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Burketown is an isolated
outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...
town and coastal
locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...
in the
Shire of Burke The Shire of Burke is a local government area in North West Queensland, Australia. The shire lies on the south coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria and abuts the border with the Northern Territory. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local g ...
,
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
, Australia. In the , the locality of Burketown had a population of 238 people. It is located west of
Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
and west of Normanton on the Albert River and
Savannah Way The Savannah Way is a route of highways and major roads across the tropical savannahs of northern Australia, linking Cairns in Queensland with Broome in Western Australia. Promoted as a self-drive tourist route, it joins Cairns, Normanton, B ...
in the area known as the
Gulf Savannah The Gulf Country is the region of woodland and savanna grassland surrounding the Gulf of Carpentaria in north western Queensland and eastern Northern Territory on the north coast of Australia. The region is also called the Gulf Savannah. It ...
.


Geography

Burketown is located on the Albert River to the north west of the state capital,
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
, with the nearest larger town being Normanton, to the east, and the nearest city being
Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...
, to the south. The town is roughly inland from the
Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...
. It is located west of
Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
via the
Savannah Way The Savannah Way is a route of highways and major roads across the tropical savannahs of northern Australia, linking Cairns in Queensland with Broome in Western Australia. Promoted as a self-drive tourist route, it joins Cairns, Normanton, B ...
passing through the area known as the
Gulf Savannah The Gulf Country is the region of woodland and savanna grassland surrounding the Gulf of Carpentaria in north western Queensland and eastern Northern Territory on the north coast of Australia. The region is also called the Gulf Savannah. It ...
. The town is the administrative centre of the
Burke Shire Council The Shire of Burke is a local government area in North West Queensland, Australia. The shire lies on the south coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria and abuts the border with the Northern Territory. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local ...
.


History


Aboriginal History

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
peoples had inhabited the region for millennia before European explorers travelled the area. The Yukulta / Ganggalidda and Garawa peoples are recognised as the
traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...
of the Burketown area.
Native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...
was recognised on 1 April 2015. A
mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
was established in 1930 at Burketown by Len and Dorothy Akehurst, who were members of the
Christian Brethren The Open Brethren, sometimes called Christian Brethren, are a group of Evangelical Christian churches that arose in the late 1820s as part of the Assembly Movement within the Plymouth Brethren tradition. They originated in Ireland before spreadi ...
. In 1932–33 the Akehursts moved the mission to
Bayley Point Gangalidda is a coastal locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Doomadgee, Queensland, Australia, on the Gulf of Carpentaria. In the , Gangalidda had a population of 0 people. Bayley Point () is a small blunt point on the coast within the locality ...
, near Doomadgee, about away, at the request of the Aboriginal people, creating Dumaji, or the Old Doomadgee Mission. Prior to the establishment of
Doomadgee Mission Doomadgee is a town and a locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Doomadgee, Queensland, Australia. It is a mostly Indigenous community, situated about from the Northern Territory border, and west of Burketown. The settlement began with the esta ...
, many Aboriginal children in the Gulf region were removed to Mornington Island Mission and other missions and
Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th c ...
s further south.
Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...
records indicate that over 160 people were removed from Burketown between 1900 and 1974.


Exploration

On 2 August 1841, Captain J. Lort Stokes was the first European to discover the mouth of a river, which he named the "Albert" after
Albert, Prince Consort Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Franz August Karl Albert Emanuel; 26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the consort of Queen Victoria from their marriage on 10 February 1840 until his death in 1861. Albert was born in the Saxon duch ...
. Stokes' party ascended the river for a distance of 50 river miles in a long boat in a search of fresh water. Having followed a bumper wet season Stokes was greeted by endless grassy plains, which he named "The Plains of Promise" after a day of exploration. The area was originally named for the 'Plains of Promise' or 'Province of Albert' after Prince Albert, the Queen's Consort in 1841.


Town establishment

Burketown, or "Burke Town", was named in honour of explorer
Robert O'Hara Burke Robert O'Hara Burke (6 May 1821c. 28 June 1861) was an Irish soldier and police officer who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the leader of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition, which was the first expedition to cross Australi ...
, who died shortly after making the first recorded successful south-north crossing of the continent in 1860-1. The first European settlers arrived in the local region not long after Burke and partner
William John Wills William John Wills (5 January 1834 – ) was a British surveyor who also trained as a surgeon. Wills achieved fame as the second-in-command of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition, which was the first expedition to cross Australia from ...
' expedition. By the mid-1860s, several cattle stations - including Gregory Downs, Floraville, and Donors Hill - had been founded inland from the present site of Burketown. Burketown was formally established in 1865 by
Robert Towns Robert Towns (10 November 1794 – 11 April 1873) was a British master mariner who settled in Australia as a businessman, sandalwood merchant, colonist, shipowner, pastoralist, politician, whaler and civic leader. He was the founder of Townsvil ...
, chiefly to serve as a port and supply centre for his extensive properties in the Gulf country. Towns chartered a small vessel the ''Jacmel Packet'' and on 12 June 1865 it arrived off the mouth of the Albert River. The goods were eventually landed on the present site of Burketown. Towns, a prominent
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
pastoralist and financier, also established
Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
in the same year. By September 1865 the population was about 40 and by October a store and a hotel were under construction, the balance of buildings were
humpies A humpy, also known as a gunyah, wurley, wurly or wurlie, is a small, temporary shelter, traditionally used by Australian Aboriginal people. These impermanent dwellings, made of branches and bark, are sometimes called a lean-to, since they ofte ...
. Rations and grog were plentiful but already one evil was noted: prices for goods were so high that some intended settlers could not stay. The town grew; however currency, both notes and coins, were so short in early Burketown that the business people issued their own currency, dubbed "shinplaster" or "calabashers". These were in the form of IOU's hand printed on tissue paper so that they had as short a life as possible. In February 1866 Lieutenant Wentworth D'Arcy UHR with 8 troopers and accompanied by
William Landsborough William Landsborough (21 February 1825 – 16 March 1886) was an explorer of Australia and notably he was the first explorer to complete a North-to-South crossing of Australia. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council. Early ...
, the first Police Magistrate, rode into Burketown where everyone carried a pistol and where a successful shop keeper could ride well, shoot well and be an able pugilist. The pioneer spirit was indomitable and the first official race meeting was held 25 July 1866 with prize money at $200 (sic). In October 1868 Towns and Co traded wool, tallow, hides and skins between Sweers Island and
Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...
. Burketown Post Office opened on 1 July 1866, closed in 1871 and reopened in 1883. In the same year, settlement of the region heavily impacted upon the sovereign
Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
. With their lands stolen and hunting grounds denied, local Aboriginal peoples hunted the horses of the settlers. Retribution by the settlers was enacted under Sub Inspector Uhr and was assisted by the arrival of the Queensland
Native Police Australian native police units, consisting of Aboriginal troopers under the command (usually) of at least one white officer, existed in various forms in all Australian mainland colonies during the nineteenth and, in some cases, into the twentie ...
. A massacre of 30 Aboriginal people took place after 12 horses were killed. A further 29 Aboriginal people were murdered shortly afterwards by shooting and bludgeoning. As the Burketown correspondent of the ''Port Dennison Times'' reported on 4 June 1868, "everybody in the district is delighted with the wholesale slaughter dealt out by the native police". The newspaper paid "thanks" to those involved in "ridding the district of fifty-nine (59) myalls" or local Aboriginal people. Burketown was used by explorer Francis Cadell as a staging point for refitting and refuelling the steamer ''Eagle'' and collecting mail and fresh supplies during his 1867–68 survey of the
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
coastline. At first, hopes the town would develop into a major settlement in north-western Queensland were high. However, from 1866 tropical diseases ravaged the population. The vessel "Margaret and Mary" from Sydney came into port rife with "Gulf Fever" (never properly identified, but thought to be either
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
or
typhoid Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
). Estimates of the numbers who died vary from 25 to 100 people. The majority of the crew and passengers of ship including the captain's wife died. Many of the dead were buried in a mass grave in Burketown Cemetery. Landsborough evacuated the survivors to Sweers Island for a period of 18 months, where a further two died and were buried on the island.The Gulf of Carpentaria: Discovery and Exploration
Accessed 3 October 2006.
At the first land sales in the town on 14 August 1867, 75 allotments were sold. The town was devastated by a
tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
on 5 March 1887 which flooded almost all of Burketown. Only the highest part of town, near where the Council Office is currently located, escaped the waters from the Gulf of Carpentaria. A copy of a 1918 report to the Queensland Parliament from the Department of Harbours and Rivers Engineers refers to the sea rising to 5.5 metres above the highest spring tide level at the Albert River Heads. This level is about 8 metres above Australian Height Datum. Seven people of the population of 138 died in the cyclone. Burketown State School opened on 26 April 1888. The Burketown Hotel, established in 1920 in a building originally used as the customs bond store, was destroyed by fire in 2012. The Albert Hotel building, originally the Burketown customs house is believed to date from the 1860s. Another famous Burketown Hotel, the Commonwealth, was built in around 1926, but was also destroyed by fire in 1954.


20th century

Burketown's population peaked at 265 in 1911.


21st century

At the
2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...
, Burketown had a population of 173. In the , Burketown had a population of 201 people. On 22 March 2012, the 92-year-old pub was destroyed in an early morning fire. The pub was subsequently rebuilt. In the , the locality of Burketown had a population of 238 people.


Heritage listings

Burketown has a number of
heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...
sites, including: * Landsborough Tree * Former Burketown Post Office, Musgrave Street * Boiling Down Works, Truganinni Road * Old Westmoreland Homestead, west-north-west of Burketown


Climate

Burketown has a
semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''BSh''), though closely bordering on a
tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...
(''Aw''), characterised by hot, humid summers with erratic rainfall and warm, extremely dry winters. December is the hottest month, with average maximum temperatures rising to . Rainfall is minimal from April to November, but from December to March monthly rainfalls of over and daily falls over are not rare. Flooding, often associated with the passage of a tropical cyclone, often isolates the community for months, whilst failure of the summer rains can be extreme — for instance in the 1901/1902 wet season no more than fell and the drought caused the death of millions of cattle.


Morning glory cloud

From the months of August to November, a rare meteorological phenomenon known as "
Morning Glory Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genera, some of ...
" - long, tubular clouds, some up to in length - is often observed in the skies above Burketown. The Morning Glory has become something of a "mecca" for soaring pilots who surf the giant atmospheric wave in their gliders. Gliding flights of over have become common.


Education

Burketown State School is a government primary (Prep-6) school for boys and girls at Beames Street (). In 2017, the school had an enrolment of 23 students with 3 teachers and 5 non-teaching staff (3 full-time equivalent). In 2018, the school had an enrolment of 27 students with 3 teachers and 7 non-teaching staff (4 full-time equivalent). There are no secondary schools in Burketown. The closest secondary schools are in Normanton, 227 kilometres (141 mi) to the east and
Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...
, 425 kilometres (264 mi) to the south. There are also opportunities for students to complete their education by way of boarding school or via the Mt Isa School of Distance Education.


Facilities

Burketown has a post office, council office, service station, small general stores/ take-away shops, bakery and butcher caravan park, outpost hospital and a hotel. It is serviced by the
Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...
from
Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...
Base. The Burke Shire Council operate the
Burketown Airport Burketown Airport is an airport located southwest of Burketown, Queensland, Australia. Airlines and destinations See also * List of airports in Queensland This is a list of airports in the Australian state of Queensland. __TOC__ Lis ...
which has a regular passenger service from
Regional Express Airlines Regional Express Pty. Ltd., trading as Rex Airlines (and as Regional Express Airlines on regional routes), is an Australian airline based in Mascot, New South Wales. It operates scheduled regional and domestic services. It is Australia's large ...
and is also the primary base of Savannah Aviation, which provides aircraft charter services throughout the Gulf, far north/western Queensland and the Northern Territory. Burketown Police Station is in Gregory Street (). Burketown
SES SES, S.E.S., Ses and similar variants can refere to: Business and economics * Socioeconomic status * Scottish Economic Society, a learned society in Scotland * SES, callsign of the TV station SES/RTS (Mount Gambier, South Australia) * SES S.A., ...
Facility is on the south-east corner of Musgrave Street and Beames Street (). Burketown Primary Health Care Clinic is a small public hospital on Truganini Road (). Burketown Ambulance Station is at the health centre (). Burketown Cemetery is on an unnamed road immediately north of the hospital on Truganini Road (). The sewage treatment plant is off to the north of the
Wills Developmental Road The Wills Developmental Road is a road in north-west Queensland running between Julia Creek and Burketown. As of 2016 it is sealed with a total length of . There are no major towns along the entire route, but fuel and supplies are available a ...
(). The water treatment plant is to the north-west of the sewage treatment plant (). These are operated by the Burke Shire Council.


Amenities

The Burke Shire Council operates a public library at Lot 65, Musgrave Street. There is a barge/boat ramp with jetty and pontoon on Truganina Road on the north bank of the Albert River (). It is managed by the
Burke Shire Council The Shire of Burke is a local government area in North West Queensland, Australia. The shire lies on the south coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria and abuts the border with the Northern Territory. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local ...
.


Attractions

Burketown is known as the
Barramundi The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'') or Asian sea bass, is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Perciformes. The species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, spanning the waters of the Middle East, South ...
capital of Australia and holds an annual Barramundi Fishing Competition during Easter. Escott Station, which includes a tourist lodge, is about from Burketown.


In culture

Burketown is believed to be the basis of “Willstown” (named after Burke's fellow explorer Wills) in the novel ''
A Town Like Alice ''A Town Like Alice'' (United States title: ''The Legacy'') is a romance novel by Nevil Shute, published in 1950 when Shute had newly settled in Australia. Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman, becomes romantically interested in a fellow prisoner ...
'' by
Nevil Shute Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 189912 January 1960) was an English novelist and aeronautical engineer who spent his later years in Australia. He used his full name in his engineering career and Nevil Shute as his pen name, in order to protect h ...
''.'' In the novel, the town has little in the way of amenities and is developed into a successful and growing community to become a town like
Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...
.


References


External links

* *
Burke Shire Council



Morning Glory Cloud Meteorology

Morning Glory Cloud Video

Queensland Places - Burketown
- John Oxley Library blog, State Library of Queensland {{authority control Towns in Queensland North West Queensland Gulf of Carpentaria Shire of Burke 1865 establishments in Australia Populated places established in 1865 Burketown Localities in Queensland