Australia’s Kimberley – An Overview
Location & Climate
The Kimberley is a remote location in Western Australia that makes up the northern section of this State. In this area, the Kimberley Region is larger than the island of Ireland.
It is located in the tropics with a monsoonal climate that results in hot-wet conditions during the summer and cooler-dry winters between April and September. The north and northwest Kimberley are bordered by a coastline on the Timor Sea to the north and the Indian Ocean to the west. The south borders arid regions close to the Great Sandy Desert and the Tanami Desert, and to the east, shares a border with the Northern Territory.
Road & Access
Much of the Kimberley is not intensively developed, meaning limited road development and travel by land is greatly limited to the ‘black top’ (sealed road) during the wet season. The major Kimberley road is the Great Northern Highway linking Western Australia to the Northern Territory may be closed to traffic due to flooding as it was in 2021.
During the wet season, it’s only possible to access the large townships of Kununurra, Derby, and Broome, as well as a few smaller places like Wyndham, Halls Creek, and Fitzroy Crossing by road. These road and track restrictions are in place throughout the year, especially for those planning to visit the Kimberley coast. This leads to an increase in visitors during the dry season from mid-May to September. Even then, there are limited road vehicle routes servicing large parts of the coast. The highway between Kununurra and Derby goes around the central Kimberley and its inland features. However, the unsealed Gibb River Road, the Kalumburu Road, the track to Mitchell Plateau, and property access roads are the main routes, especially during the dry season, to see inland landscape features.
Traditional Owners & Pastoralists
While pastoralist landholders have been in the Kimberley since pioneers like Nat Buchanan, the MacDonalds at Fossil Downs, and the Duracks droved cattle there in the 1830s, Aboriginal clans have known these lands for many tens of thousands of years. The first inhabitants became widely distributed, and local groups developed their own languages. Today, following linguistic studies, we know there were thirty Kimberley languages. Significantly, language distinguished these groups of the First People and their traditional lands. Around the coastline between Cambridge Gulf and Yampi Peninsula, there were at least six separate languages, several of which fall within the Worroran group. While several of these languages are still spoken, some have just a few speakers, and one, the Miwa language from the northeast Kimberley, is extinct.
In recent times, there have been several generally protracted legal proceedings resulting in the rightful granting and restoration of traditional land ownership. In some cases, such as the Balanggarra Corporation, the lands restored to traditional ownership incorporate several language groups and their country from the Cambridge Gulf west to Carson River, as well as Sir Graham Moore Islands. In detail, as outlined in the Balanggarra Corporation and published on their website, the claimed area includes the Kalumburu, Oombulgurri, and Forrest River Aboriginal reserves, Carson River pastoral lease, parts of the Drysdale River National Park, and unallocated crown land at Cape Londonderry, Carson River, and the Cambridge Gulf coast. The northern boundary runs through sea country and encompasses several islands near the coast, including the Sir Graham Moore Islands, Adolphus Island, and Reveley Island.
It is interesting to note that ‘custodianship’ rather than ownership of traditional land more accurately reflects the Australian Aboriginal view of their relationship with their Country.
Geology & Landforms
The Kimberley originated as a small continental landmass that was joined to the northwest of what is now known as the Pilbara and Yilgarn plates over 1,830 million years ago. During this time, rock weathering, erosion, and sediment deposition shaped the newly joined segment. Sediments from the high country were eroded by rivers and deposited in a shallow basin, forming the Kimberley Block as we know it today. Multiple formations of sedimentary rocks, such as sandstones and siltstones, were deposited on river deltas within the basin. This was followed by volcanic activity that resulted in the formation of thick basalt layers over most of the basin. Over around 40 million years, a total of six main formations, known as the Kimberley Group, were deposited in the Kimberley Block/Plateau.
The Kimberley Group is composed of rock formations that make up the Kimberley Block. While these formations cover most of the Kimberley land area, there are also later formations, such as the marine coral reef in the southwest, which have produced the limestone landforms found in Bandilngan National Park at Windjana Gorge. In another location to the east of the block, sediment deposits have formed the Bungle Bungle Ranges in Purnululu National Park, characterized by their distinctive beehive-shaped landforms.
Over millions of years, the Kimberley Block has been uplifted as a plateau multiple times, and its uplands have undergone extensive weathering and erosion, resulting in the landscapes we see in the Kimberley today. These processes have given rise to higher mountain points, numerous ranges, and a network of mostly seasonal rivers that have transported sediments to the sea where they were deposited. The Kimberley now boasts thousands of stunning landscapes for travelers to explore.
Many travelers choose to explore the bays, basins, islands, and river estuaries of Kimberley by taking a cruise along the coastline. This allows them to experience the landscapes from a different perspective. Cruising offers a more convenient mode of travel compared to bush tracks and provides views of diverse landforms and landscapes. The rock formations owe their magnificence to the varied rock coloring, sculpting through weathering, and fascinating architecture resulting from the jointing and folding of the Kimberley Group rocks. The rise in sea levels after the last Ice Age led to the formation of numerous Kimberley islands, the flooding of coastal valleys to create estuaries, and the creation of countless cliff structures.
Cruising the Kimberley
I have spent most of my time traveling in the Kimberley region on Coral Expedition vessels. This small ship company not only offers high-quality accommodation and dining but also a unique way to explore the sights using their Xplorer tenders.
These vessels offer comfortable seating for travel during excursions, providing shade, protection from wind and rain as needed, toilet facilities, and amplified commentary from an experienced expedition team. Xplorers also allow for swift travel when visiting more remote sites and can navigate in shallow waters. They have smooth boarding operations for beach visits or transferring into Zodiacs for exploring mangroves, bird watching, or getting up close to waterfalls.
A drop-down walkway enables easy beach land.