Palm Valley (Northern Territory)
Encyclopedia
Finke Gorge National Park
Finke Gorge is a national park in the Northern Territory of Australia, 1318 km south of Darwin.The Park covers an area of 458 square kilometres, and includes the impressive desert oasis Palm Valley, home to a diverse range of plant species, many of which are rare and unique to the area...
, is an east-west running valley in the Krichauff Range 123 km (138 km by road) southwest of Alice Springs
Alice Springs, Northern Territory
Alice Springs is the second largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", Alice Springs is situated in the geographic centre of Australia near the southern border of the Northern Territory...
in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Palm Valley and the surrounding area is the only place in Central Australia where Livistona mariae
Livistona mariae
The Central Australian Cabbage Palm is a species of flowering plant in the Arecaceae family.It is found only in Australia with the best-known occurrence found in Palm Valley in Finke Gorge National Park, Northern Territory...
palms (also known as Red Cabbage Palms) survive. The nearest specimens are 850 kilometres away in Queensland. The valley is indicative of central Australia’s tropical past, whereas the region is now largely dry Central Ranges
Central Ranges
Central Ranges is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and South Australia, and are a large part of the World Wide Fund for Nature Central Ranges xeric scrub ecoregion....
xeric shrubland.
The average rainfall for Palm Valley is only 200 mm per year. Although the gorge usually appears dry, there are some small pockets of semi-permanent spring-fed pools that allow the unique flora in this region to survive. During significant rainfall in the region, an expanses of water can be witnessed flowing through the valley gorge. During such events, a variety of aquatic life such as desert fish, shield shrimps (Triops australiensis), tadpoles and frogs can flourish.
Getting there
In early 1928, Herbert Joseph LarkinHerbert Joseph Larkin
Captain Herbert Joseph Larkin was an Australian-born British World War I flying ace credited with 11 confirmed victories. Postwar he became a pioneering aviator and aircraft manufacturer in his native Australia. He returned to his nation's service for World War II...
led an exploratory aerial expedition exploring the possibility of developing the Palm Valley into a resort. However, the exploration led to naught.
The track to Palm Valley is still only accessible with a four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...
vehicle. It departs from the town of Hermannsburg
Hermannsburg, Northern Territory
Hermannsburg is an Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory of Australia, 131 km southwest of Alice Springs. It is known in the local Western Arrernte language as Ntaria....
and travels south, following the usually dry bed of the Finke River
Finke River
The Finke River is one of the largest rivers in central Australia. Its source is in the Northern Territory's MacDonnell Ranges, and the name Finke River is first applied at the confluence of the Davenport and Ormiston Creeks, just north of Glen Helen. From here the river meanders for approximately...
. Palm Creek flows into the Finke River from the west about 15 km (by track) south of Hermannsburg. The track follows the creek to Palm Valley about 5 km west of the Finke River.