Barkly Tableland

{{multiple image |perrow=3 |total_width=300 |align=right|image_style=border:none;

| header = Maps of different circumscriptions of the Barkly Tabaland Regions

| image1 = Barkly Pastoral District.tif

| image2 = Barkly local government area.tif

| image3 = Barkly region of the Northern Territory and Queensland.tif

| image4 = Barkly Tableland IBRA subregion.tif

| image5 = Barkly Clay Plains land type.tif

| caption = Microscopic struc}}

William Landsborough was the first non-Indigenous Australian person to explore the tableland, and named it after Sir Henry Barkly, then governor of Victoria.

In 1877 the overlander, Nathaniel Buchanan and Sam Croker crossed the Barkly Tableland and rode on to the Overland Telegraph Line opening new land for settlement. It was not until the introduction of generous leasing arrangements on the Barkly in the late 1870s that the region became more settled.{{cite encyclopedia

| title = Chisholm, Alec H.

| encyclopedia = The Australian Encyclopaedia

| publisher = Halstead Press

| location = Sydney

| year = 1963

}}

In 1883, Harry Readford, one of the inspirations for the literary character Captain Starlight, drove a mob of cattle to the Barkly and subsequently established Brunette Downs (then called Corella Creek), with outstations at Anthony Lagoon and Cresswell Creek, for Macdonald, Smith and Co. In 1884, 2,500 cattle were driven to Brunette Downs and in 1885, Readford brought in 1,200 mixed cattle from Burketown.

File:Barkly Tableland IBRA subregion elevation position.tif

Image:Brunette Downs.jpgs, Brunette Downs station, Barkly Tableland, NT]]

Black soil plains cover much of the Barkly Tableland.[http://www.ga.gov.au/meta/ANZCW0703009510.html Surface geology of Australia] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080730121707/http://www.ga.gov.au/meta/ANZCW0703009510.html |date=July 30, 2008 }} Retrieved on 2 September 2008 Rainfall in this inland area is low (350mm per year) and subject to extreme seasonal fluctuations with rains occurring from November to March during the hot (up to 40 °C) summer. Winters are cool and frost may occur, especially in the southern section of the plain in Queensland.

The Barkly Tableland is a distinct physiographic province of the larger West Australian Shield division. It includes the Mueller Plateau and Sandover-Pituri Platform physiographic sections between the desert uplands in the west and Mount Isa, Queensland in the east. The Tableland drains into the Gulf of Carpentaria via the Flinders River while the southwestern plains drain into Lake Eyre via the Diamantina River or into the Simpson Desert via the Georgina River which has its source on the Tableland. Waterways of the Tableland itself are small as most water drains into the porous limestone, sometimes forming salt lakes. Tarrabool Lake, the largest wooded swamp in tropical Australia, is located in the west of the Tablelands. Other important water sources on the downs are the artesian springs.

Some of the very large cattle stations located on the Tableland include Alexandria Station, Alroy Downs, Anthony Lagoon, Austral Downs, Avon Downs, Banka Banka, Brunette Downs, Creswell Downs, Eva Downs, Helen Springs, Newcastle Waters and Lake Nash Station.

The dominant flora of the Tableland is semi-arid savanna of Mitchell grass. The grasslands are mostly used for cattle grazing and are home to some threatened species of plants and animals.

Mitchell grass is hardy with long roots so is well adapted to dry soils and periods of drought. The grasslands support other distinctive plants alongside the grasses but there are no areas of thick woodland, only acacia trees scattered across the plain, and red river gum along watercourses.{{WWF ecoregion|id=aa0707|name=Mitchell Grass Downs}}

The habitat of the Mitchell Grass Downs is mostly a uniform cover of grassland and therefore does not support a great variety of wildlife.{{WWF ecoregion|id=aa0707|name=Mitchell Grass Downs}} The few mammals include the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) and the Alexandria false antechinus (Pseudantechinus mimulus), a small carnivorous marsupial found only in a number of small, isolated localities in northern Australia, including Alexandria Station on the Barkly Tableland.

There are healthy populations of grassland birds such as the flock bronzewing. The seasonal wetlands of the downs are important habitats, particularly as breeding grounds for waterbirds. These include the Lake Woods and Lake Buchanan .

There are also many snakes and other reptiles and amphibians adapted to the clay soils that crack in the long dry season and turn to mud after the rains. These include burrowing frogs that emerge to breed in the mud and the long-haired rat which erupts in huge numbers after the monsoon and spreads across the grasslands. Endemic reptiles of the downs include the dwarf dtella gecko (Gehyra minuta), some species of Ctenotus and Lerista skinks, an agamid lizard (Pogona henrylawsoni), and a monitor lizard (Spencer's goanna). The snakes include the Elapidae; speckled brown snake (Pseudonaja guttata), Ingram's brown snake (Pseudonaja ingrami), and Collett's snake, all of which are venomous. Insects include a number of endemic species of ant, and grasshopper such as Ecphantus quadrilobus.{{Cite book |last=Rentz |first=David C. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/ocm55753685 |title=A guide to Australian grasshoppers and locusts |date=2003 |publisher=Natural History Publications (Borneo) |others=Natural History Publications (Borneo), Australian Plague Locust Commission, Orthopterists' Society |isbn=978-983-812-074-6 |location=Kota Kinabalu |oclc=ocm55753685}}

Some of the grassland is protected but most is pasture and although largely unspoilt, it is vulnerable to overgrazing, particularly areas of Queensland bluebush (Chenopodium auricomum). The downs are home to a number of endangered species and localised habitats that are threatened.

Protected areas that contain Mitchell grassland include Connells Lagoon Conservation Reserve{{cite web|title=Terrestrial Protected Areas by Reserve Type in Northern Territory (2016)|url=http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/761994ab-42cc-4f24-952c-c21221861884/files/capad2016nt.xlsx|website=CAPAD 2016|publisher=Australian government|access-date=26 April 2019|quote=refer 'DETAIL' tab for the IBRA Region code|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180409104122/http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/761994ab-42cc-4f24-952c-c21221861884/files/capad2016nt.xlsx|archive-date=9 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}} in the Northern Territory.

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.nt.gov.au/business/documents/general/Barkly%20Region%20standalone%20-%20210606.pdf Barkly Tablelands info]
• {{cite web|title=Barkly Tableland|url=http://www.queenslandplaces.com.au/barkly-tableland|work=Queensland Places|publisher=Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland}}

{{Northern Territory}}

{{Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA)|state=collapsed}}

{{Coord|19|38|50|S|134|11|25|E|display=inline,title}}

Category:Barkly Region

Category:Biogeography of the Northern Territory

Category:IBRA subregions

Category:Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands