Camballin is a small town in the West

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

district of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The town is located on the Camballin Station about south of

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

and between Derby and

Fitzroy Crossing Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People Given name * Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: ** FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort (Henry Charles ...

, with the

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...

being situated in the town. The town was established in the 1950s by the

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of Western Australia to service the

Camballin Irrigation Scheme The Camballin Irrigation Scheme consisted of the Fitzroy River Barrage, the Seventeen Mile Dam, Company Pump, numerous irrigation channels, a seventeen kilometre levee bank, silos for grain storage which were built at the Broome Jetty and oth ...

. At the 2016 census, Camballin had a population of 729.

History

The town was established by the

of Western Australia to service the

, which has since become defunct due to flooding. It was initially established to support Northern Developments Pty. Ltd, a company incorporated in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1951 to establish small scale

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

production in 1952. Demonstration that rice production was feasible, a dam was constructed on the Uralla Creek in 1957, trebling the water storage. The name of the town was chosen by Northern Development Ltd in 1957, with the townsite being constructed to service the Liveringa Rice Project. The town was named after one of the nearby stations. The town's growth continued with the Australian Land & Cattle Company Limited purchasing Camballin

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

, Liveringa station and a further five stations in the Kimberley region. This influx of private investment created strong labour demand for the next two decades, with the project leaving a lasting legacy to this day.

Geography

The town lies to the east of Grant Range, and south of Erskine range.

Description

The town now houses school teachers and other personnel who work at the nearby Looma Community. Amenities in the town are: caravan park, shopping (no fuel), reticulated water and power, phones (including pay phone booth) and mechanical repairs. The town is also serviced by a landfill site nearby, mobile satellite phone coverage and contains a rundown picture gardens. The power station provides power to the nearby communities of Looma and New Looma.

References

External links

Camballin townsite map
{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Kimberley (Western Australia)