The Gulf Coast is that part of the Northern Territory which borders on the Gulf of Carpentaria, a large, warm and shallow body of water that separates the north of Australia from Papua New Guinea. The Gove Peninsula was heavily involved in the defence of Australia during World War II.
Home to some of Australia's largest cattle stations, some of them the size of a small European country, it is here where those in the know come to enjoy a little solitude and some of the best fishing in Australia. Over 20 rivers drain into the gulf, its mangrove lined shores are very sparsely populated due to its isolation. All of this makes the Gulf an incredibly productive destination for fly fishing and sports fishing alike.
Over 50 different species can be caught in the pristine waters surrounding Groote Eylandt, for example. They include over five species of trevally, queenfish, blue and threadfin salmon, parrot fish, long-nosed emperor, cod, chinaman, saddle tail and scarlet snapper, spangled emperor, mackerel, permit, tarpon, salmon, mangrove jack and much more. The region is also the home of many large and small Estuarine Crocodiles and is one of Australia's best prawn fishing areas.
The best time to go
If you contemplating visiting the Gulf region for the fishing, the main fishing season varies according to species but generally it is April to November due to the wet season over December to March. Permit and Tarpon are best fished between May and October. Most of the other more common fly targeted species, some of which are mentioned above, are more active during the warmer months.
The most pleasant times to visit the Gulf Country are from late March until mid October. During this time, south-east winds prevail over the gulf and can sometimes blow up to 25 knots in the morning and drop off to dead calm in the afternoon. These winds can be chilly at night so from May to September it is advisable to bring at least a warm jacket and jeans for evenings.
How to get there
By road: nine hour drive from Darwin or six from Katherine to Borroloola, along the Savannah Way (Barkly Highway). Savannah Aviation service the region fro bases in Burketown, Normanton, Borroloola and Mt. Isa. Charter operations from Cairns, Townsville, Darwin, Alice Springs and Cape York.
Brief history
Aboriginal people lived in the region before the arrival of Europeans, and many of the natural features of the land hold cultural significance for these people.
The Chinese, Malays and Portuguese all claim to have been the first non-Aboriginal explorers of Australia's north coast. The earliest recorded visitors to the Gulf country were the Macassan trepangers (Southeast Asian maritime voyagers).
The first surviving written account comes, however, from the Dutch. In 1623 Jan Carstenzoon made his way west across the Gulf of Carpentaria to discover Arnhem's or Speult's Island (believed to be Groote Eylandt). One of the two vessels under his command was the Arnhem.
In 1643, Dutch navigator Abel Tasman examined the coastline of the Gulf of Carpentaria near where Borroloola stands today to determine if there was a seaway through to the Pacific. Limmen Bight is named after one of Tasman's three ships (the others were the Zeemeeu and Braq).
The next explorer to venture into the region was Matthew Flinders. He surveyed the western shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1802 and 1803. Flinders was not impressed with the country and he found the natives he encountered hostile. He does record more favourably his contact with Macassan fisherman.
The first English navigator to enter the Gulf of Carpentaria was Phillip Parker King. Between 1818 and 1822 he made a number of coastal voyages, during which he explored and named the three Alligator Rivers after the large numbers of crocodiles, which he mistook for alligators. He was generally unenthusiastic about the region, finding the country low, dreary and flat, although the mangroves supported vast numbers of waterbirds. He saw no Aboriginal people but noted their fires.
Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt passed through the area in 1845 on his way from the Darling Downs, in Queensland, to Port Essington on Cobourg Peninsula. Leichhardt named the McArthur River although it is unclear whom he was honouring. In 1856, Sir Augustus Charles Gregory explored the Victoria River district and the area south-west of present-day Borroloola and pastoralists soon followed.
The principal stock route through the Northern Territory and Kimberley was opened up in 1872 when Dillon Cox drove 400 head of cattle from Queensland to a telegraph supply depot on the Roper River. The establishment of the stock route led to the establishments of supply points and towns on the way, one of which was Borroloola. By the turn of the century Borroloola had gained a fierce reputation as a frontier town, a reputation it only lost when the town became a virtual ghost town in the 1930s. Over the years Borroloola has been a haven for eccentrics, a fact immortalised in the bush song about the town recorded by Rolf Harris.
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