The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a rather vaguely defined area of about 245,000 square kilometres (95,000 sq mi) behind the northern coast from the Northern Territory capital of Darwin across to Arnhem Land with the Indian Ocean on the west, the Arafura Sea to the north, and the Gulf of Carpentaria to the east, and with the almost waterless semi-arid interior of Australia to the south, beyond the huge Kakadu National Park.[1]
The Top End contains the Territory's regional center and its capital city, Darwin, as well as major towns such as Palmerston and Katherine. The well-known town of Alice Springs is located further south, in the arid southern part of the Northern Territory, sometimes referred to by Australians as the Red Centre.
The landscape is relatively flat with river floodplains and grasslands with eucalyptus trees along with rocky areas and patches of rainforest, and in western Arnhem Land a high rugged sandstone plateau cut through with gorges, much of which is in Kakadu National Park. The rivers that form the wetlands include the South and East Alligator Rivers, Mary River, and the Glyde River. The climate is tropical monsoon with a wet and dry season, bringing the highest rainfall in northern Australia (over 1,200 mm (47 in) per year). Temperatures do not fluctuate widely throughout the year.
Most savanna in Australia is used for grazing livestock, but in this far north, vast areas of grassland are in their original state and dotted with Darwin stringybark and Darwin woollybutt eucalyptus trees; these grasslands are a unique and highly important ecoregion.[2] The sandstone plateau area of the ecoregion is a particularly rich centre of biodiversity supporting a unique heathland flora. The northern Top End is within the Arnhem Land tropical savannaecoregion. A belt of transitional tropical savannas and woodlands (Carpentaria, Kimberley, and Victoria Plains) lies between the Top End and the semi-arid mulgascrubland, mallee, and sand dunes of Australia's centre. The transition is gradual, and the demarcation line that divides the Top End from the centre is arbitrary.[3]
The landscape is well preserved and most of the area is traditionally managed by Aboriginal land trusts, including Kakadu National Park, which is Australia's largest national park and a World Heritage Site.[1] Although some populations have declined, there have been no major extinctions of wildlife in this area. Darwin, though, is a growing city and a base for agriculture and mining, both of which threaten habitats. Introduced plants and animals, such as the water buffalo, are also changing natural habitats, and there has been criticism of the way the local population has changed the fire regimes used to control the bush foliage, in which large areas are burnt each year and allowed to renew. Also there was a large aboriginal trade in that area [clarification needed] which has mostly settled down.
^Leseberg, Nick; Campbell, Iain (2005). Birds and Animals of Australia's Top End: Darwin, Kakadu, Katherine, and Kununurra. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 17. ISBN9780691161464.
