cobourg Peninsula The Cobourg Peninsula is a peninsula located east of Darwin in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is deeply indented with coves and bays, covers a land area of about , and is virtually uninhabited with a population ranging from about 20 ...

, and measures about by . Rivers draining into the Gulf include the

South Alligator River Alligator Rivers is the name of an area in an Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory of Australia, containing three rivers, the East, West, and South Alligator Rivers. It is regarded as one of the richest biological regions in Australia, ...

, the

East Alligator River Alligator Rivers is the name of an area in an Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory of Australia, containing three rivers, the East, West, and South Alligator Rivers. It is regarded as one of the richest biological regions in Australia, ...

, the Mary River, Wildman River and the

Adelaide River The Adelaide River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia. Course and features The river rises in the Litchfield National Park and flows generally northwards to Clarence Strait, joined by eight tributaries including the west branc ...

. The

Kakadu National Park Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, southeast of Darwin. It is a World Heritage Site. Kakadu is also gazetted as a locality, covering the same area as the national park, with 313 people recorded l ...

adjoins its south-east coast.

Administrative status

On 4 April 2007, most of the area occupied by the Van Diemen Gulf was gazetted as a locality with the name Van Diemen Gulf by the

Northern Territory Government The Northern Territory Government is the executive branch of the Northern Territory. The Government of Northern Territory was formed in 1978 with the granting of self-government to the Territory. The Northern Territory is a territory of the Co ...

, who also included it in the local government area of the

West Arnhem Region The West Arnhem Region is a local government area of the Northern Territory, Australia and is administered by the West Arnhem Regional Council. The region, located in Arnhem Land, covers an area of and had a population of 6,902 in June 2018. Hi ...

References

{{Authority control Coastline of the Northern Territory Gulfs of Australia Maritime history of the Dutch East India Company IMCRA meso-scale bioregions