Kimberley (Western Australia)

- 18122Koordinaten: 18 ° 0 ' S, 122 ° 0' O

Kimberley is one of the nine regions of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is located in the north of the state and is bounded on the west by the Indian Ocean, the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and the Tanamiwüste and on the east by the Northern Territory. The area of ​​the Kimberley region amounts to 424 517 km2, making it almost as large as Germany and Austria together.

The population is approximately 38,000 people and growing at an annual 4.8%. About half of the population is Aboriginal.

Geographical breakdown

The Kimberley region is divided into three core regions (popularly known as the Kimberley in the plural ):

  • The almost inaccessible northern Kimberley is characterized by 1.8 billion years old volcanic and sedimentary rock that has been raised before about 200 million years ago (so-called Kimberley Plateau ). Rivers have dug deep gorges in the plateau. Characteristic landforms are the Mitchell Plateau with its spectacular waterfalls, lush bushland on the banks of the Drysdale River and Price Regent River and the mangroves on the north coast ( Timor Sea ).
  • The geologically younger western Kimberley includes the sandy plains with dunes on the Dampier Peninsula to the Cape Leveque, interspersed with acacia shrublands; geographically, this peninsula - accessible as Aboriginal land only with permission - a north-western extension of the Great Sandy Desert, but with higher rainfall. To the west Kimberley include the land on the Fitzroy River, the National Park on the Devonian limestone reef in the Napier Range ( Windjana Gorge National Park, Tunnel Creek National Park, Geikie Gorge National Park ) and the east parallel granite formation of the King Leopold Range ( escarpment of the Kimberley plateau ).
  • The geologically differentiated eastern Kimberley includes such diverse landscapes such as the Bungle Bungle one hand, and the sandstone formations near Halls Creek on the other. Climatically, it represents a transition zone to the arid climate of the Tanami Desert, which has an effect in flora and fauna. The fertile plains of the Ord River and Lake Argyle limit the northeastern Kimberley towards the Northern Territory.

Climate: The southern Hitzepol

In the Kimberley region has a tropical monsoon climate during the summer rainy season from October / November to March / April. There are at this time 90 % of the total annual rainfall; The air humidity is in this period is often 80 to 90 %. This is followed by an equally long winter dry season (April / May to September / October ), when the humidity drops to 27%. The interior of the Kimberley region is considered to be the hottest part of not only Australia but the entire southern hemisphere. Prevail here in the hot and humid summer day temperatures with peak values ​​of 40 to 45 degrees Celsius, and even in winter yet - dry hot, but bearable - 30 to 35 degrees Celsius. The region is therefore also known as the southern Hitzepol.

Landscape

The northern Kimberley Plateau is in much of a covered with sparse eucalyptus and acacia scrubland plateau, in the rivers have dug deep sandstone canyons. In the center of the plateau reaches a height of about 800 m; towards the coast, the height is reduced gradually to about 300 m. For the Timor Sea, the plateau falls in steep cliffs.

In the protected from the sun ravines where during the dry season, the water is stored even survive up to 50 ha large islands of the tropical rainforest. An endemic fan palm species ( Livistona eastonii ) dominates the Mitchell Plateau. Mangroves dominate the coastal areas.

The southern Kimberley, particularly east of the Fitzroy River, are flat tree - savannah. During the rainy season the grasses between the eucalypts and acacias and grow up to two meters high; endemic in the savannas of the Kimberley is also the Australian Boab (Adansonia gregorii ), which has become the emblem of the tourist region. Flowering plants such as the Kimberley Bauhinie, the Kapok Bush ( Cochlospermum ) and the Kimberley Heath enrich the savanna vegetation. In the southernmost areas in the peripheral zone to arid climate, the vegetation changes into a spinifex steppe.

Some heavily eroded sandstone formations - for example, the " beehives " of the Bungle Bungle - there are the heavy rains during the wet season flush of brownish red in color and almost completely devoid of vegetation, the entire soil in the savannas in the lowlands.

The fauna of the Kimberley is as diverse as its landscape variability. Australia crocodiles live in the waters of the Napier Range and in the Fitzroy River, saltwater crocodiles come along the entire coast before, from the muddy flood plains of Kings Sound at Derby in the southwest to the Cambridge Gulf at Wyndham in the north- east. The habitat of the mountain and rock kangaroos are the steep canyon walls. About 80 species of reptiles and over 100 species of birds have been documented in some national parks such as Windjana Gorge, Purnululu and Parry Lagoons. Bats live in colonies on eucalyptus and paper bark trees.

Colonization, economic

The Kimberley region is one of the earliest settled areas of Australia; the first immigrants arrived about 40,000 years ago on the islands of Indonesia today. Several Aboriginal tribes inhabit today their own distinct area, such as the Bunuba the Napier Range, the Djaru and Kiya, the area around Halls Creek and the Bungle Bungles, the bard, the Dampier Peninsula, the Wunambal the Mitchell Plateau and the Worara the area around the Prince Regent River.

The Bradshaws are a rock painting, the witnesses are of this early settlement.

Europeans did not appear before the end of the 19th century in this area. One of the first pioneers was 1879 Alexander Forrest, who struck 400 km at the Fitzroy River along and then further east on Halls Creek to the Northern Territory. He discovered the Napier Range and the King Leopold Ranges, Margaret River and the Ord River. He named the land he discovered after the Earl of Kimberley as its counterpart in South Africa; that there are diamonds in the Australian Kimberley, Forrest can not know and is sheer coincidence that it turned out afterwards.

As a result - from about 1885 - settlers were attracted who were in search of good grazing land for their cattle. Despite difficult climatic conditions, the cattle plays a crucial role to this day. Out were the end of the 19th century, the discovery of gold at Halls Creek for attraction object for many immigrants; the gold mines are now closed.

Agriculture is possible only in the fertile plain at the Ord River in Kununurra by a sophisticated irrigation system. After cotton, sugar cane and fruit growing has been tried with more or less satisfactory results, the agricultural sector currently focuses on Sandelholzplantagen.

1890 were French Trappists, who began with the Roman Catholic missionary work among the Aborigines. 1901 took over from Germany Pallottiner the Beagle Bay Mission, where until 1918 the Sacred Heart Church was built, which is well known for their facilities with shells.

Each settlement has its own founding history and traditional historical importance. Broome, the gateway to the Kimberley 's, with about 15,000 inhabitants, the largest city; their economic orientation based on pearl diving and rearing. Wyndham and Derby are port cities, a gold mining town of Halls Creek, Kununurra, a satellite town of dam construction in the 1960s and the Argyle Diamond Mine, one of the world's largest diamond mines and major employer in the region.

Tourism has become in the 21st century infrastructure development and professionalization of the national park administrations in all these settlements to a main source of income.

Transport

Headquarters and only paved compound on the southern edge of the Kimberley along the Great Northern Highway from the Kentucky Derby to Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek to Kununurra.

The - apart from the first 60 kilometers east of Derby - unpaved Gibb River Road leads north parallel by the central Kimberley. Side tracks open up the individual canyons.

Main runway to the north is the Kalumburu Road with some difficult side tracks, for example, to Mitchell Plateau, as well as the accessible only with Aboriginal approval Carson River Track.

The Fairfield Leopold Downs Road is a popular tourist track past the National Park of Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek.

Apart from the paved path on the Great Northern Highway a vehicle with all-wheel drive is essential for the Kimberley region. The Kimberley can not be explored with conventional vehicles, even with good road conditions in the dry season. During the rainy season all unsealed connections including the Gibb River Road are not passable.

States and territories of Australia Local government areas of Australia Shire of Broome Shire of Derby-West Kimberley Shire of Halls Creek Mitchell-River-Nationalpark (Western Australia) Drysdale-River-Nationalpark Indigenous Australians Fitzroy River (Western Australia) Halls Creek, Western Australia Spinifex (genus) Freshwater crocodile Margaret River (Kimberley) Pallottines Broome, Western Australia Pearling in Western Australia Wyndham, Western Australia Derby (Western Australia) Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia Gascoyne Goldfields-Esperance Great Southern (Western Australia) Mid West (Western Australia) Pilbara South West (Western Australia)
475660
de