FLY RIVER

The 'Fly' at , is the second longest river, after the Sepik, in Papua New Guinea. It rises in the Star Mountains, and crosses the south-western lowlands before flowing into the Gulf of Papua in a large delta.
It flows entirely through the Western Province, though for a small stretch it forms the boundary between PNG and the Indonesia province of Papua. This section is the only part of the Papua New Guinea/Indonesia border which is not on the 141°E longitude line, thus giving Papua New Guinea a small area to the west of this line.
The principal tributaries of the Fly are the Strickland and the Ok Tedi. Both these rivers have been the source of environmental controversy due to tailings waste from the Porgera Mine and the Ok Tedi Mine respectively.

Contents

History

References

History

The Fly was first discovered by Europeans in 1842 when Francis Blackwood commanding the corvette HMS ''Fly'', surveryed the western coast of the Gulf of Papua.^[1] The river was named after his ship and 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 explorer had ever been into the island.

References

1.