Normanton is in the Gulf Country region of northwest Queensland, just south of the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the Norman River. An unusual feature 106 km southwest of Normanton is Bang Bang Jump Up, one of the few hills located in the middle of an expansive, flat grassland.
History
The town takes its name from the Norman River, which was named in honour of William Henry Norman of the Victorian Naval Force, 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. The site for the town was selected because Burketown was abandoned owing to fever and flooding. Settlers moved into the town in 1867. Normanton attracted people from a variety of cultures, including Chinese drawn to the gold fields. Norman River Post Office opened on 13 June 1868 and was renamed Normanton by 1872. The town contains the longest intact and operating Burns Philp store in Queensland. The general mercantile store and agency office was opened in 1884. The population reached 1,251 by 1891. The gold boom was short-lived. By 1947 the town's population had declined to 234. In the early years there was a large Aboriginal population as well. Some Aboriginal people were moved to Mornington Island and Doomadgee in the early 20th century. The Normanton library was opened in 2004. In 2006 census, the town's population was 1,100, 60 per cent of whom were Indigenous Australians.
Normanton to Croydon: Normanton to Croydon railway line
Industry
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.
Facilities
Normanton has a sports centre, golf course, bowling green, gun club, racecourse, rodeo ground, and an aerodrome. Normanton public library and visitor information services are located in the historic Burns Philp Building at the corner of Caroline and Landsborough Streets. The Normanton branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association has its rooms in Landsborough Street.
Normanton has a tropical savanna climate 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 in a month or in a day from tropical cyclones. On occasions, as with all of Queensland, the wet season may fail and deliver as little as between December 1934 and March 1935 Temperatures are uniformly hot, ranging from in November just before the wet season begins to 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 and can reach. In the dry season, lower humidity, cloudless days and cool nights provides for more pleasant conditions. near Normanton, QLD Australia.
