CARPENTARIA, GULF OF, a relic, to all appearances, of the inland sea which occupied much of east central Australia in Triassic and Jurassic times, though the Great Artesian Basin appears to have no extensive outlet in this direction and the por tion from Cloncurry northwards to the coast may be a separate basin. The gulf occupies a depression in the north-north-east portion of the continental block and is c. 48o m. from north to south and c. 420 m. (max.) from east to west. Except in the north-west, where the edges of the Arnhem Land plateau have sunk to form a drowned coast with numerous inlets and islands (groote Eylandt: c. 36 m. long, max. elev., 520 ft.), the gulf floor shelves up from shallow depths (average 3o-4o fathoms) to form an unindented lowland fringe—perhaps a raised sea-floor-5o to too m. wide in the south-south-west and oo-15o m. in the south and east, with a few off-lying islands (Sir Edward Pellew Group; Wellesley islands) . Behind the often dead-flat plains the land rises gradually to the Barkly Tableland (c. I,000 ft.) in the south and to the highlands of Cape York Peninsula in the east. The plains—the "gulf country" proper—are largely floored with silts and muds washed down by the numerous rivers, some of which (Roper, McArthur, Flinders, Batavia) are fine streams navigable for varying distances inland. They have, however, markedly seasonal regimes : in summer wide areas are flooded and in win ter the sea penetrates far up their courses. The soils, except in the alluvial flats and pockets, are perhaps poorer than would be expected and climatic conditions lead to grass-lands—Mitchell grass covers extensive areas—with occasional forest clumps, dense palm groves and mangrove belts near and along the coasts. The rivers abound in crocodiles and game and the gulf waters are said to afford good fishing. The climate is tropical (Mean ann. temp.: 85°-65° ; average ann. rainfall 2o"-4o") and there are only two seasons—the wet (November to April) and the dry. The gulf country is at present, apart from mining in the Croydon area and a little alluvial gold-washing in the Batavia river, devoted entirely to pastoral farming. There are a good many blacks, but the scanty white population lives mainly in the inland cattle sta tions, in mission stations (e.g., at some river-mouths) and at such settlements as Normanton (pop. c. zoo), Burketown and Borro loola. Normanton, 23 m. up the Norman river, is the port for a large and rich pastoral area, as well as for the mining (gold and silver) field of Croydon, with which it is linked by a railway (94 m.). There is also a weekly air-service to Cloncurry (220 m.).
Proposals are entertained for constructing a port on one of the Sir Edward Pellew islands to serve, by means of a railway, the valuable Barkly Tableland pastoral area.