Catchment: Daly River

The Daly River Catchment is located approximately 200 km to the south of Darwin with an area of approximately 52,500 square kilometres.  Major rivers include the Katherine, Dry, Flora, Fergusson, Douglas, Fish and Daly.

Socio-economic Profiles for the Daly and surrounding catchments

The population of the Daly catchment is approximately 10,000, 27% of whom are Aboriginal people. The catchment area is around 54,000 km2, so the population density is less that 0.2 people per km2. The mobility of the population is relatively high.

More than 80% of the households own a motor vehicle and more than 60% have internet connection, high percentages for the TRaCK region. About 80% of people speak English only at home, compared to a regional average of about 60%. The percentage of people purchasing or owning homes is also higher than regional averages. The Daly has an ARIA (Accessibility / Remoteness Index of Australia) of 7 (on the scale of 15), that is it is classified as less remote than most of the region.

The percentage of people with no schooling is lower than the regional average, and household sizes and numbers of people per bedroom are also lower. The percentage of children living in one parent or no parent families is also lower than average.

The largest employment sector (about 35%) is government administration or services. Although percentages of people employed in construction and retail are small, they are nonetheless higher than regional averages.

The region is relatively well surveyed and thus hosts a number of registered heritage sites. Around 60% of the land is under agricultural production, while about 30% is classified as “under traditional Indigenous use”. (synopsis from TRaCK Fact Sheet, Socio-economic Profiles: Larson, S., Alexandridis, K.  2009.  Profile: Daly River. )

TRaCK Projects operating in the Daly catchment