DALY RIVER

river in northwestern Northern Territory, Australia; it is formed by the juncture of the King, Katherine, and Flora rivers in the hills west of Arnhem Land and flows northwest for about 200 miles (320 km) to Anson Bay on the Timor Sea. With its major tributary, the Fergusson, the Daly drains a 22,640-square-mile (58,640-square-kilometre) basin comprising flat or gently rolling country that supports cattle ranching. Cultivation, centring on the town of Daly River, 50 miles (80 km) from the river's mouth, is limited largely to peanuts (groundnuts) and tobacco because of inadequate transportation facilities and periodic flooding. The Daly, explored in 1865 by Boyle Finniss, first governor of a proposed settlement in the territory, and named after Sir Dominick Daly, then governor of South Australia, is navigable for 70 miles (115 km) above its tidal mouth. The river is the eastern boundary of an Aboriginal reserve that extends to the Fitzmaurice.