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[[File:Pindan Country.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Pindan country]]
[[File:IBRA 6.1 Dampierland.png|thumb|right|250px|Dampierland (shown in red), the region to which pindan is largely restricted]]
'''Pindan''' is a name given to the red-soil country of the south-western [[Kimberley (Western Australia)|Kimberley]] region of [[Western Australia]]. The term comes from a local language and applies both to the soil and to the vegetation community associated with it.<ref name=PW>Lowe (2003).</ref>
==History==
The word “pindan” was first mentioned in print in 1883 by Mr Edward Townley Hardman (1845 1887) in a preliminary appendix to John Forrest’s report on the Kimberley. He stated:
<blockquote>“The only metalliferous deposits as yet observed by me are pindan ironstone, a poor hematite, but in large quantity; and in the Fitzroy gravels, quantities of minute dark heavy grains, which have all the appearance of stream tin. These await further chemical examination, In these gravels, opal, cats-eye, garnet, and amethyst occur, all of inferior quality so far as at present observed.<ref>South Australian Weekly Chronicle (Adelaide, SA) Article Saturday 6 October 1883 page 9</ref></blockquote>
The 1891 report on the General Description and Physical Geography of the Kimberley District by Government Geologist [[Harry Page Woodward]] described the Pliocene geological formation as pindan sands and gravel, often cemented by oxide of iron:
<blockquote>"These sandy soils are largely developed on either side of the Fitzroy River, stretching far away to the Southward, where they form Warburton’s Great Sandy Desert; they are, as a rule, waterless; but, owing to the large rainfall, produce a large quantity of vegetation. On the Ord River there are some small stretches of this country, but never of any great extent."<ref>Report on the Goldfields of the Kimberley District by Harry Page Woodward FGD, FRGS Government Geologist, presented to both Houses of Parliament – Second Session of 1891.</ref></blockquote>
==Geography==
Pindan country is geographically restricted to [[Dampierland]], including the [[Dampier Peninsula]] and its hinterland, the area around [[Broome, Western Australia|Broome]] and [[Roebuck Bay]], and a coastal strip extending south-westwards from Roebuck Bay adjacent to [[Eighty Mile Beach]].  It is [[Semi-arid climate|semiarid]] with a [[tropical]] [[monsoon]]al climate of hot, wet summers and mild, dry winters.  The flat, or gently undulating, land lacks prominent [[landmark]]s and is easy to get lost in.<ref name=PW/>  The soils are usually red and sandy with a high clay content, low in nutrients, and susceptible both to drought and to waterlogging when wet.<ref>Broome: Soils.</ref><ref>Soils of the Kimberley.</ref>
==Flora and fauna==
Botanically the pindan forms a transitional zone between the wetter monsoon [[forest]]s of the north Kimberley and the [[Great Sandy Desert]] to the south-east, exhibiting a mix of monsoonal and arid species.  Structurally it is a low and open woodland of scattered trees, dominated by [[Acacia|wattle]]s, with [[eucalypt]]s and tall [[shrub]]s.  The understorey contains [[grass]]es and [[herbaceous plant|herbs]].  During the long dry season from April to November the [[annual plant]]s and grasses die off, the country looks parched, and regular [[wildfire]]s leave stretches of bare and blackened soil, studded with dead shrubs.  During the short wet season from December to March there is profuse flowering of the diverse pindan flora, with a wide variety of insects and other animals taking advantage of the seasonal abundance.<ref name=PW/>
On higher ground, pindan adopts a more open [[savanna]] structure while, on low-lying ground subject to waterlogging during the [[wet season]], [[Melaleuca|paperbarks]] begin to displace the other trees.  Canopy height ranges from 3 m to 8 m; the trees are short and deep-rooted, often with the trunks bent or twisted.  In his 1926 book “In Savage Australia” Norwegian explorer [[Knut Dahl]] described the pindan as a “crippled forest” in response to the apparent uniformity and stunted appearance of the vegetation.<ref name=PW/>
Typical species of trees and tall shrubs in pindan vegetation are the wattles ''[[Acacia eriopoda]]'', ''[[Acacia tumida|A. tumida]]'', ''[[Acacia monticola|A. monticola]]'', ''[[Acacia platycarpa|A. platycarpa]]'', ''[[Acacia colei|A. colei]]'', and ''[[Acacia adoxa|A. adoxa]]'', and the eucalypts ''[[Corymbia greeniana]]'', ''[[Corymbia flavescens|C. flavescens]]'' and ''[[Corymbia zygophylla|C. zygophylla]]''.  Other plants include ''[[Grevillea wickhamii]]'' and ''[[Grevillea refracta|G. refracta]]'', ''[[Gyrocarpus americanus]]'', ''[[Terminalia petiolaris]]'', ''[[Lysiphyllum cunninghamii]]'', ''[[Ventilago viminalis]]'', ''[[Premna acuminata]]'', ''[[Hakea macrocarpa]]'', ''[[Persoonia falcata]]'', ''[[Atalaya hemiglauca]]'', ''[[Gardenia pyriformis]]'', ''[[Pavetta kimberleyana]]'', ''[[Carissa lanceolata]]'', ''[[Dodonaea hispidula]]'', ''[[Ehretia saligna]]'' and ''[[Santalum lanceolatum]]''.<ref name=KTS>Kimberley tropical savanna.</ref><ref name=RIS>Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands.</ref>
Many savanna animals, such as [[agile wallabies]] and [[red-winged parrot]]s reach their southern limits in Western Australia in the strip of pindan that parallels the coast along Eighty Mile Beach.<ref name=PW/>
==Further reading==
* {{cite book |title= In Savage Australia. An account of a Hunting and Collecting Expedition to Arnhem Land and Dampier Land. |author=Dahl, Knut |year=1926 |publisher=Philip Allan & Co. |location=London }}
* {{cite book |title= Broome and Beyond: Plants and people of the Dampier Peninsula, Kimberley, Western Australia.|author1=Kenneally, K. |author2=Edinger, D. |author3=Willing, T.  |name-list-style=amp |year=1996 |publisher= Department of Conservation and Land Management, Western Australia |location= Perth }}
==References==
===Notes===
{{reflist}}
===Sources===
* {{cite book |title=Pindan Woodlands |author=Lowe, Pat |year=2003 |publisher=Environs Kimberley |url=http://www.environskimberley.org.au/p1-3_pindan.pdf |access-date=2010-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091012163644/http://environskimberley.org.au/p1-3_pindan.pdf |archive-date=2009-10-12 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.watercorporation.com.au/W/waterwise_broome.cfm |title=Broome: Soils |access-date=13 April 2010 |publisher=Water Corporation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221194852/http://watercorporation.com.au/W/waterwise_broome.cfm |archive-date=21 December 2010 }}
* {{cite web |url= http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/pdf/national_parks/wetlands/fact_sheets/roebuck_bay1.doc |title= Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands: Roebuck Bay |access-date= 13 April 2010 |publisher= Department of Conservation and Land Management, Western Australia |date= October 2003 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110313021514/http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/pdf/national_parks/wetlands/fact_sheets/roebuck_bay1.doc |archive-date= 13 March 2011 }}
* {{WWF ecoregion |id=aa0706 |name=Kimberly tropical savanna|accessdate=13 April 2010}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.kdc.wa.gov.au/kimberley/tk_soils.asp |title=Soils of the Kimberley |access-date=13 April 2010 |publisher=Kimberley Development Commission |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100210131251/http://www.kdc.wa.gov.au/kimberley/tk_soils.asp |archive-date=10 February 2010 }}
[[Category:Habitats]]
[[Category:Kimberley (Western Australia)]]
[[Category:Kimberley tropical savanna]]
[[Category:Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands]]
[[Category:Vegetation of Australia]]