A remote shire
In far north Queensland, the Shire of Carpentaria abuts the south-east shore of the Gulf for which it is named. With fewer than 2000 inhabitants spread over 64,000sq km, the shire is one of the least densely populated areas in the state, remote and largely undeveloped. The lion’s share of the population lives in the shire’s two main towns: Normanton, the administrative hub and service centre on the banks of the Norman River; and Karumba, a fishing port 40km downstream at the river mouth.
The Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria is a large, shallow sea covering an area of about 300,000sq km, opening into the Arafura Sea between Australia and New Guinea. Ninety kilometres north-west of Karumba and adjacent to the Wellesley Islands, the Gulf of Carpentaria Marine Park protects a network of submerged coral reefs that support dense sponge gardens, abundant fish and breeding grounds for marine turtles.
Shallow seagrass meadows are important nursery grounds for many fish and prawn species targeted by commercial operations based in Karumba. They also provide yearround grazing for dugongs and turtles. The estuaries and near-shore waters are patrolled by sharks, sawfish and dolphins, while the inter-tidal zones are among the most significant crocodile breeding areas in Queensland.
The shoreline of the south-eastern Gulf is a continuous, undisturbed littoral of estuarine wetlands, salt marshes and mangrovefringed mudflats. These varied environments
