Cambridge Gulf () is a gulf on the north coast of Western Australia. Many rivers flow into the gulf including the Ord River, Pentecost River, Durack River, King River and the Forrest River.[1]
The gulf experiences two large tidal flows each day between 7 metres (23 ft) to 9 metres (30 ft)[2]
The town of Wyndham, the area’s principal port lies on its bank at the lower part of the gulf and is approximately 120 kilometres (75 mi) north of Kununurra.[3] Cambridge Gulf is a part of the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf.
The gulf was named by Philip Parker King who visited the area in 1819 aboard Mermaid but left after being unable to find supplies of freshwater in the mudflats that surround the bay. King named the gulf after the Duke of Cambridge at the time, Prince Adolphus. Alexander Forrest was the next European to explore the area in 1879 and by 1884 settlers began to arrive at the Wyndham port to move inland to raise stock and later search for gold. During the boom times around 1886 up to sixteen vessles would be moored in the gulf waiting to dock.[4]
The western shore of the gulf is backed by high sandstone hills that are 30 metres (98 ft) to 250 metres (820 ft) in height and with fringing colonies of mangroves and mudflats when the tide is low. Dense mangrove stands fringe the marshy area on the eastern shore of the gulf. Adolphus Island splits the southern end of the sound with a navigatable channel being found on the western arm.[5]
|
||||||||||||||