Normanton, Queensland

The Big Barramundi

The town sits in the traditional lands of the Gkuthaarn (Kareldi) and Kukatj people.[3]

The town takes its current name from the Norman River, which was named in honour of William Henry Norman of the Victorian Naval Forces, who commanded a ship in the search for the explorers Burke and Wills and also conducted hydrographic surveys of the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Torres Strait to identify reefs and other marine hazards.[2]

The site for the town was selected after Burketown was abandoned owing to fever and flooding.[4] Settlers moved into the town in 1867.[5] Normanton attracted people from a variety of cultures, including Chinese people drawn to the gold fields.[4] The town prosperity was assisted by the establishment of a railway line in the late 1800s.[6]

Norman River Post Office opened on 13 June 1868 and was renamed Normanton by 1872.[7]

The town contains the longest intact and operating Burns Philp store in Queensland. The general mercantile store and agency office was opened in 1884.[8]

The population reached 1,251 by 1891.[9] The gold boom was short-lived. By 1947 the town's population had declined to 234.[9] After the gold ran out and the mining industry grew to a halt in the early 1900s, pastoralism became the main industry of the region.[6]

Some Aboriginal groups in the region were moved on to cattle stations to provide labour, while other groups were more or less extinguished. Many were moved to missions on Mornington Island and Doomadgee. Aboriginal camps were set up on the outskirts of the town, and the first Aboriginal reserve was gazetted in 1935; both were still in existence until at least 1976.[6]

The Normanton library was opened in 2004.[10]

Normanton has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Burke and Wills Access Road (Private Road): Burke and Wills Camp B/CXIX[11]
• Burke Developmental Road: Normanton Cemetery[12]
• 27 Haigh Street: Normanton Gaol[13]
• cnr Landsborough Street and Caroline Street: Burns Philp Building[14]
• Landsborough Street: Westpac Bank Building[15]
• Matilda Street: Normanton railway station[16]
• Normanton to Croydon: Normanton to Croydon railway line[17]

Normanton is in the Gulf Country region of northwest Queensland, just south of the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the Norman River in Queensland. It is a small cattle town and coastal locality, and administrative centre of the Shire of Carpentaria.[2][18][4]

An unusual feature 106 kilometres (66 mi) southwest of Normanton is Bang Bang Jump Up, one of the few hills located in the middle of an expansive, flat grassland.[19]

In 2006 census, the town's population was 1,100, 60 per cent identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.[20]

In the 2016 census, Normanton had a population of 1,210 people, of whom 743 identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.[1]

Like other Gulf communities, the prawning industry makes an important economic contribution to the town. Tourism has recently become an important part of the economy of Normanton, with Gulflander a significant draw-card.[9]

Among Normanton's most notable features is a statue[21] of an 8.64-metre (28.3 ft) long saltwater crocodile named Krys, the largest ever taken, which was shot by Krystina Pawlowska in July 1957 in the Norman River.[22]

"The Big Barramundi", which is 6 metres (20 ft) long, is also located in the town.[23]

Barramundi and threadfin salmon can be caught in the river.[24]

Normanton has a sports centre, golf course, bowling green, gun club, racecourse, rodeo ground, and an aerodrome.[25]

Normanton public library and visitor information services are located in the historic Burns Philp Building at the corner of Caroline and Landsborough Streets.[26]

The Normanton branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association has its rooms in Landsborough Street.[27]

Normanton State School opened on 8 September 1882.[28] The school celebrated its centenary in 1982.[29]

Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church is at 23 Dutton Street. It is within the Gulf Savannah Parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns.[30]

After seeking rights since 1996, in November 2012 the traditional owners, the Gkuthaarn and Kukatj people, lodged a claim for native title over an area around Normanton stretching 16,000 square kilometres (6,200 sq mi). On 2 July 2020 an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) was signed,[31] and they were granted rights to fish, hunt and perform their ceremonies on the land. Pastoralists are still able to run cattle on the cattle stations in the area, and the Aboriginal people assist with management of the land (such as pest and weed control) and cultural heritage sites. They are already monitoring and counting of migratory seabirds, with many participating as Indigenous rangers in the Normanton Land and Sea Ranger Group. Some land in the southern part of the claimed area has been determined as "native title extinguished".[3][32]

The Gulflander, 2011

6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south of the town is the start of the Gulf Developmental Road, part of the Savannah Way tourist drive.

The Gulflander passenger train operates weekly on a 151 km (94 mi) remnant of the Normanton to Croydon historical railway. The Normanton railway station features a large steel frame with an open canopy to provide shade.[5]

Normanton has a tropical savanna climate (Aw) with two distinct seasons. There is a hot, humid and extremely uncomfortable wet season from December to March and a hot and generally rainless dry season usually extending from April to November. During the wet season most roads in the area are usually closed by heavy rainfall, which on several occasions has exceeded 650 millimetres (26 in) in a month or 250 millimetres (10 in) in a day from tropical cyclones. On occasions, as with all of Queensland, the wet season may fail and deliver as little as 240 millimetres (9.4 in) between December 1934 and March 1935[33]

Temperatures are uniformly hot, ranging from 36.8 °C (98 °F) in November just before the wet season begins to 29 °C (84 °F) at the height of the dry season in July. In the wet season, temperatures are marginally lower, but extremely high humidity means conditions are very uncomfortable and wet bulb temperatures averages 25 °C (77 °F) and can reach 28 °C (82 °F). In the dry season, lower humidity, cloudless days and cool nights provides for more pleasant conditions.

An early October sunset at Mutton Hole Wetlands near Normanton, QLD Australia.

• Normanton Airport

• "Normanton (Queensland)" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 19 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 765.
• University of Queensland: Queensland Places:Normanton
• Normanton
• Normanton page from Carpentaria Shire Council website
• Town map of Normanton, 1983