Ducie River

Ducie
River
Name origin: In honour of the Earl of Ducie[1]
Country	Australia
State	Queensland
Region	Far North Queensland
Tributaries
- right	Dulhunty River
Source	Richardson Range, Great Dividing Range
Source confluence	Palm Creek and South Palm Creek
- location	west of Bramwell Roadhouse
- elevation	30 m (98 ft)
- coordinates	12°06′47″S 142°25′08″E / 12.11306°S 142.41889°E / -12.11306; 142.41889
Mouth	Gulf of Carpentaria
- location	Port Musgrave
- elevation	0 m (0 ft)
- coordinates	12°03′S 142°01′E / 12.050°S 142.017°E / -12.050; 142.017Coordinates: 12°03′S 142°01′E / 12.050°S 142.017°E / -12.050; 142.017
Length	69 km (43 mi)
Basin	6,746 km2 (2,605 sq mi)
Location of Ducie River mouth in Queensland
[2]

The Ducie River is a river located on the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia.

Formed by the confluence of the Palm Creek and South Palm Creek, the headwaters of the Ducie River drain the Richardson Range, part of the Great Dividing Range. The river flows generally west through stringybark woodlands, tropical savanna plains and wetlands, and enters the Gulf of Carpentaria on the western side of the Cape York Peninsula at Port Musgrave just north of Mapoon. The river descends 31 metres (102 ft) over its 69-kilometre (43 mi) course.^[2]

The catchment covers 6,746 square kilometres (2,605 sq mi)^[3] There are no major towns or water storage facilities in the watershed.

Much of the river is bordered by gallery rainforest. In its lower reaches it supports extensive tidal mangrove forest with stands of Nipa Palms.^[4]

The river was named in 1886 by Francis Lascelles Jardine, a pastoralist, reportedly after the Earl of Ducie, presumably a relative of the Jardine family.^[1]

See also

• List of rivers of Queensland

References