Roper Bar, Northern Territory

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Location of Roper Bar in the Northern Territory (red)

Roper Bar is a location in Australia's Northern Territory. This part of Australia is extremely remote and uninhabited. A 4WD trek through these parts can be an extension of the Gulf Track on your way further up north to Darwin or Arnhem Land.

[edit] Location

It is a settlement on the Roper River and lies 606km south of Darwin, 312km east of Katherine and 1,235km from Alice Springs. The first European to explore the Roper River was Ludwig Leichhardt in 1845 as he made his way from Moreton Bay to Port Essington. Leichhardt crossed the river at Roper Bar, a rocky shelf which conveniently lies at the high tide limit on the river. He named the river after John Roper, a member of the expedition.

The town is a small settlement with a police station, a very basic motel - the Roper Bar Store, a caravan park and roadhouse facilities. In recent times fishing in the Roper River, particularly for the prized barramundi, has attracted fishermen to the area. The partially unsealed road from the Stuart Highway is flat and monotonous but the end result is a picturesque tropical river which, like all of the rivers around the Gulf of Carpentaria, is unsuitable for swimming as it is the habitat of the estaurine or saltwater crocodile.