Fly
Fly is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- -6.93°, 141.07°
About Fly
The Fly River is the third longest river on the island of New Guinea, after the Sepik and Mamberamo, with a total length of 1,060 km (660 mi). It is the largest by volume of discharge in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its catchment, and overall the 23rd-largest primary river in the world by discharge volume. It is located in the southwest of Papua New Guinea and in the South Papua province of Indonesia. It rises in the Victor Emanuel Range arm of the Star Mountains, and crosses the south-western lowlands before flowing into the Gulf of Papua in a large delta. The Fly–Strickland River system has a total length of 1,224 km (761 mi), making it the longest river system of an island in the world. The 824 km (512 mi) Strickland is the longest and largest tributary of Fly River, making it the furthest distance source of the Fly River.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Fly River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Fly in Depth
History
The Fly was first discovered by Europeans in 1845 when Francis Blackwood, commanding the corvette HMS Fly, surveyed the western coast of the Gulf of Papua. The river was named after his ship and he proclaimed that it would be possible for a small steam-powered boat to travel up the mighty river.
In 1876, Italian explorer, Luigi D'Albertis, was the first person to successfully attempt this when he travelled 900 km into the interior of New Guinea, in his steamer, Neva. It was the furthest any European explorer had ever been into the island.
Description
The Fly flows mostly through the Western Province of Papua New Guinea and for a small stretch, it forms the international boundary with Indonesia's western New Guinea. This section protrudes slightly to the west of the 141°E longitude line. To compensate for this gain in territory for Papua New Guinea, the border south of the Fly River is slightly east of the 141°E longitude line. As part of this deal, Indonesia has the right to use the Fly River to its mouth for navigation.
The principal tributaries of the Fly are the Strickland and the Ok Tedi.
Close to its mouth, the flow of the Fly River encounters a tidal bore, where an incoming high tide pushes water upstream until the tide changes. The range of this tidal bore is still undocumented.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Fly River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Fly: Key Facts
| Length | 1,050 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 6,000 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 76,000 km² |
| Mouth | Gulf of Papua |
| Tributaries | Ok Tedi River, Strickland River |
Facts from Wikidata Q739751 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Fly: Quick Answers
- Where is Fly?
- Fly is located in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, at 6.9257° S, 141.0742° E.
- Are there dams on the Fly?
- No dam on the Fly is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.