WYNDHAM

most northerly seaport of Western Australia. It lies at the mouth of the King River, on the West Arm of Cambridge Gulf (an inlet of Joseph Bonaparte Gulf of the Timor Sea). Founded in 1885 as a port for the Kimberley goldfield, it was named after the son of Sir Napier Broome, governor at the time. In 1919 the state government selected Wyndham as the site of a meatworks, which now serves the cattle stations of WyndhamEast Kimberley shire. Some crops are grown on irrigated flats bordering the nearby Ord River. Wyndham is the terminus of the Great Northern Highway from Perth (2,017 miles [3,246 km] southwest) and is linked by a dry-season road to the Stuart (transcontinental) Highway at Katherine (N.Terr.). The population fluctuates seasonally, as a major employer is the seasonal meatworks. Pop. (1986) 1,329.