Jardine River

Jardine
River
Jardine River
Name origin: Frank and Alexander Jardine
Country	Australia
State	Queensland
Region	Far North Queensland
Tributaries
- left	McHenry River
Source	Great Dividing Range
- elevation	100 m (328 ft)
Mouth	Gulf of Carpentaria, Coral Sea
- elevation	0 m (0 ft)
- coordinates	10°57′0″S 142°13′50″E / 10.95000°S 142.23056°E / -10.95000; 142.23056Coordinates: 10°57′0″S 142°13′50″E / 10.95000°S 142.23056°E / -10.95000; 142.23056
Length	162 km (101 mi)
Basin	3,282 km2 (1,267 sq mi)
National park	Jardine River National Park
Location of Jardine River mouth in Queensland

The Jardine River is the largest river of the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia.

The headwaters of the river rise southwest of Helby Hill in the Great Dividing Range and flow in a north westerly direction parallel to the McHenry River through the Jardine River National Park. The McHenry eventually discharges into the Jardine which continues north west combining with multiple other tributaries as it flows into the flatlands of the Jardine Swamps. It eventually discharges into Endeavour Strait near Van Spoult Head opposite Prince of Wales Island and into the northern waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria, part of the Coral Sea.

Unlike other tropical rivers in Northern Australia, the Jardine flows all year round as the catchment receives sufficient rainfall throughout the year for it to do so.

The river catchment occupies an area of 3,282 square kilometres (1,267 sq mi) of mostly uninhabited country, some 219 square kilometres (85 sq mi) of the catchment is made up of mostly freshwater wetlands. The river has a mean annual discharge of 2,190 gigalitres (4.8×10¹¹ imp gal; 5.8×10¹¹ US gal).

A total of 46 species of fish are found in the river including; Sailfin Glassfish, Macleay's Glassfish, Barred Grunter, Marbled Eel, Hardyhead, Pennyfish, Mouth Almighty, Goby, Empire Gudgeon, Barramundi, Oxeye Herring, Northern Trout Gudgeon, Seven-spot Archerfish and Banded Rainbowfish.

The Jardine River Painted turtle, previously thought to have been extinct after not being sighted in the river for 20 years, was discovered in the Jardine again in 2014. A team of Apudthama Cape York rangers and scientists from Origin Energy have trapped 24 of the turtles at two different locations using new trapping methods.

The traditional owners of the area are the Unjadi and Ankamuti peoples who have lived in the area for thousands of years.